Goodbye to the horrible year 2023 (annus horribilis)

Forums › Off topic › Goodbye to the horrible year 2023 (annus horribilis)

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Bluntj

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#3174481 22-Dec-2023 11:24

farcus:

vexxxboy:

. . . chemist who for some reason doesn't charge anything to fill the script. I didnt realise this wasnt normal.

It is normal. Prescriptions are currently free for everyone, although the current govt has vowed to cancel this.

Not quite cancel. Will still be fee for those on super and/or have a community card. Still better than 5 years of Labour.

Geektastic

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#3174523 22-Dec-2023 12:19

Shindig:
can you get Tennents Super over here?

Why would you want to?! That’s Grade A Park Bench Crazy Drunk stuff.

Bung

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#3174577 22-Dec-2023 12:42

Bluntj:

Not quite cancel. Will still be fee for those on super and/or have a community card. Still better than 5 years of Labour.

5 years?? Is that Willis maths?

The previous scheme wasn't free to Gold Card holders until the universal $100 cap was reached. That makes it unclear how much the savings will be. I'm not sure that some people realised that the $100 limit existed and it was important to either go to same chemist and link family members or keep prescription receipts with the number of eligible items recorded.

"Free prescriptions would still be available to those with a Community Services Card or a SuperGold Card, he said, while non-qualifying families would have fees capped at $100 a year.

Asked why seniors - who already get taxpayer-funded pensions regardless of their wealth or income - would still get free prescriptions, Luxon said it was the "cleanest way" to reach those who need them."

Handsomedan

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#3174584 22-Dec-2023 13:07

Re the Annus Horribilus - we have had a couple in a row. Annii Horribilus? Annus Horribilii?

Anyway, enough with the terrible Latin.

We haven't had any dentistry-related bills, but we started last year with a flood. Not the famous AKL Anniversary flood, but a weather bomb a year earlier.
Fast forward to a year of having various tradies through the house doing very little and causing a lot of disruption, plus having our gutters replaced/updated for $17k, it was quite the year. We moved out for a month in November and thought we'd come back to a fully fixed home. We didn't. Spent Christmas/New year last year in a bit of a building site scenario (minus the builders).

2023 rolled around with the vast majority of the restorative work still needing to be done.
We had a house that we couldn't walk around in barefoot, due to the attempts to take up tiles leaving jagged bits of ceramic tile sticking up all over the place and a gravel-like substance on 1/3 of our floors. Plus we'd emptied the kitchen cupboards and put most of our day-to-day belongings in storage as we thought we were going to have a new kitchen fitted. I'll get back to that later. We've been living with 4 plates, cups, knives, forks spoons etc and no dishwasher. Fridge was in the garage.

Fast forward to July(ish) and we discovered that the shower head had fallen onto the acrylic shower base and cracked it. We were reluctant to make a claim at that stage as we'd had so much going on. we tried a number of methods to keep it watertight, but eventually had to admit defeat and called the insurers. They sent an assessor who agreed that the shower was busted (duh) and then said that because we didn't lodge the claim immediately they wouldn't cover any damage to the rest of the bathroom as aresult of the leakage, so we got paid out for the replacement and fitting of a new shower only - $4k (more or less).

We then spent all of October and November (and week or so of December) in rented accommodation, while the building works really began...over a year and a half after the initial claim.

Many, many hiccups and mistakes and poor building/plumbing/electrical contractors later and we have finally moved back into our home, which now has a new floor in 50% of the building, a kitchen that is 75% new (despite being told we were getting a whole new kitchen, we didn't) and we're still not finished. The kitchen was probably the worst bit - they ripped the whole thing out, then when reinstating it put broken and damaged parts back in, in the hope we wouldn't notice. A lot of it came back out and got replaced, but they damaged work that had already been done so we now need painters to come back and touch up the damage.
On top of that, blinds and curtains have been damaged, but nobody will take responsibility for that, so we'll be spending what little we have left in the bank on those in the next couple of weeks.

Oh yeah - we got the bathroom redone on the cheap - that $4k from the insurers went towards a budget bathroom rebuild from which we got no change from $20k. Ouch.
Our builders/plumbers/plasterers/tilers did a great job though - much better than the insurance company's cowboys.

We're also waiting for the insurers to replace our dishwasher which was alsmost new - that got (I assume) dropped at some point and heavily damaged. THey're arguing amongst themselves over who is liable. I don't care. I jusy want my dishwasher replaced with a like-for-like replacement.

We're still waiting for the carpets to be cleaned as a part of the insurance reinstatement too.

I anticipate that our lives will get back to normal once we get everything fully out of storage and unpacked from boxes. Maybe March? Maybe...

Handsome Dan Has Spoken.
Handsome Dan needs to stop adding three dots to every sentence...

Handsome Dan does not currently have a side hustle as the mascot for Yale

*Gladly accepting donations...

kingdragonfly

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#3174594 22-Dec-2023 13:48

Water damage is the worst.

johno1234

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#3174595 22-Dec-2023 13:49

Bluntj:

Not quite cancel. Will still be fee for those on super and/or have a community card. Still better than 5 years of Labour.

And for others the prescription fee is $5, with a family annual maximum of $100. Of the money saved $280m is allocated to funding new cancer drugs that are currently unfunded. I would have thought people who can afford $5 prescription fees like me paying $5 so people with cancer can get better drugs was a good idea.

New cancer treatments to be funded:

Osimertinib for lung cancer – first-line therapy
Osimertinib for lung cancer – second-line therapy
Atezolizumab with bevacizumab for liver cancer
Cetuximab or panitumumab for bowel cancer – first-line therapy
Cetuximab for bowel cancer – second-line therapy
Nivolumab with ipilimumab for kidney cancer – first-line therapy
Nivolumab for kidney cancer – second-line therapy
Axitinib for kidney cancer – second-line therapy
Pembrolizumab for bladder cancer
Nivolumab for head and neck cancer
Nivolumab or pembrolizumab for melanoma (adjuvant)
Dabrafenib with trametinib for melanoma (adjuvant)
BRAF/MEK inhibitors for melanoma (unresectable)

kingdragonfly

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#3174615 22-Dec-2023 14:38

I have a feeling a few people on this list will have a terrible 2024

AP News: US Judge orders release of over 150 names of people mentioned in Jeffrey Epstein lawsuit documents

A federal judge has ordered the public disclosure of the identities of more than 150 people mentioned in a mountain of court documents related to the late-financier Jeffrey Epstein, saying that most of the names were already public and that many had not objected to the release.

The people whose names are to be disclosed, including sex abuse victims, litigation witnesses, Epstein’s employees — and even some people with only a passing connection to the scandal — have until Jan. 1 to appeal the order, signed Monday by Judge Loretta A. Preska.

For several years, Preska has reviewed documents sought by the Miami Herald from a civil case, filed by one of Epstein’s victims, that eventually was settled.

Many of the records related to that lawsuit were publicly released in past years, but on Monday the judge made determinations about some portions of the records that were initially withheld on potential privacy grounds and what can be made public about certain people mentioned in the records.

In many instances, she noted that individuals had given media interviews or that their names had previously emerged publicly in various ways, including at a trial two years ago of Epstein’s associate and former girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell.

Preska concluded that some portions of the records should remain confidential, including those identifying people who were children when they were sexually abused by Epstein and had tried to maintain their privacy.

The Epstein case has spawned countless conspiracy theories about the possible involvement of rich and powerful people in sex trafficking.
...

Sharesies

Trade NZ and US shares and funds with Sharesies (affiliate link).

farcus

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#3174636 22-Dec-2023 16:16

johno1234:

And for others the prescription fee is $5, with a family annual maximum of $100. Of the money saved $280m is allocated to funding new cancer drugs that are currently unfunded. I would have thought people who can afford $5 prescription fees like me paying $5 so people with cancer can get better drugs was a good idea.

but don't you find it despicable that one is linked to the other?

kingdragonfly

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#3188775 31-Jan-2024 10:48

Following up. I had mentioned my friend got a colonoscopy without anesthesia.

My friend: "My doc just posted a new record to 'ManageMyHealth'.

He used plain English to describe the colonoscopy results, which is great.

Out of the 7 polyps removed. 2 were pre-cancerous so he's booked me in for another colonoscopy in 3 years time.

All in all, good news :-)

Many trash the hospital system, but my experience has been very positive. And it didn't cost me a cent."