When It Becomes Real For Me, Personally

We paid for Medicare benefits all of our working lives.  The deductions started from my paycheck when I was sixteen years old, working at Bowlin's, a chain of tourist stores along the interstates in Arizona and New Mexico, and they came out of every single paycheck I ever received, a lifetime of spreading out payments for health insurance coverage during my senior years.  Over the years, it was a political football, with benefits waning and then increasing, depending on which party was in power.  The Republicans always had an angle on trying to figure out how to put mechanisms in  place so that a good chunk of the benefits, and some of the premiums, would go to pay profits.  To their credit, most of the time the Democrats are in power they spend looking for ways to strengthen and sustain what some claim is unsustainable, and to make sure that collections and distributions are fair. 

But when the Republicans are in power, watch out!  It may appear, on the surface, that not much is going on.  Don't kid yourself.  When they cut the budget, there are those who feel it, and I happen to be one of those.  

Actually, it's my wife who is feeling it.  

She fell in the bathroom, due to leg weakness caused by spinal stenosis.  That was the diagnosis, and the remedy, after five days in the hospital, was physical and occupational therapy in a skilled nursing facility, covered by Medicare.  Actually, Medicare provides full coverage for 20 days, and then 80% coverage for 80 more days, but we were prepared when the time came to go on Medicare, and we purchased the "gap" policy that covers the 20% Medicare doesn't cover.  We're caught up, deductible-wise, and so the transition from hospital to rehab facility went smoothly, at least at first. 

The physical and occupational therapy has turned out to be less than satisfactory.  The understaffed facility provides just one hour, combining both.  Looking into moving to a facility that might be better, I couldn't find one that either had better reviews or ratings.  When I asked the doctor who is in charge of her therapy routine, I got the standard, corporate-owned facility song and dance, that there was never a guarantee of more than she is getting (even though their representative told us she would get an hour a day each of OT and PT) and that her therapy is based on her own response to the treatment.  

Now it's been more than a month, there has been what I would call little improvement and the main goal, of her returning to being able to walk again, hasn't been met.  But they are telling us she is on the verge of discharge.  There is no way she could function at home without more assistance than is available, at least, not without looming danger of a fall.  

"It's the insurance," we're told.  They are the ones who are making all of the medical decisions, not the doctors and nurses who have this expertise. 

Just to make sure, I looked it up from two different sources.  She's entitled to 100 days, with an hour a day each for OT and PT, but it appears budget cuts have rolled back the number of hours of therapy patients on Medicare can get.  

So, after all of the caterwauling and whining that Republicans did when President Obama first proposed major health care reform, we still don't have it, but all of the problems and issues that the Republicans claimed would come from "socialized medicine" are materializing in our capitalist-driven health care system.  We are at this point in the first place because we were unable to get an appointment with a specialist in this specific field for more than three months.  Three months.  

When a major medical care corporation bought out the small, Catholic hospital system where we go to see the doctor, about a third of the doctors on their medical staff decided it was time to retire.  This created a shortage of doctors, especially those in general practice.  Those positions have not been replaced, and that has caused lines to back up go get in to see doctors.  So my wife had to endure her increasing pain, and run the risk of a fall, until she could see someone.  Unfortunately, the fall came first and she remains confined to a wheel chair, facing being relegated to home health care that won't provide anywhere near the level of help she needs. 

And did I mention, the home health agency has had to lay off staff, including some of the professionals like nurses and nurse practitioners, because of budget cuts in their Medicare allocation.  

I just don't understand why Americans are incapable of looking at what other countries, who have considered health care as a basic human right, have done for their people.  We've had this informal discussion on more than one occasion with neighbors in our building who are citizens of countries that have socialized medicine, and they can't fathom how, in this country, half of the revenue that is paid for health care by its citizens goes to pay stock dividents and profits, not medical care.  That explains, they say, why care is so difficult to come by in this country, and why we face situations like ours.  

So for any politicians who may be reading this, and I know there are several who do, health care reform now tops the list of my voting priorities, along with getting rid of Trump and bringing him to justice.  And I am not alone in this, there are millions who are having these same experiences.  

So are you listening?