Ok, here it is. My secret fear.

WHAT IF...I homestead. I do everything right, stock up on food, become self sufficient off the grid, grown my own everything...basically drop out of this rat race and live my life the way I have always dreamed. Sounds great, right? So what happens if I have major medical problems down the road? (no healthcare for the homesteader, unless you are sitting on a great pension or a pile of money...I would have neither). What happens if you grow too old and/or too sick to take care of yourself on your homestead?

Did anyone else consider this stuff before they dove in? What are your ideas on the subject?

I am not a big chicken at heart, honest. But I had lived in extreme poverty before and I guess it has just made me more aware that the what if's do exist and I really should have a plan B...just in case. I just have no idea what plan B is.

-- Najia (najia274@yahoo.com), April 09, 2002

Answers

Homesteading is not either/or. Your legitimate concerns can be met several ways; by keeping a job with benefits, by planning or inviting a grown child or friend to live with you now or eventually, etc. Design of your site can help also; building in ramps, safety rails, making friends with neighbors and having a mutual check-in. Putting in a wheeled cart for wood, using a dolly to move big loads, maybe hiring somewone to chop wood, etc. taking care to dress for cold and ice, minimizing safety concerns. Keeping safety and weather gear in your vehicle, or always taking a small backpack with the ten essentials into the bush. Backing up your heating system, your water, etc. planning to cut down on labor intensive work like some animal care and gardening, relying more on easier care foods like bush fruits, perennial vegetables, and so forth.

-- seraphima (seraphima@ak.net), April 09, 2002.

Well, what we had to do was leave my little plot in Montana and head to a major west coast city where Dear Spouse could find work and I could have medical care.

When I recovered, we started over with slight modifications to plan A so we can avoid plan B next time. Dear Spouse has a job that he loves with good pay and benefits, that is neither physically or mentally taxing, and is located in a very isolated area.

We now have the best of both worlds, a small farm where I can raise my children in a healthy environment and we won't starve if the horse gets in the garden again. If one of us faces another major medical problem, this time we won't have to uproot the kids from the land and stick them in an attic apartment for survival.

-- Laura (LadybugWrangler@somewhere.com), April 09, 2002.

I began taking it "one step at a time" and continue to do so. What is self sufficiency? I was laid off over a year ago and slim prospects of re-employment in my field in the near future, yet thanks to the "Countryside perspective" my quality of life has not decreased any since my termination. In fact it has improved as I now have more time to pursue my agronomic endeavors while circulating resumes.

-- Jay Blair in N. AL (jayblair678@yahoo.com), April 09, 2002.

Najia, Better question: What if we play by all the rules (rules we do not participate in making), and never do the things we really in our heart want to do? A lot of older people are stuck in a life long strangle hold of rules and regulations shoved down their throats that have prevented them from ever doing what they long for. Don't be afraid, your life is too important to only you! Live a little! Your homesteading buddy, Woodsbilly! p.s. I have to go to a job that I don't really look forward to, like most.

-- Woodsbilly n.c. Pa. (coleenl@penn.com), April 09, 2002.

Hello Najia,

There's no absolutes in homesteading. You gradually adjust to your needs over time. No different than living anywhere else. Why put yourself through stress with worrying about "all the little details". Live life and enjoy it first.

Sincerely,

Ernest

-- http://communities.msn.com/livingoffthelandintheozarks (espresso42@hotmail.com), April 09, 2002.

Can you not purchase health care? Lets face it, there are a great many "what ifs" in life. Some planning and foresight are certainly wise, but don't get carried away.

-- Jack (jackb@realisis.com), April 09, 2002.

Well, if you have major medical problems down the road, you have no insurance and no assets other than a home, you'll probably wind up qualifying for Medicaid--not great, but better than nothing, I suppose.

In my former life, I was an estate planning attorney. You wouldn't believe the number of folks who had saved up a couple of hundred thousand dollars, wound up on Medicare after retirement, then needed to go to a nursing home. Medicare only pays part of the cost of a nursing home for a limited period of time. If you need long-term care and you don't have private insurance to cover it (which most don't), then most likely you'll wind up spending most of what you have in nursing home costs before you can qualify for Medicaid.

So, if you do the "right" thing and play by the rules, you still may lose out.

With that being said, I can't imagine not having insurance . . . especially since we have children. I've known a few families who have gone without for periods of time, and it can be a nightmare. There are many insurance companies out there that offer individual family policies for major medical coverage--not particularly good for routine doctor visits, but a life-saver if something serious happens. You can also qualify for group major medical policies through many organizations.

Absolutely, you should consider all of the potential problems . . . then think about ways of solving them.

-- Julie Woessner (jwoessner@rtmx.net), April 09, 2002.

Amen to the losing money on the nursing home. My Father-in-law went thru almost $250,000 for my mil before medicaid kicked in at the end. I have seen my mother confined to a wheelchair for 7 years, my mil linger for 4 years not knowing what day it was and 2 of my husbands aunts die in their mid 60's without doing what they wanted. Still can't convince husband to make plans to move to NC PA to our land in the next few years. I hope the waiting will be over when the kids finish school.

-- Cindy Noll (CBirder@aol.com), April 09, 2002.

As a person who has been healthy all her life and then zapped with a cancer diagnosis, out of blue, my advice is to do the homesteading thing but definitely have some sort of medical insurance. As mentioned before a major medical plan is less expensive but will save you if anything of significant cost arises. Life is short and you should live it as you want but you have to be realistic as life is also very unpredictable. Medical costs are extremely out of sight. Believe me I know, and we are fortunate enough to have good insurance. If it wasn't for the insurance we would have lost everything we've worked for over the last 30 years in these past 6 months. It may take you longer to be where you want, but my advice is to plan for the unforseen.

-- cindy palmer (jandcpalmer@sierratel.com), April 09, 2002.

If you can find you a money making project to provide for yourself, you can still pay into S.S. or/and a Roth IRA account for the future.

-- r.h. in okla. (rhays@sstelco.com), April 09, 2002.

We are facing the same questions you are asking. We are retired and have lots of gray in our hair. And now is when we are finally able to look for land to build our small homestead on.

Our answer to what to do in later years is to plan in advance for the time we won't be able to do the hard physical things. Right from the first, we will do extra work now to make as much as we can easier in the coming years. Mainly, this is planning. The house will have doorways large enough to easily handle a wheelchair. We won't have any stairs or steps inside or in the entry path. If height is needed, we will have a gently sloping ramp. The small barn will be close to the house so we don't have to take a hike to get to it. We will put extra work into making chores as easy as possible. Will plan and build the chicken house so it's as easy as we can make it to clean out, for instance. Garden will be raised beds - labor intensive to start, but very easy to maintain in coming years. The garden will be close to the house.

And we plan on getting enough land for a second house. We don't have kids who want anything to do with country living, so we have to find another way. The one thing we have talked most about is helping a young family into this life style, in return for their help around our place when we are unable to do everything ourselves. Maybe a young "traditional" family, with mom, dad and kids. Maybe a single parent with a couple of kids. With the cost of land ever rising, most young families just can't afford to buy anything near a homestead. So we hope to find young people who want that sort of life and are willing to help with things we can't manage for ourselves. In return, we will give them a huge break on rent, if not free rent, and share produce, eggs and anything else the homestead provides.

Don't know if this will work out of course, but it's the direction we are taking.

-- Carol - in Virginia (carollm@rockbridge.net), April 10, 2002.

THANKS EVERYONE!! I think I agree with all of what everyone said here. Life IS too short to agonize over the "what ifs" but we definitely need to make sure we have healthcare/insurance. I could be hit by a bus tomorrow or I could live for 80 more years...who knows? All I know for sure is I do not want to spend the next umpteen years living life like I am now. I want to set my own rules, enjoy my children and husband, smell the roses, and feel my toes in the dirt!

-- Najia (najia274@yahoo.com), April 11, 2002.

Remember this: A: the heath care providers are making money betting on the fact that you WONT get sick. When you buy or whatever into insurance- you are betting against yourself. Chances are in your favor that you will come out cheaper by NOT buying into insurances. B: If you do get sick and go into the deep hole of debt, go get a bankrupcy and start over. Sounds sick to say, but get realistic, no one is going to be able to repay a 400,000 med bill or something. C: if you are really concerned about living life as LONG as possible, as opposed to as PURELY as possible, go work the 40 to 60 hour work week to get insurances. I would be willing to be the uninsured live longer and happier from the lack of stress! D: People have lived for tens of thousands of years without insurance of any kind. Why start worrying now!?

-- Kevin in NC (Vantravlrs@aol.com), April 11, 2002.