How to Change Your Own Damned Subaru LED Brake Light (And No You Don’t Need to Replace the Entire Light Assembly!)

How to Change Your Own Damned Subaru Tail Light (And No You Don't Need to Replace the Entire Light Assembly!)

Guess what! When your brake light (that white sideways U) goes out on your Subaru, you don’t have to have the whole assembly replaced, and you don’t have to take it to the dealership, and you can in fact change out that specialized, proprietary Subaru LED bulb yourself, for under $50. And if I can do it, you certainly can!

NOTE: This is based on my own experience with my 2017 Subaru Forester. If you have a different year or model YMMV (no pun intended), but it probably won’t vary by much.

First, those sideways white U lights are your brake lights, so they’re pretty important. And Subaru knows this. So when you go to check how to change your rear lights in your Subaru, and in particular that sideways U brake light, in your Subaru owner’s manual you are told “consult your Subaru dealer for replacement.”

In fact, in the user’s manual those white rear sideways U lights aren’t even given a part number, instead they are designated not by a number, but by a letter, F. As we all know, F stands for F*cked. In this case, you’re effed if you want to change the burned out bulbs in that sideways U. They want you to believe that you can’t change it out yourself. Because of course they want you to do it at the dealership or, as one post I saw called it, “the stealership”. Where you will be charged at least two limbs.

And, indeed, when you ‘consult your Subaru dealer’ you are likely to be told “you need to bring it in”, and nearly as likely to be told “we need to replace the entire light assembly; that’ll be $300 please.”

So….

How to Replace Your Own Damned Brake Light No Matter What Subaru Says, Here’s How

First things first:

Order a set of Torx drivers. Here is the set that I got, they are less than $7:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07Q21RPS2

Then order the LED light that you need here (NOTE that this one is specific to my 2017 Forester, if you have a different year/model you may need a different one):

https://www.subarupartsplus.com/oem-parts/subaru-bulb-84960sg000

(These are NOT affiliate links. I do not use affiliate links because I want you to know that if I am recommending something it’s because I really use it myself and recommend it, and not for financial gain.)

Once you have your LED light and Torx drivers, you are ready!

Remove the Rear Light Housing

Before you can change your Subaru brake light LED, you have to be able to access it. This means removing the light assembly/housing. Some YouTube videos will tell you that you need to pry the back end of it away from the car. DO NOT DO THAT! You will break it!

How to Remove the Rear Light Housing Assembly on your Subaru

There are two screws at the front of the housing which hold the housing to the body of your car. Remove those.

Then the rear light housing slides out by pulling it straight back. This is because the back part of it is held on by a post-and-slot fastener.

It may be slightly difficult to slide this housing off, but trust me, it will happen. Do this slowly for two reasons: 1. You don’t want to risk breaking it. and 2. There is a wired connector connecting the housing to the body of the car, which you will need to unclip.

Wired Connector

Wired Connector Disconnected

Changing Out the LED Rear Brake Light

Once you have the rear light housing disconnected from the body of the car, gently set it down and look for this:

Brake Light LED Bulb*

Brake Light LED Bulb Closeup*

*I could have sworn that I took pictures exactly like the two above to include in this tutorial, however they seem to have disappeared from my phone. The above two pictures are credit to Reddit and, specifically, drinkythedrunkguy on Reddit.

Now take your Torx driver (I found that it was the #15) and remove that darned Torx screw.

Once you’ve removed the Torx screw, slide your LED brake light bulb out, and unclip it.

Clip the new bulb back in, slide it into place, and screw the Torx screw back in.

New Subaru LED Brake Light Bulb

Business End of Subaru LED Brake Light Bulb

New Subaru LED Brake Light Clipped in and About to Be Put Back In

Now just re-connect the wire between the housing and the body of the car, slide the housing back into place, replace the screws, and you’re done!

Looking for Subaru W5W and Rear Light Bulbs? Here’s What You Need to Know. Plus How to Change Your Own Subaru LED Brake Light!

Is there a conspiracy among vehicle bulb manufacturers to hide which of their bulbs is the equivalent of the W5W bulb used by Subaru?? How about why your owner’s manual says to “consult your Subaru dealer for replacement” of the rear, white sideways U light? Here is the information that you are looking for about both.

First, don’t get me wrong, I love my Subaru Forester. It’s a 2017 Subaru Forester, and not only that, it’s a Turbo Forester, with paddle shifters! This thing hauls! But omg, could the automobile lightbulb market be any more confusing? (Channeling the late, great Chandler Bing here.) Read on for the bulbs you need that are the equivalent to the W5W bulbs.

So here’s what I don’t love: the frustration when needing to change a burned out bulb, such as a rear bulb, directional bulb, side running bulb, tulip bulb, whatever bulb, and trying to wade through the vast and confusing ocean of light bulbs when you need to purchase said bulb to replace a W5W bulb in your Subaru.

You see, in the owner’s manual, you will see the W5W bulb listed as being used for a lot, and I do mean a lot of the bulbs throughout your car, including the regular rear bulbs (we’ll get to the LED bulbs that illuminate that white sideways U in a moment, but trust me, you’re not going to like it). ‘W5W’ means that the bulb is 5 watts and has a wedge-type base. Get it? Wedge 5 Watts – W5W.

To further confuse and complicate things, every single ‘how to’ video on YouTube about how to change your Subaru bulbs uses a different brand of bulb, with different numbers! And not a one of them (at least that I’ve found) mentions other brand bulbs or bulb numbers that you can use. So if you watched a video saying you want a 7443 bulb, or a 921 bulb, or a 3.1415 bulb, you’d be forgiven for not realizing that they are all a version of and equivalent to the W5W bulb, as each brand uses its own number, and few of them say “W5W bulb equivalent”, let alone “Fits the Subaru {your model}” It’s a conspiracy, I tell ya! (Not really.)

So my job here is to make your job much easier. I’m going to provide you with links on Amazon (and they are not affiliate links!) to bulbs that are actually the equivalent of (i.e. the same as) W5W bulbs, both incandescent and LED versions.

Incandescent W5W Bulbs for Your Subaru

The Philips 12961LLB2 LongerLife Miniature Bulb is a W5W incandescent bulb. In addition to the product description saying that “these are W5W miniature bulbs, also known as 12961LLB2 bulbs”, two different reviews confirm it, one saying that the bulb “will fit all T10 bulb base socket like 194,168,2825 or W5W,” and the other saying that it is “Just a different part number for W5W. Philips quality and Amazon pricing. New and bright. I try to replace lamps before they go.Then I carry the old one in the trunk as a spare. Spare lamps are the law in the EU all though not in the USA.”

Again, here is the link:

Philips 12961LLB2 LongerLife Miniature Bulb

LED W5W Bulbs for your Subaru

If you’re wanting to replace your original W5W bulbs with LED bulbs, then the Canbus 152 168 194 921 T10 LED Bulb will fit the bill. While none of the reviews mention it being W5W specifically, it is mentioned several times in the product description, and hey, it’s right in the product title. And, it has to be said, the reviews are superlative. I especially like this one: “Harness the Power of the Sun… Wow these are bright. These replaced my old LED’s installed into my map light. Those were about 4 years old. These are most definitely way brighter than previous. To be perfectly honest I could probably get away with using just one as it lights up the entire cabin. I’m probably understating this but without an instrument to measure I’m pretty confident the light output is double that of the previous LEDs it replaced. I whole heartedly recommend.”

Again, that link is: Canbus 152 168 194 921 T10 LED Bulb

(Reminder, these are NOT affiliate links. I do not use affiliate links because I want you to know that if I am recommending something it’s because I really use it myself and recommend it, and not for financial gain.)

About the White Rear Sideways U Lights on Your Subaru – They Are Your LED Brake Lights

UPDATE! While Subaru insists that you must replace the entire housing when your Subaru LED brake lights go out, you can actually replace just the LED bulb yourself! Here is the update!:

How to Change Your Own Damned Subaru LED Brake Light (And No You Don’t Need to Replace the Entire Light Assembly!)

What I’d written before discovering how to replace just the LED bulb instead of the entire light housing assembly – leaving it in for the sake of completeness.

In the owner’s manual those white rear sideways U lights are designated not by a number, like most of the other lights, but by a letter, F. As we all know, F stands for F*cked. In this case, you’re effed if you want to change the burned out bulbs in that sideways U. There’s a reason that your owner’s manual says, about those white, sideways U rear lights, to “consult your Subaru dealer for replacement.” Because those lights can’t be changed. Can’t. Be. Changed. At all. Yes, you have to change the entire rear light assembly. And of course they want you to do it at the dealership or, as one post I saw called it, “the stealership”. Where you will be charged at least two limbs.

But guess what! You can get that whole assembly on Amazon, and by all accounts it is very easy to swap that assembly out!

I’m going to give you the link to the search on Amazon, rather than a particular listing, because there is a difference in the assemblies if you have a 2017/2018 Subaru versus a 2014-2016 or 2019-2021 Subaru. There are assemblies for all of them, you just have to be careful to make sure to get the right one. They run between $115 and $150, generally speaking.

Here’s the search link: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=subaru+rear+passenger+light+assembly

That is for the passenger side. If you need it for the driver’s side, of course just switch the search term.

I hope that this has been helpful!

How I Determined What Was the Best and Safest Car for Me

A friend recently asked me how I’d determined, when needing to get a new car, what was the best and safest car for me. So I thought I’d share what I did to determine the best car for me, in case it’s helpful for some other people.

In 2016 I was in a horrible accident – I was stopped, waiting behind a bus, when this women slammed into the back of me at full speed. My car was pushed into the back of the bus, with her smashed into the back of me. So my car experienced two impacts in rapid succession, first from the back when she ran into me, and then from the front when I was rammed into the bus. I actually experienced a total of three impacts: when she rammed into me, when I was rammed into the bus, and then when the air bag deployed (thank god), throwing me back again (so I was thrown back, forward, and back again.

My beloved Town & Country van saved my life. Despite the violence of the double crash, and the front of my car being rammed with great force into the back of a stopped bus (talk about meeting an immovable object!), the front crumple zone did exactly that, it crumpled, and the driver/passenger compartment was completely unscathed in that it didn’t crumple even a tiny bit. However my beloved Town & Country van had given its life in order to save mine. :~( (I say beloved because I really did love that car.)

My beloved Town & Country (sniffle)

My car was totaled. So once I’d recovered (thankfully I wasn’t horribly hurt) I had to buy a car. I searched and searched for another Town & Country, the same model and no newer than the same year (2004), as that is the last year that they made the Town & Country with all-wheel drive (AWD), on which I absolutely insist living as I do in the foothills of Colorado. Once it became clear that a) I wasn’t going to find anyone selling a pre-2005 T&C, and b) the interest rates were much higher on used cars, while there were lots of great deals on interest rates for new cars, I determined that I was going to buy a new car. But which one?

So I contacted my insurance company and asked them “What cars make you the happiest when you see that is what your insured is driving?” Meaning, which ones do you consider the safest? They sent me a list of about 20 cars. Then I took that list to my trusted (and very popular, so they had lots of experience) mechanic and asked them “Which of these cars do you see the *least* for issues?”

They gave me a list of three: The Toyota Rav4, the Honda CRX, and the Subaru Forester. I test drove each – both the Toyota and the Honda were very uncomfortable to sit in (I’m short, just 5’3). In one of them I couldn’t even see over the hood, and in the other the rear side windows were so weirdly placed and so small that they didn’t provide good visibility out. (I forget which was which but I *think* it was the CRV that had the poor visibility out of the side rear windows).

The Subaru Forester was the third of the three cars that I test drove, and thank goodness that when I test drove the Subaru it felt *very* comfortable, and I could see with good visibility out all of the windows.

So, that’s why I have a 2017 Subaru Forester in my garage. :~)

The moral of this story is: If you find yourself needing to buy a car, ask your insurance company which ones they consider the safest and which have the least number of claims. Then take that list to your mechanic and ask them which ones they see the *least* for issues and repairs. Then go test drive those cars.

The Actual Fix for the Roomba “Error 2 Please Clear Debris Extractors”

So your Roomba is toddling along merrily, and suddenly it stops and says “Error 2 please clear debris extractors.” So once you figure out just what are the debris extractors (they are those two rollers on the bottom that sweep stuff into your Roomba) you do what you think you should need to do to “clear the debris extractors”. Then you start your Roomba again, and it starts toddling along again, so you think “Yay, that fixed it!” And then your Roomba says “Psych! Error 2! Please clear the debris extractors.” So you lather, rinse, repeat, each time your Roomba goes a couple of minutes, lulling you into a false sense of security, and then screams at you “I SAID ERROR 2, YOU MORON! CLEAR THE F*CKING DEBRIS EXTRACTORS”, and gee, it doesn’t even say “please” this time, how rude!

By now you’ve tried everything that the intertubes tells you to. These likely include:

– Removing the debris extractors and repositioning them and putting them back in

– Removing the debris extractors and inspecting for and brushing away any loose dirt, hair, etc. from behind the debris extractors

– Removing the debris extractors and taking a swab to both ends of both debris extractors, and to the indentations in the body of the Roomba into which both debris extractors fit

– Removing the “cleaning head module” (wait, the what??*) to see if anything is trapped in/behind/under there. *For our purposes, the cleaning head module can be thought of as the cavity in which the two debris extractor rollers sit, although it is of course much more

– Removing the battery for at least 5 minutes to have the Roomba re-set itself

But I’m going to bet that there’s one thing that you haven’t done, and I blame the many “how to” sites that don’t make this very clear (which is why I’m writing it up for you, so that you can find it easily!)

This thing is removing the yellow end of the debris extractors and removing all of the hair and other stuff that has accumulated in the body of the extractor.

This is what needs to be removed

Note that the endcaps don’t always pop off as easily as in the video, you may need to really fiddle with them, and really twist them and pull on them (but gently, you don’t want to break anything).

Once you get those endcaps off you will be astonished/shocked/grossed out at just how much stuff has accumulated back there. This stuff is what is causing the error, primarily because it is keeping the debris extractors from turning freely.

Ewwwww

You need to very carefully remove it all; I found that a pair of tweezers was useful for this. You will be amazed at the amount of stuff you will extract.

This is what was removed from just one of the two debris extractors

Then be sure to take a swab and carefully clean the underside of each yellow cap.

Reassemble your Roomba, and revel in the lack of it telling you “Error 2 Please Clear Debris Extractors”!

Of course my hope is that you found this post well before you went through all of the other steps, thus saving you from the maddening experience of trying everything else first only to hear your Roomba continue to taunt you.

Speaking of how many times your Roomba will tell you “Error 2 Please Clear Debris Extractors”, I finally realized why my dog Lily gets so excited when the Roomba starts up – I’m pretty sure, having heard the Roomba talk so much, that she thinks that there’s a little tiny person inside there! Seriously, she wags her tail so hard when the Roomba comes a’toddling!

How and Where to Get Your Personal Background Check in Colorado to Use on Rental Applications

If you live in Colorado or are about to move to Colorado, here’s how and where you can get your own personal background check to provide to landlords, rental agents, and property management companies when you are applying for a rental, instead of having to pay a criminal background check fee for each rental application that you submit.

This can potentially save you hundreds of dollars as you can attach your own individual background check to rental applications, rather than having to pay the application fee that nearly all landlords and management companies require when applying for a rental.

This is because Colorado passed a law this past year called HB23-1099 – Portable Screening Report for Residential Leases, that requires landlords to accept these reports from prospective tenants.

Here’s the relevant text of HB23-1099:

Except in certain circumstances, the act requires a landlord to accept from a prospective tenant a portable tenant screening report (screening report). A landlord may require that the screening report was prepared by a consumer reporting agency (reporting agency) within the previous 30 days, at the prospective tenant’s request and expense, and made directly available to the landlord by the agency. The act specifies information that must be included in a screening report, including verification of employment and income, rental and credit history, and criminal history. If a prospective tenant provides a screening report, the landlord shall not charge the prospective tenant either an application fee or a fee for the landlord to access or use the screening report.

Prior to collecting any tenant information that would generate an application fee, a landlord shall advise a prospective tenant that the landlord accepts screening reports and is prohibited from charging an application fee or other fee to a prospective tenant who provides a screening report

It’s important to note a few things from the law:

– The landlord may require that the report be no more than 30 days old

– The landlord may require that the report come directly from the agency

– The report must include verification of employment and income, rental and credit history, and criminal history (these are all things, of course, which a report ordered by the prospective landlord would also include)

Where to Get Your Personal Background Check to Provide When Renting in Colorado

First, we need to say (and as Colorado Public Radio found out, there are virtually no agencies which provide everything required by the law BUT read on! This is only because most do not provide employment history, and this is something you can readily get by asking your current employer for a letter (or, if you’ve recently changed jobs, a letter from your current employer as well as your last employer). So just ask the prospective landlord if it’s ok to provide a letter from your employer along with your background check.

Another thing that Colorado Public Radio accurately noted is that generally speaking they don’t provide local criminal convictions, as that would include county and even city level records, which would be incredibly costly to do, which is why landlords rarely require it. As CPR notes, “the law calls for a records check for all “local” convictions, which is more intensive than what landlords typically require. Technically speaking, a landlord could require the tenant’s report to include checks of individual counties where the person has lived…”.

So in this case you may want to just submit your background check, and if the landlord actually wants to see local criminal records, let them tell you that (but it seems that very few would).

Ok, here we go!

Individual Background Check Services

ApplyConnect ApplyConnect provides individual rental background checks which include a complete credit report from Experian, and full rental and criminal history, for $39.95. ApplyConnect is the only individual tenant background check service that I found which specifically says on their site that you can “Pay for your tenant screening report to share it with up to 3 landlords (within 30 days of purchase), and see the details of your report before you decide to share.” To me this suggests that they are aware of the law, including that landlords can require that the background check be sent to them by the background check service, and that the law allows landlords to insist on the background check having been performed within 30 days.

Tenant Background Search Tenant Background Search’s $24.95 search includes a credit report, nationwide criminal records, past address history, and an “employment summary”. (It also includes things that the law doesn’t require, such as a sex offender search and Patriot Act search.)

RentPrep The RentPrep tenant background check you want is called “TransUnion Full Credit Report (SmartMove)”, it costs $40.00 with a $10 add-on for income verification.

TenantAlert TenantAlert offers several background check packages, the ones that include what is required by law (other than the employment history and local criminal records) start at $39.95.

Where to Get a Colorado Local Criminal Background Check

If your prospective landlord does want a local criminal background check you can get a local Colorado criminal background check here, from RTenant, for $20.95.

How I Flattened My Plantar Fibroma without Injections, Surgery, Physical Therapy, Verapamil, or Orthotics

If you have developed a plantar fibroma you may have questions, as did I, such as “Can you shrink your plantar fibroma naturally?” and “How do you break up a plantar fibroma?” because you want to get rid of the darned things! First, to the base question, what is a plantar fibroma, and then I will tell you how I flattened (shrank, and broke up) my plantar fibroma naturally, without injections, surgery, or orthotics. In fact my fibroma went from a hard, round, pea-sized lump when I first discovered it on March 5, 2024, to barely noticeable 5 weeks later, and it has stayed flattened and ‘broken down’ ever since. I am including a picture at the bottom of the page of the things that I mention using.

What is a Plantar Fibroma?

According to the Cleveland Clinic, “A plantar fibroma is a rare benign growth on your plantar fascia, the rubber band-like ligament that stretches from your heel to your toes. Plantar fibromas are small — usually less than an inch — and grow on the arch of your foot. You might not even notice one at first, but eventually a plantar fibroma can cause foot pain, especially when you’re wearing shoes. Plantar fibromas are always benign, which means they’re never a symptom (or cause) of cancer. If you get plantar fibromas frequently, you might be diagnosed with plantar fibromatosis, a condition that means you’ve shown a tendency to develop future plantar fibromas.”

And according to PDLabs, the exclusive manufacturer of Transdermal Verapamil gel (often prescribed for plantar fibroma, PDLabs compounds it), “Plantar fibromatosis is a fibrotic tissue disorder of the plantar fascia that consists of excess collagen or fibrotic tissue. The excess collagen is commonly referred to as a fibroma.”

This was interesting to me because I have a very rare autoimmune condition, localized scleroderma, which is also related to excess collagen and which I developed while I was taking a collagen booster

Anyways, basically a plantar fibroma is a small, round lump made up of what is essentially scar tissue.

What I’ve Learned About What Does and Doesn’t Work to Get Rid of Plantar Fibromas

First, this is not by any stretch of the imagination intended to be either authoritative or exhaustive. It is not advice. It’s just my experience, based on my own research, experimentation, and experience.

After discovering my fibroma, the first thing I did (because I thought that’s what I should do) was to make an appointment with the podiatry practice here (‘here’ is in Colorado) who actually offers the enzyme injections (so lucky to have that as a resource here, at least, even if I never use them :~) ). But the more research I did while waiting for the appointment, the more that I realized it was overkill and that I wanted to reserve that as the last resort, not the first (so I cancelled the appointment).

Perhaps more importantly, in the research I did, which included joining online groups of people who also are dealing with plantar fibroma, I learned that none of the available medical treatments are permanent and some are actually worse than having the fibroma.

As a result I ruled out steroid injections as they are not a cure (they do help some for a while, but the fibromas come back), enyzme injections (ditto, plus insurance doesn’t even cover the injections), radiation which is hit or miss and may do more damage than good and, as with the injections, I’ve never heard of anyone who had it who didn’t still have fibromas come back. And surgery was a 100% no-go as it is known to cause other, irreparable damage.

So I started combing the groups and researching the net for other treatments and, more importantly for what others had found had and hadn’t worked for them, and developed my own system for treating my plantar fibroma, reducing it and beating it into submission. All of this is based on my understanding that fibroma are similar to scar tissue and so it makes sense to me that treating it similarly would be effective; when I broke my wrist (a dance injury) the doctor who was advising me told me to be sure to really work my wrist, even though it would hurt along the surgery site, because I needed to break up the scar tissue to ensure that I kept my range of motion. This is also how the enyzme injections work – the enzymes break down the scar tissue.

So what I did and am doing is based on that knowledge, and the information and experiences of people who had done the injections, physical therapy, the radiation, the surgery, and various topicals and supplements. I combined all of the topicals and actions that others had said worked for them to a greater or lesser degree, rejecting everything that either didn’t work or that worked for a while but not permanently (such as the injections and surgery).

The Result: Flattened Fibroma for the Win!

Fairly quickly my fibroma went from a hard, round, painful pea-sized marble to being flattened out and ‘crunchy’ when I rub it hard (just like broken down scar tissue). My fibroma is still there, but flattened, and it doesn’t hurt, and it doesn’t interfere with walking, working out, or generally with my life at all. I’m still working on it and I believe it will get smaller still.

At a recent visit to a podiatrist, he pronounced it “crepitus”, which in this context meant ‘crunchy’, because, hey, that scar tissue has been broken up! Going from hard and painful to flat and crepitus is exactly what you want.

How I Flattened My Plantar Fibroma without Injections, Surgery, Physical Therapy, Prescription Topicals, or Orthotics

Please note that I am including links for various items, but they are NOT affiliate links as I feel that those degrade the perceived integrity of the links; after all you can’t really know if I really love a product or service, or am just trying to make money off of it. So no affiliate links here, if you feel that I’ve provided you with good information, instead please buy me a latte through my tip jar in the upper right-hand corner of the page. :~)

Chaga and Birch Salve

My method is primarily the result of combining two primary things which others have said worked for them. First, a woman named Robin in one of the groups very graciously shared that she made a salve of chaga and birch which she rubbed on nightly, and that it had helped reduce her fibroma.

She also graciously shared how she made it, which involved taking chaga and birch and boiling and reducing them, and then sieving them and then mixing the resulting liquid with a carrier oil (I believe it was olive although I could be wrong).

I, being lazy (and also at very high risk as I’m immunocompromised so don’t really go to stores, and have no birch woods in the area) scouted around and found an awesome service that will make custom solves and essential oils for you, and had them compound a salve with chaga and birch.

They are called Willow Herb Healing and you can find them at WillowHergHealing.com. The round dark pot with the pink lid in the picture at the bottom of this page is the salve.

Deep Massage (Rubbing) of the Fibroma to Break It Up

Another woman named Pamela shared a video of how her podiatrist had shown her how to firmly rub back and forth against the fibroma with her knuckle or nail, 100 times, to help break it down, saying it had helped shrink hers to the point it no longer bothered her. I wish that I could find Pamela again to thank her, and to share her video, but it looked exactly as it sounds: she was quickly rubbing her knuckle back and forth over the fibroma, 100 times.

However instead of using my knuckle or nail, I bought a Gua Sha tool, which can be purchased on Amazon for under $10. This is a flat, stainless steel tool which is specifically made for, among other things, the breaking up of scar tissue. You can see it in the picture, it’s the flat, shiny thing. This is the one that I purchased.

I use this to scrape across my fibroma (dry foot) 100 times in the morning, then I cover the fibroma with the patch that I describe below.

Topicals

Three oils were mentioned over and over: Bergamot essential oil, Frankincense essential oil, and castor oil as a carrier. I don’t know if they help or not, but I know they can’t hurt. So, I buy these patches which are meant for you to put castor oil on them and then you put it over your belly button (the edges are adhesive), but instead I put a dollop of the salve, and a couple of drops of the castor, Bergamot, and Frankincense oils on one, and then adhere it to the bottom of my foot, over the fibroma. I wear it all day. You can see one of the patches in the picture at the bottom of this page, it’s the white square thing to the left of the salve pot.

Then at night, while sitting watching tv, I remove the patch, put a little more salve on the area, and rub it hard (with my knuckle or nail) 100 times. I could use the Gua Sha tool at night too, but, as I’ve mentioned, I’m lazy, and the tool is downstairs and the tv is upstairs and besides, I don’t want to have to wash the tool by using it with the salve. That doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t though, if you want to.

Supplements

Across the net I had seen several mentions of both nattokinase, and serrapeptase, as helping. I even found one brand of serrapeptase that is vegan (as am I).

Serrapeptase and Nattokinase

Serrapeptase and nattokinase are enzymes that are known for breaking down scar tissue. “The fibrinolytic enzymes serrapeptase and nattokinase have been shown to be effective in removing fibrous scar tissue,” explains a study published in the National Institute of Health.

I take this serrapeptase and this nattokinase.

Mushroom Supplement

I also found a powdered supplement for dogs that is supposed to help with lumps, and the ingredients were all different kinds of mushrooms (including chaga!); so I found a similar supplement in capsules for people. This is the mushroom supplement I take. I generally try to do everything organic as much as possible, but I haven’t yet found a mushroom supplement that is organic and also contains all of these mushrooms.

So I am taking the nattokinase, the serrapeptase, and the mushroom complex.

A Warning About PABA

I’ve seen using a PABA supplement recommended in places. That makes sense to me because, as I mentioned above, I have localized scleroderma, which is a very rare, incurable (but fortunately superficial and benign) autoimmune condition which also is related to collagen (as are fibromas) and a doctor recommended massive doses of PABA to me, saying that it would cure it. Instead, it landed me in the hospital, putting me in a stroke-like state, and almost killed me. It turns out that (at least very large) doses of PABA are known to be toxic. In fact a note on the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) website says that “there is considerable evidence that PABA taken orally can be toxic.” You can read other reports on PABA toxicity here.

The Results! Tah-Dah!

As I mentioned, I discovered my fibroma on March 5, 2024, I discovered it when I suddenly felt very evident pain in my right foot when walking. I felt the hard, painful lump, and immediately started the research discussed above.

Fairly quickly after starting the above regimen my fibroma went from a hard, round, painful pea-sized marble to being flattened out and ‘crunchy’ when I rub it hard (just like broken down scar tissue). My fibroma is still there, but smaller, flattened, and it doesn’t hurt – I’m still working on it and I believe it will get smaller still.

I hope this has been helpful to some!

How to Submit a Claim for Reimbursement to Medicare or Other Insurance for Out-of-Pocket Expenses Due to the Hack and Cyberattack on Change Healthcare

Thousands of people on Medicare (and other insurances) are still being affected by the hack and cyberattack on Change Healthcare, which happened, mind you, in February 2024 and which has resulted in pharmacies being unable to submit prescriptions and services such as vaccinations to Medicare (and, again, other insurances), and thousands of people across the U.S. having to either pay out of pocket for prescriptions and vaccinations, or do without. If you’ve had to pay out of pocket for a prescription or vaccination or booster because of this, here’s how to submit a claim for reimbursement to Medicare. It’s almost certainly the same for other insurance carriers as well, except they will have a different claim form and/or submission process.

If you need to submit the claim specifically to Medicare (versus a different insurance carrier) be sure to read the second part of this, which explains exactly how to submit a claim for reimbursement to Medicare because, like everything else associated with Medicare, they have made it needlessly and ridiculously complicated, so there is a plain English explanation of what you need to do for Medicare along with links to what you need.

What You Need from the Pharmacy in Order to Submit a Claim for Reimbursement Because the Pharmacy Couldn’t Submit Your Prescription to Medicare or Your Insurance Because of the Change Healthcare Hack

First, of course, you need an itemized receipt.

But second, and importantly, you need a note from the pharmacy saying the following:

Date:
Patient name:
Pharmacy name:

Please be advised that (pharmacy name) was unable to process this prescription or service to submit to (Medicare / insurance carrier) because of the inability to connect to the prescription processing system owing to the ongoing malfunctioning of the system resulting from the hack and cyberattack on Change Healthcare.

(signed, Pharmacist)

What You Need to Submit Your Claim to Medicare for Reimbursement of Your Prescription

First, a little bit of Medicare craziness: You may think that vaccinations would be submitted under your Medicare Part D (remember, D is for drugs). You would be wrong. Your friendly pharmacist has to submit vaccinations (such as a Covid booster) under your Medicare Part B. If you have, instead, an Advantage plan (Part C) well, all bets are off. (Read my Plain English Explanation of Medicare and How and How Not to Sign Up here for plain English explanations of all of the various parts, and why you do not want you or a loved one to sign up for “Advantage” plans here.)

To submit a claim for reimbursement to Medicare you need Medicare form CMS-1490S “PATIENT’S REQUEST FOR MEDICAL PAYMENT” (link to that form below, but read the rest of this first).

On form CMS-1490S you MUST check “The provider or supplier is unable to file a claim for the Medicare Covered Services” as the reason for submitting the claim for reimbursement. If you check either of the other two reasons, or if you don’t check any of them, your claim will be rejected.

Now, once you have form CMS-1490S filled out, you need to submit it. Here is something that may blow your mind: did you know that you don’t submit Medicare claims for reimbursement directly to Medicare? If you, like many others, have never yet had occasion to submit a claim for reimbursement to Medicare, then when you start reading the claim form (info on that in a moment) and come across the instructions which say “Send the completed form and supporting documentation to your Medicare contractor” you may, understandably say, “WTF?,” followed by “How the hell do I find that??”

Well, form CMS-1490S consists of three pages of actual form that you need to fill out and submit, and fifteen pages of advisements, instructions, and other information. Somewhere around page seven is a list of all of the various Medicare contractors who handle claims regarding vaccinations and other Part B stuff for all of the various states. That list is itself 5 pages long. In addition, you can find the actual list of Medicare contractors at the following link, because why trust a form that was printed a while ago when you can check the actual live list that, one would hope, is most up-to-date? Plus, the linked list will give you the contractors in your state for all Medicare services (Part A, Part B, and the Home Health and Hospice services contractor); the list attached to form CMS-1490S is only for being reimbursed for Part B issues.

Link to live list of all Medicare contractors by state

Where to Download Medicare form CMS-1490s

Download Medicare form CMS-1490s here:

Download Medicare form CMS-1490s

How to Pay Your Medicare Premium Online and How to Set Up Medicare Autopay

Do you know where to make your Medicare premium payment? If you are wondering how to view your Medicare bill online, how to pay your Medicare bill online, or how to set up autopay (which is called ‘Medicare Easy Pay’) for your Medicare bill, here’s how. (First, wondering “why is my first medicare bill so high?” It’s because they often bill the first two months together.)

Now this is specifically how to pay your premiums for Medicare Part A and Part B. Of course, it’s quite possible (even likely) that you won’t have a premium for Medicare part A, but you are likely to have a premium for Medicare part B (because having read this you know better than to sign up for Medicare Advantage rather than Part B). So when you first sign up for Medicare you will get a premium bill of some sort, and here is how to pay it online, and how to set it up for autopay.

[For more information on Medicare see my articles Medicare Explained in Plain English & How and Where to Sign Up for Medicare, as well as How and Where to Find Your Medicare Number When You Don’t Have Your Card]

Once again, the Federal government has not made it particular intuitive in terms of how and where to pay your Medicare bill online, or how to set up autopay for which, of course, the Feds have created a whole new, non-intuitive term, “Medicare Easy Pay”. Fortunately once you know where to look, you will find all of your payment options in one place, so at least there’s that.

Now if you like to go paperless – or at least to attempt to go paperless by signing up for electronic payment and then just for the most part ignoring paper bills – you’ll be happy to know that Medicare not only makes it relatively easy, but that there’s an added incentive: their bills come with payment coupons! Holy 1970s, Batman! When was the last time that you had to deal with that??

How to Pay Your Medicare Premium Bill

As they explain it on the Medicare site, once you find it (link below), there are basically four ways that you can pay your Medicare premium bill. You can:

Pay online
Sign up for Medicare Easy Pay (their autopay option)
Pay by direct bank withdrawal (also known as ACH, which stands for ‘Automated Clearing House’, which is the financial network that processes electronic payments)
Send a credit card, check, or money order via USPS

Here’s how they explain it:

1. Pay online through your secure Medicare account (fastest way to pay).

Log into (or create) your secure Medicare account to use this free service to pay by credit card, debit card, or from your checking or savings account.

2. Sign up for Medicare Easy Pay.

With this free service, we’ll automatically deduct your premium payments from your savings or checking account each month.

3. Pay directly from your savings or checking account through your bank’s online bill payment service

Some banks charge a service fee.

4. Mail your payment to Medicare.

Pay by check, money order, credit card, or debit card. Fill out the payment coupon at the bottom of your bill, and include it with your payment.

If you’re paying by credit or debit card, be sure to complete and sign the coupon. If you don’t sign the coupon, we can’t process your payment and it will be returned to you.

Where to Pay Your Medicare Premium Bill or Set Up Medicare Easy Pay (Autopay)

How and Where to Pay Your Medicare Premium Online

It all starts with logging in to your Medicare account, which you can do at https://www.medicare.gov/account/login/

Paying a single Medicare premium bill:

Once you are logged in you can go directly to the premium payment link here:

https://www.medicare.gov/mbp/premiumpayment.aspx

The above link will give you payment options using credit and debit cards (including HSA cards), and direct withdrawal from your bank account (ACH).

Signing up for Medicare Easy Pay (autopayments):

To sign up for Medicare autopay, which Medicare calls ‘Medicare Easy Pay’, go here:

https://www.medicare.gov/mbp/easypaysignup.aspx

Pay by U.S. Mail

If you want to send a check, money order, or credit or debit card information by the USPS, you must have received your payment coupon book from Medicare in the mail, and you must include the payment coupon. Then mail your payment, along with the filled out coupon, to:

Medicare Premium Collection Center
PO Box 790355
St. Louis, MO 63179-0355

How and When to Sign Up for Social Security Demystified and What if You Keep Working? A Plain English Explanation

How does continuing to work while collecting Social Security benefits affect how much Social Security you will receive? And what is the difference between “normal Social Security retirement age” and “full Social Security retirement age” and “delayed Social Security retirement age”? And why does the Federal government have to make senior benefits like Medicare and Social Security seem so freaking complicated when it’s actually pretty straight-forward?

Well, much like I have done with my Medicare explained in plain English and my Medicaid for the elderly explained in plain English, I’m going to explain in plain English how still working and earning while collecting Social Security impacts your Social Security benefits and how much you receive, as well as how your choice of when you start collecting your Social Security benefits impacts how much you receive.

NOTE: This articles deals only with regular monthly Social Security payments to the original wage earner, not spouse or survivor benefits. In other words only to your collecting your Social Security benefits based on your earnings that you earned yourself over the course of your life. Also, this article has simplified some things which may actually be a little more complex, such as how the Social Security Administration calculates paying back withheld benefits. However, it does explain in plain English enough to get you to a place where you understand your options, which is my goal in writing it.

How Your Age When You Start Getting Social Security Affects the Amount You Will Receive

We’re starting with the age part of the equation because it’s the most straight-forward (although how continuing to work affects how much Social Security you will collect is really only slightly less straight-forward).

The reason it seems so complicated is that there are three different age events which impact how much you will receive and which, in fact, will lock in how much you receive for the rest of your life. The bottom line here is that the longer that you delay collecting Social Security the higher will be your benefits once you do start collecting them.

Age Event #1: Turning 62

You are entitled to start collecting Social Security payments when you turn 62. However this will lock in the very lowest monthly payment, forever.

Age Event #2: Reaching “Normal or Full Retirement Age”

This is where the Federal government starts the torturing of senior citizens by confusingly using two different terms for the exact same thing! And then adding acronyms to boot. So let’s get this straight right now:

For the purposes of collecting Social Security “full retirement age” (also referred to as ‘FRA’) and “normal retirement age” (also referred to as ‘NRA’) are the exact same thing. They are just 4 – count ’em, 4 – different terms which all mean “the age at which you are entitled to collect your full Social Security benefits”. (Except it really isn’t, at least not for the regular definition of “full”, as you can still collect even more, which we’ll get to in a minute, and that’s why for the rest of this article we will use the term “normal retirement age” for age event #2).

Most people think of normal retirement age as being 65, but for purposes of Social Security normal retirement age is 66, plus a certain number of months (how many months depends on when you were born), unless you were born in 1960 or later, in which case your normal retirement age is 67. At least it’s 67 as of the time of this writing (this is being written in April of 2023).

Here’s how it breaks down:

If you were born in or before 1954, your normal retirement age is 66.
If you were born in 1955 your normal retirement age is 66 plus 2 months.
If you were born in 1956 your normal retirement age is 66 plus 4 months.
If you were born in 1957 your normal retirement age is 66 plus 6 months.
If you were born in 1958 your normal retirement age is 66 plus 8 months.
If you were born in 1959 your normal retirement age is 66 plus 10 months.
If you were born in 1960 or after your normal retirement age is 67.
(Source: ssa.gov)

If you elect to start collecting Social Security when you reach your normal retirement age you will lock in the ‘normal retirement age’ amount for the rest of your life.

Age Event #3: Turning 70 also known as “Delayed Retirement”

If you choose not to start collecting Social Security when you reach your ‘normal retirement age’ of 66+, and put it off completely until you turn 70, you will collect an amount greater (sometimes far greater) than the ‘normal retirement’ amount. Turning 70 is the last age event that impacts how much you will receive every month for your Social Security benefits, and is known as “delayed retirement”. Turning 70 locks in the highest amount possible.

As an example, in the chart below, taken from someone’s actual Social Security account, if this person started collecting Social Security at their ‘normal retirement age’ of 66 and 8 months, they would collect $2929 per month. However, if they wait another 3 years and 4 months, when they will turn 70, they will collect $3710 per month. While we can’t see what they would have collected at age 62, we can see that at age 65 they would collect $2603 per month.

So at What Age Should You Start Collecting Social Security Benefits?

While simply waiting until age 70, if you can, may seem like a no-brainer, it’s not quite that simple. You have to make an educated guess as to how long you plan to be around. If you think that you will live well past 70, and if you can afford to wait, it may make sense for you to wait until you are 70 to start collecting Social Security. On the other hand, if you really need the money sooner, or if your life expectancy is limited, it may make more sense to collect sooner.

And that’s even before we get to whether you want to or need to continue working and earning income while you are collecting Social Security.

How Continuing to Work Affects How Much Social Security You’ll Get

The second thing that the Federal government makes oh-so-confusing is how your Social Security benefits (i.e. the amount you’ll receive) are affected if you continue to work (in other words continue to earn an income) while receiving Social Security. In fact, they make it crazy confusing, explaining it in many different ways, sometimes even on the same page.

They Say “Deduction”, We Say “Penalty”

How much you will be penalized (and let’s face it, no matter that the Social Security Administration calls it a “deduction” from your Social Security benefits, it’s actually a penalty for those who choose to or need to keep on working) depends on how much you earn and also on whether or not you have reached your ‘normal retirement age’ (aren’t you glad we explained normal retirement age first?) This is true regardless of whether the income is paid to you by someone else (i.e. wages) or through self-employment.

Now, while we call it a penalty, it isn’t a true penalty in as much as eventually you get it back. So maybe we should really call it “the Federal government ‘borrowing’ money from you which they will pay back eventually. Without interest.” As the AARP explains, “What Social Security does instead is increase your benefit when you reach full retirement age to account for the previous withholding.”

Call it a ‘withholding’, call it a ‘deduction’, call it a ‘penalty’, whatever you call it, it’s money that is yours which you aren’t receiving, nor getting interest on when you get it back, even though you could be earning interest on it if it weren’t being made unavailable to you.

The Good News

Here’s the good news: once you reach your normal retirement age (i.e. 66 plus some number of months unless you were born before 1954 (then it’s 66) or in 1960 or after (then it’s 67)) then you can work as much as you want, and earn as much as you want, and it will not impact your Social Security payments at all; you will still get the full amount of Social Security. So the deductions that penalize you for working while collecting Social Security are only for those who continue to work or otherwise earn an income and who are below age 66.

The Bad News

The bad news is that if you are also working and otherwise earning additional income, there is a good chance that you will have to pay income tax on a portion (up to 85%) of your Social Security along with your other income. Yes, the Feds giveth and the Feds taketh away.

The Annual Earnings Test

The first thing that you need to know about the ‘Annual Earnings Test’ (or “AET”, because they have to acronymize everything) is that it’s not really a test. It’s a calculation, and is used to calculate how much of your Social Security you are not going to receive if you have not yet attained ‘normal retirement age’ (i.e. are under age 66ish), and you continue to work while receiving regular Social Security.

The second thing that you need to know is that even though you get monthly payments from the Social Security Administration, the Social Security Administration (“SSA”) actually does almost everything (such as calculations, withholdings, etc.) based on annual amounts. So, for example, if you are getting monthly Social Security payments of $1000 a month, the Social Security Administration actually considers and calls that “$12,000 a year” – they just send it to you in nice monthly chunks.

The third thing that you need to know is that there is a difference between collecting Social Security while also working during years in which you will be below your ‘normal retirement age’ for the entire year, and collecting Social Security while also working during the year in which you will attain your ‘normal retirement age’. This is because once you attain your ‘normal retirement age’ you will no longer be penalized.

How the Annual Earnings Test Works

If You Will Not Reach Your ‘Normal Retirement Age’ During the Year

If you have not yet reached your ‘normal retirement age’, and will not reach your ‘normal retirement age’ during the current year, and you choose to start receiving Social Security benefits and you are still earning an income, you are allowed to earn (in 2023) $21,240 from your job before you start getting penalized. For every $2 you earn above $21,240 you will be penalized $1 out of your annual Social Security amount. This is based on what you earn annually, which you will report to the Social Security Administration.

Example: You earn $22,240 in 2023, which is $1000 above the “won’t get penalized” earnings limit. For every $2 you have earned that is above the limit your annual Social Security benefits will be reduced by $1, so in other words in this example you will have $500 ($1 for every $2 that you earned over the limit) deducted from your total annual Social Security payments.

Important: They don’t amortize it across your monthly payments; they stop sending you payments at all until the withholding of $1 for every $2 that you earned over the limit is satisfied.

If You Will Reach Your ‘Normal Retirement Age’ During the Current Year

If you are going to reach your ‘normal retirement age’ during the current year, then two things change:

1. The amount you are allowed to earn before you are penalized with money being deducted from your Social Security payments goes up substantially (to $56,520 for 2023; that’s quite a jump from $21,240); and

2. Instead of you being penalized $1 for every $2 you earn over the limit, you are penalized $1 for every $3 you earn over the limit.

In addition, as soon as you reach your ‘normal retirement age’ the penalty ceases and you start getting the full amount of Social Security, plus a repayment added to your monthly benefit to account for the money they took because you were earning over the limit while you were below the ‘normal retirement age’.

Finally

As a reminder, this article has simplified some things which may actually be a little more complex, such as how the Social Security Administration calculates paying back withheld benefits. However, it does explain in plain English enough to get you to a place where you understand your options, which is my goal in writing it.

To check on what your benefits are or will be, and to sign up for Social Security to start accessing your benefits, go to ssa.gov/onlineservices

How and Where to Find Your Medicare Number When You Don’t Have Your Card

where how to find medicare number featured image

If you are newly signed up for Medicare you may be wondering how and where to find your Medicare number, especially if you don’t have your Medicare card yet. You know that you must have a Medicare number, because you were accepted into the Medicare plan and even received an email saying you are now enrolled in Medicare and that your card is on its way to you. The thing is, you need your Medicare number in order to enroll in either a Medicare supplemental plan, or a Medicare Advantage plan, and you also need your Medicare number to enroll in Part D (‘D is for Drugs’, just like on Sesame Street).

(If you are not yet super-familiar with Medicare parts versus Medicare plans, supplemental Medicare plans, Medicare Advantage, and all the rest, you need to be, and that’s exactly why I put together this plain English explanation of Medicare and how to sign up for Medicare. Of course if you’re trying to figure out how to find your Medicare number, you’re probably already through with all of that, and have already signed up for Medicare, and been approved.)

The way that you know that you were accepted for Medicare is that you got a note from the Social Security Administration saying something like “Your Submission Status Has Been Updated. You can check the status of your submission online with your personal my Social Security account.”

This may confuse you because you applied for Medicare, not social security, and the link in the notice doesn’t even go to medicare.gov, it goes to ssa.gov, which is the Social Security Administration website. Medicare has its own website, so why would information about your Medicare application be on a different website?

See, this is your first mistake. Trying to make sense out of any of it. You’ll drive yourself crazy.

Here’s how to find your Medicare number once you are accepted into Medicare but before you receive your card.

How to Find Your Medicare Number

1. Log into your SSA account here.

2. Once logged in look for something that looks like this part-way down the page, and find the link to “Your Benefit Verification Letter”.

3. This will take you, not to your benefits verification letter as you might have thought, but to a new page with another link to “Your Benefit Verification Letter”. This time the link is to the PDF of the actual letter, which should also have been mailed to your home.

4. Click on the link to the PDF, and voila!

The letter will say something like:

You asked us for information from your record. The information that you requested is shown below. If you want anyone else to have this information, you may send them this letter.

Medicare Information

You are entitled to hospital insurance under Medicare beginning {Date it begins}.
You are entitled to medical insurance under Medicare beginning {Date it begins}.
Your Medicare number is 1234567890. You may use this number to get medical
services while waiting for your Medicare card.

And that’s how you find your Medicare number.