I know it’s getting old to keep arguing the health care
debate. But what’s even older is having
to rehash the same old issues repeatedly.
Since Medicare was enacted in 1965, the only major advances in health
care coverage in our entire country’s history has been the Affordable Care
Act. Perfect? Not by a long shot. Better than before? Absolutely.
So of course, like with most programs that have improved the status of
our country in the world at large, the current administration is determined to
destroy it.
Replace it with something better? The only thing that would be better would be,
obviously, universal coverage for everyone all the time. It’s common sense; the rest of world already
knows that. More expensive? In the short run, probably. In the long run, doubtful. What we have now is a crippled, patched up
mess of a system. No one person can ever
expect to comprehend the ins and outs, ups and downs of a myriad of commercial
insurance plans, further complicated by several Medicare plans and innumerable
Medicaid plans. Then throw Medicare Part
D prescription drug coverage into the mix, and you can spend days on end trying
to get answers to questions.
There are many many health care issues that most people are
never aware of until it hits them personally.
I work with patients with End Stage Renal Disease; this means they
require either some form of dialysis or a transplant. Even though having a chronic and potentially
terminal disease sounds like a huge burden to bear, it pales compared to the
burden of paying for this treatment. Most
people are eligible for Medicare, some for Medicaid and a smaller amount are
able to keep commercial insurance coverage.
We have an army of people whose primary job it is to figure out how the
bills get paid. Since I am enlisted in
that army, I know whereof I speak.
Kidney disease, cancer, liver disease, bowel disease,
fibromyalgia, multiple sclerosis, ALS, Alzheimer’s, pulmonary hypertension, lupus
et al. All require specialized medical
care and multiple medications. Every disease
doesn’t get its own army—sometimes it’s just the patients and families that must
muddle through. Sick people can’t work;
if you can’t work you can’t get an employee health insurance plan. Do you know even if you qualify for Social
Security disability, you have to wait two years to qualify for Medicare? If there’s another income in your family, you
won’t qualify for Medicaid. And so it
goes, all the cracks we can fall through and end up with indigent patient care—if
you’re lucky.
Back to kidney disease—the biggest single issue preventing
people from getting organ transplants is money.
I have a spreadsheet from a transplant center that shows how much cash—CASH—a
patient needs to have before they can actually receive the organ they
need. That’s even if they have insurance
coverage. Because insurance doesn’t
cover all the costs, especially for anti-rejection medications. A lot of people are told they have to raise
as much as $10,000 before they can be considered “on-call” or “Status 1” for a
kidney transplant. Therefore, even if
you go through all the exhaustive testing and are deemed surgically suitable, the
odds are that by the time you actually have that much money in hand, your health
may decline.
I know, I know…. I can preach and educate and elucidate
until I’m a lovely shade of ocean blue and not one mind will change. Sometimes I just need to vent. So if you feel a sudden draft blowing your
way, you’ll know where it’s coming from.
