Does Medi-Care?

"Does Medi-Care?"
August 2000

Now that I've entered the "golden years", a phrase my father resented the hell out of and I am now learning why, I am learning about the "help" we "seniors" can get from our National Health Plan.

In developed countries like Canada and Germany, older people can expect health care that covers all the bases no matter what problems might arise. But not in the richest nation ever to exist on the planet. What do I, as an aging American need?

Glasses for my fading sight, dental care for my worn out teeth and, I really hope not, but maybe down the road, hearing enhancements. These are some of the most expensive and most needed expenses for older people as they age. And Medicare will do nothing for any of it.

I'm a veteran, and until recently I haven't used the VA system for any of the medical benefits available to me. But, given that Medicare will not, at least not yet, help with any medications I may need, I decided to check out what the VA might do. In fact, they will help a great deal, so I have signed up. But they will do nothing about glasses, dental or hearing help. Any of that would have to be "service connected".

Medicare is broken into two parts. Part "A" and Part "B". Part A is paid for by the government. That's the in-patient care which has a deductible attached. Part B, which is optional, is out-patient care and for that I would have $45 deducted from my Social Security check of $780 every month. This deduction will increase as time goes on. Since I LIVE on that 780 there is no way I can sign up for Part B and take a $45 hit, so the VA solution has been a life saver. Of course my wife Elizabeth will not have VA benefits so when the time comes she will probably have to sign up for Part B.

Luckily we live below the poverty level so we get out-patient help on a sliding scale from a local clinic and our kids get free medical and dental through a state health plan set up for children.

So; for those of us who are numbered among the poorer American aging, what we can look forward to as we continue to age is a diminished ability to see, hear and chew. And our so-called "health care system" will totally ignore our needs in these areas even though every one of us will have to face these problems brought on by the aging process.

Somewhere along the line something is going to have to be done about it. Politicians will try to get elected following the usual line of reduce-taxes-and-spending and get-big-government-out-of-our-lives. But the truth is, we need some representation that will begin to deal with the reality of an aging population and the needs ALL of us will face.

Yes, you too.

We'll need an increase in taxes in order to spend more on health care to include EVERYTHING. And we will need the machinery of big government to manage it. The agents of denial will continue to try to divert our attention from these truths.

Shaw said; "A government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul." "Paul" in this case is the military-industrial complex that Eisenhower warned us about many years ago. In order to take care of what we need we must determine to give up spending uncounted, and I do mean uncounted, billions, no trillions, of dollars on bizarre missile defense systems, faster than the speed of light fighters and yet more submarines to defend ourselves against whatever "monster" threat the Pentagon and their remorseless, ever hungry defense industry buddies can dream up to divert our national wealth into their bottomless pockets.

There is no excuse for the fact that in this age of unprecedented prosperity the most needy cannot receive the simplest benefits taken for granted by the rest of society. We are failing our grandparents, our parents, ourselves and our progeny in our continuing blind support of pricey fantasies sold to us by political opportunists and arms merchants. And none of them will care unless we do.

Coyote On Coyote - More about Coyote by Dick Prosapio

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