Below is the form letter I'm being asked to send to you, my senators Kay Bailey Hutchison and John Cornyn, by the American Medical Association. However, I have a few things to add to the form letter. I would like you both to know that my grandmother is now 84 years old and has Alzheimer's Disease. We have agonized over the decision but have finally realized that for her own safety it's time to take her to a care facility.
Having said that, trying to navigate our way through the Medicare program has been a nightmare. I am a child of the internet age and can normally find whatever information I need to find. Not so in this case. I've been tossed around like a football from one agency to another... when I do finally get a real person on the phone, they sound bored, tired and I usually know more than they do.
You get eight different answers to three different questions. You experience hold times of more than five minutes... all this while you are at work trying not to get fired because government agencies are only open during business hours.
Senators, I am not asking for the government to bail us out. I am not asking for handouts. My grandfather was a WWII veteran... he worked to support his family, he saved what he could, he bought land and invested, and when he passed away he left my grandmother with some acreage, a modest savings, a few CD's and some silver bars in the safety deposit box. In short, he and my grandma were the epitome of the American middle class family. They did everything right.
My grandma deserves better than this. Her Medicare plan will pay $22 per day for a skilled nursing facility. The daily rates are far more than that. How can anyone hope to live comfortably into their 80's and 90's when the Medicare plan is so broken? When medical costs are so ridiculous? After 100 days Medicare washes its hands of us and we pay as we can... at the price of a nursing home her modest savings will be gone in no time. What then?
You, Senators, will likely never have to experience this travesty... this cesspool of government offices that one has to wade through in order to do something as simple as get a form to fill out.
And you have to fight through this quagmire while your heart is breaking and your are physically and mentally exhausted from trying to care for your loved one at home.
You and every other politician in this country should hang your heads in shame. You treat our elderly like a voting bank and when they can no longer vote for you, you discard them like so much refuse to be swept under the rug. I'll never know how you sleep at night.
It's shameful and it should not happen in a country as rich and plentiful as ours. Our aging family members and friends cannot fight through the confusing quagmire of the US government... my grandmother no longer has the mental capacity to fight her way through breakfast, much less through the roadblocks you guys throw up.
The system is broken. It's confusing, it's outrageously expensive and it's broken. Nationalized healthcare is not the answer but perhaps high on your list of political priorities (you know, right underneath getting re-elected) should be fixing a healtcare system that is horrible and only getting worse.
Signed simply,
Jen
PS: Thanks for your time and here is the form letter from the AMA. I agree wholeheartedly:
Our country is facing an imminent health care crisis that you can help prevent. The Medicare cuts for doctors that will take effect on July 1 are a major problem for patients—your constituents—because they will prevent many doctors from accepting new Medicare patients, discourage some from investing in new health technology, and make many think about closing their medical practices altogether!
But S. 3101 would stop these cuts for 18 months. This time frame will inject some stability into the system both for patients and their doctors, who may be forced to make difficult practice decisions if these payment cuts take place. The 18 months will provide time for you and your colleagues to begin working on a long-term solution to the broken Medicare payment system.
Please, be a champion for patients and for our doctors. Support S. 3101.
Here is a link to take action via the AMA website: http://capwiz.com/...