Doctor's View

My Mom finally had a chance to talk to my Dad's doctor yesterday. He's been unintentionally (I think) evading her for a number of weeks.

She asked him point blank whether it would be a good idea to take my Dad home permanently. The doc answered back, point blank, and emphatically, "No."

The path towards successful elderly care is a maze. It's confusing. It's riddled with pot holes and sharp turns. A movement has definitely been on against nursing homes in general, and for keeping elderly in their homes.

But dementia is a different sort of animal. We're not just talking about aging in general. It's something that seems to fall through the cracks.

The one very real setback to keeping my Dad in the skilled nursing center is funding. It's a very expensive proposition that could drain my parents lifetime of earnings.

But apparently a nursing home insurance policy that my Dad had taken out some years ago is now kicking in to cover the gaps in Medicare coverage.

Medicare will not cover stays in a nursing home. But they will cover stays in a skilled nursing center. If a patient is determined to need ongoing rehabilatation that only a skilled nurse or doctor could provide, Medicare will pay for three-months of every "term." Terms have their own definitions under the Medicare maze. It does not necessarily mean a year. And that is the gap that the nursing home insurance may cover.

I'm not fond of the guessing games, nor the cross your fingers and hope for the best. But in reality, it's about all you can do.

It seems that I am constantly involved with some misunderstanding between my health insurer and my health provider. Right now my health insurer is telling me that I do not have a referral for lab work. My health provider is telling me that I don't need a referral for lab work, and also that they don't even charge for lab work. So I'm on the phone almost every day with one or the other or both. Little old me trying to solve issues between corporate giants. Quite frankly I have enough to deal with, without having to deal with this over and over and over again.

There is legislation to protect the health insurance companies and the health providers. They can literally come after your personal assets and have laws behind them to allow that to happen. I've found very little in place to protect the individual however.

I'm so tired of the politics. Republican, Democrat, it doesn't matter. I'm a registered independent. I find absolutely no purpose to even have political parties. I believe in good ideas, not good or bad political parties. Yet everyday I see and speak to people who are so devoted to their political party.....why?

The Democrats in the House in Pennsylvania voted to pay themselves from a special legislative fund even though they can't pass a budget to have state workers paid. Their debates on the budget have been riddled with party politics and frankly embarassing.

The Republicans have been on a hate campaign, trying to scare people into believing the worst of any idea that comes from a Democrat. I'm so tired of this.

Both parties in Washington just approved the purchase of multi-million dollar corporate jets to fly their important members around.

Come on people! Forget about party politics. Let's get down to the nitty gritty and get things done.

Please?