@sushipup2 you are probably right. I can't remember exactly what dad had; sadly he passed away a few years ago. I believe he did have vision coverage. We have vision care through my former employer but not dental insurance. What was offered through work did not cover our (wonderful) dentists, and I would rather pay than change. So, I guess we'll be used to that if need be, when we go on Medicare.

Yes, these are supposed to be the ”shorter” pairs that can work with glasses even. Out of the 4 styles I have, these are the shortest. They have a video about trimming, and I will try it eventuallly. But I’ve worn them twice and they work very well and are easy to apply and take off. I have few events coming up. We’ve had some outdoor concerts but it was so hot this is the last thing I want to bother with. My niece thought they were fine, but she is used to people with super long or thick lashes. She may try these herself.

I doubt the supplemental resistance heat is going to be a budget buster. Taking the chill of a room with resistance heat on rare nights is a really minor cost. Interestingly, a well built modern structure can be cheaper to heat with electric resistance when you factor in the initial cost of the HVAC and depreciate/amortize and maintain the thing. There was one built in a cold area like the Dakotas - $150 a year. My 2018 build has heat pumps and if I didn't need A/C... I had 300 hours of runtime in Jan at 2 kw. So $70 to heat my house with a heat pump. My energy monitor (the other way of looking at it) comes out about the same - about 600kw. Most of the time a 3X savings is about right - assuming a COP of 3.0. So it would have been $210 to heat the house with electric resistance. So total winter is about 3 times January for an annual cost of about $500 give or take (ie guessing quite high). The differential cost of convential HVAC vs a couple of heating strips was about $10k and more like $15k in todays environment. Then $100 a year to maintain. And figure $1000 repair every 5 years. And a life of 20 years with then a $5k cost. You can see that it isn't obvious from a financial standpoint which is the better choice. Now - if I was building the house, knowing that I was going to use electric resistance, I would have insulated even better. You know, you can build a house that essentially is heated for free? Now go back to my numbers $500 a year for a 3800 sqft house. Now OP is talking about 500 sqft in bedrooms that are kept colder. We are not talking $100 a year - probably more like $50. Solar panels would be a much better return than more heads with a lot less maintenance - and greater lifespan.

I was given info on a few different policies for dental insurance. What it boiled down to was that you were essentially paying for your cleanings with the policy premium. They usually had a waiting period for a year or two to cover a larger repair. We decided to self insure as we are both pretty much crowned out. We were told that some dentist have plans in office for seniors where they will do cleanings for a reduced rate for cash payment and give a discount for larger items. Ours will give a discount for cash on larger repairs. @Oakley I have a vision plan thru United Healthcare that cost $10/month. That isn't much different from my employer coverage and covers pretty much the same things. I don't think that is unreasonable in cost. I would suggest contacting a senior insurance broker and see what they can come up with for you.