A slow month for blogging as more attention was wrapped up in closing out the year and dealing with loose ends. The big news of the month was that Caroline gave her notice to leave her current job after we returned from Oregon. Her new job will focus solely on data instead of the website front-end, with a smattering of data that she has tired of after so many years. She starts early in the new year.

The job change opened the can of worms that is our healthcare system. Due to rule changes, it appears most employers now have a 90-day waiting period for new coverage. Insurance companies have a rule that states if you are without coverage for 63 days, they don’t have to cover preexisting conditions, so going without coverage during that time is not an option. Because Caroline’s current employer has less than 20 employees, they do not have to offer COBRA, though they can if they choose to. We looked at the options of private coverage and the ACA, better known as Obamacare; the first option would cost us $1580 a month and the latter nearly $1200. Luckily, her employer allowed her to sign up with COBRA for only about $950 a month.

We are fortunate that we can afford this premium, but it seems so very inhumane that this is likely an effective means to move people off of insurance that covers their preexisting conditions since so many in our population wouldn’t easily be able to afford the extra $3,000.

Prior to running out of our current coverage, we scheduled as many doctor appointments as possible in case we’d have to take private or ACA coverage where getting care in the gap would have been pricey. Our dentist, eye doctor, sleep doctor, and general practitioners were all seen this month, and prescriptions were refilled.

Then, before the month ended, we took our Prius to trade it in for a new one, but Toyota was out of 2018 models, and the 2019 Priuses weren’t due until mid-January. As I’ve not been on payroll with my own company since May 2017, I was not going to qualify for financing a new vehicle. With Caroline changing jobs after five years with her current company and 10 with the one prior to that, she might not have qualified for a loan without a paycheck or two from her new employer. Off to Kia we went, and by the end of the day, we drove off with one of their hybrids.

Due to the job change, we ended up staying in Phoenix over the Christmas to New Year’s holidays (it’s not like her employer was going to give her even more paid vacation right before leaving). With nothing else to do, we went into hibernation and stayed warm in our cocoon, whittling away at our hobbies and a fair bit of nonsense.

New Year’s Eve was celebrated like so many other years at 4:00 p.m. when Caroline called her mom to listen to the fireworks at midnight. Jutta dons her coat and opens a window, letting in the cold winter air of Frankfurt so we can hear a real celebration while tuning in various live cams to see the mayhem along the Main River. I need to turn my attention to the new year and focus on what great adventures Caroline and I will share as we move beyond our 25th wedding anniversary, which is coming up in less than two weeks.