Break from the Grind January 21, 2016

A Little Friday File Fun

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In Argentina, a tourist from Brazil stopped to get gas then drove off. After travelling 96 kilometers (about 50 miles), he realized he forgot something—his wife. Apparently, while he was pumping gas, his wife, who was asleep in the back seat, awoke and went into the store to get a snack.

In the UK, a concerned parent posted online a note from her child’s teacher encouraging parents to teach their children to learn the spelling of six words. The words, as listed on the note, were “accommodate,” “immediateley,” “communicate,” “physical,” “equip,” and “sincerley.”

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In LaPorte, Indiana, a man, who news reports say was into.xicated, pulled up to a McDonald’s drive-through and ordered meals for himself and his passengers. When he pulled up the window to pay, he gave the cashier some money and a plastic bag. The employee noticed that the plastic bag contained a dark, rocky substance and called police. The substance turned out to be her.oin. Police are looking for the customer.

In Laverton, Western Australia, thieves attempted to siphon gas from a tour bus, but the evidence they left revealed they took away something different. According to the UK’s The Mirror, the tour bus was found with a cap on the ground, but it was to the bus sewage tank, not the gas tank. Laverton Police Senior Sergeant Heath Soutar said, “We can infer they beat a very hasty retreat, with a somewhat bitter taste in their mouth.”

In Wiltshire, England, a woman called 999 to report she was trapped in her house by a large, poisonous spider. According to the Associated Press, the woman told the 999 operator that she had recently had furniture delivered to her home from overseas and thought the spider had traveled to her home with it. An officer was sent to investigate, and discovered the “spider” actually was a piece of fluff.

Winter life hacks.

If you can't view the below video, try https://youtu.be/I-Wvjn7rVvA

How to take off your kid’s boots with one hand.

If you can't view the below video, try https://youtu.be/PM73djdgxZI

The violin can sound very much like car, and other, alarms.

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Data and Research January 21, 2016

Retiree Health Costs Greater for Singles than Couples

The largest spending differences between older singles and older couples occur in the case of home health care and nursing home stays, EBRI finds.
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Singles and couples age 65 and older tend to face sharply different expenses for non-recurring health care services such as home health care, nursing home stays, overnight hospital stays and outpatient surgery, according to research by the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI).

On the other hand, recurring health care expenses—i.e. doctor visits, dentist visits and prescription drugs—averaged about $2,500 per person for both single and couple households aged 65-plus in the two years between 2010 and 2012. The biggest expense was prescription drugs, costing single households an average of $1,766 and couple households an average of $1,609 per person.

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“The most important observation from these two figures was that per-person out-of-pocket recurring health care expenses were not any different between single and couple households,” EBRI says. The research organization also says recurring health care expenses generally do not increase with age.

Non-recurring health care expenses, however, cost single households an average of $7,122 but couple households only $3,161 during that two-year period. And those expenses increase with age; for households ages 85 and older, singles spent an average of $13,355 on non-recurring health care expenses, and couples, $8,530. EBRI Research Associate Sudipto Banerjee says the reason these kinds of medical expenses are lower for couples could be because one of the spouses acts as a caregiver.

“Health care expenses are a major concern for retirees,” EBRI concludes. “But some retirees should be more concerned than others. Certainly, those who have existing medical conditions are likely to spend more. But at a more general level, singles are likely to spend more on health care services than couples.”

A recent survey by Nationwide finds that pre-retirees have fears about health care costs in retirement, but are not having the conversations needed to address the issue.

The full EBRI report, “Differences in Out-of-Pocket Health Care Expenses of Older Single and Couple Households,” can be downloaded here.

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