It's not often I'm made to feel old. I may feel it myself somedays but I'm usually pretty proud of the years I have under my belt. I've had a lot of great times and very few regrets. But beyond that, I've not even yet begun!

But I had a conversation yesterday that floored me.

So this month, my health insurance expires from my previous job. They were kind enough at the time to provide me with an additional 6 months of extended health after my redundancy in February.

I switched over to the regular general health coverage this month without a problem. It's $47 a month for those that are interested. It covers basic health care, and it would seem it's a bargain of late for me.

But that left me with the rest. Extended health plans here will cover prescriptions, eyecare, physiotherapy, and a lot of other things, including ambulance care if required. Most times this is a benefit of employment but as I am now a contract employee, it's not available to me.

My previous employer included a pamphlet on Pacific Bluecross. It gave the option as a 'contractor' to pay my own way. Sounded good to me. I went online and cringed a bit at the price. A year ago, when I was the wet-behind-the-ears 34, it would have been a mere $30 a month or $343 per annum. Now, 12 months into the 35-44 range, the jump was rather steep. Now $43 a month, or $491 per annum.

But, hey, I will need it, I told myself. My migraine medication alone is $200 a month. So I filled out their form and sent it in.

The representative called me yesterday afternoon to ask a few questions.

First, he confirmed my age.

Then he asked if I had ever any overnight hospital stays. Yup, I had to reply. 'Oh, I see', he said rather disapprovingly.

'I see here you have pre-existing conditions', he went on to say.

Which apparently will up the premium by $15 per month. And will not cover anything pre-existing or possibly related.

I asked him to confirm then what I would be paying for. If it doesn't cover my existing medications, nor anything that could possibly traced back to the vascular disorder, then what am I paying $45 a month for?

'Well, you are 35, you know. Things start to go very wrong after that'.

35? Um, I may have my bad moments, son, but I got at least another 35 left!

So I told him he could keep his premium. And I will go on paying for my medications myself. I guess, really, these companies are in business to make money and they certainly wouldn't be making anything off of me.

But after that phonecall, I didn't know whether to go home, put my shawl on and curl up on my front porch rocker with my cane at my side, or scream!

Gawdamn young whippersnappers - what is the world coming to?