The current situation with the economy has me rather worried because my husband is planning to retire in April and I fear that there won’t be anything left in his 401K plan. The state of the economy has also had me concerned about the millions of people suffering from chronic illness. I fear that with job layoffs and added financial stress, many of these chronically ill patients will end up sicker.
I also fear that many chronically ill women and men who have had to go on disability will be forced to go back out into the working world because their spouse has been laid off from his or her job and the need for additional money is urgent. In the long run, those who may have to go out and get a job but are really too sick to do so can end up costing all of us more due to an increase in healthcare costs.
So what are we to do during these tough times? Here are a few suggestions:
- Now is not the time to start spending a lot of money. Cut back on expenses and don’t add anything extra to your credit card that you can’t pay off in full when the bill arrives.
- Try to relax and don’t let the stress get you down. I know that is easier than it sounds but during these tough times we must stay in control and not make ourselves sicker.
- If you are forced to go back to work even though you are chronically ill, delegate at home tasks to other family members. You are not superman or superwoman and you might have to let some things at home go during this difficult time.
- Pray for an end to these difficult times.
Many of these things are easier said then done. Cutting back when things are that much more expensive don’t seem reasonable. Gas price go up, gas price go down. The gas prices are what got a lot of us in this pickle to begin with.
Hi Chronic Chick, True, gas prices are a cause of problems for many but when I said cutting back on things I am referring to the extra things we buy that we don’t need. We need to eat, we need gas, we don’t necessarily need new earrings, CDs, movies, etc.