This political football has created a group of people that cannot pay for their drugs because of a crazy program that is based on Social Security that was never supposed to give people enough money to pay for their medical bills. So instead we have a drug industry that makes billions of dollars in profits on the backs of those that pay for research on the pills that we are charged $1000+ a month for. These companies due to keep generic drug makers from creating drugs that can be afforded by all. It is interesting that the costs of the same drug in the US is a fraction of that amount in Canada or even India. Each country pays a different amount but we are too stupid to make these same deals with the drug makers. To add insult to injury Medicare is not allowed by law to purchase drugs from other countries for less than what we are charged for them now. The US pays for all of the research but does not gain any of the benefits of that research. Instead the poor of the country are forced to pay outrageous amounts of money for drugs that they need to stay alive. We need to make some decisions as a country on how we deal with those that are disabled and elderly. Either we are going to pay for their medical care or not – not the bits and pieces we are now. By only allowing these people to take their drugs every 6 months, their health is deteriorating to the point that they are dying before they should because of the damage caused by not taking their medications. Lets close the doughnut hole and give people the medical care that they need to live useful lives.

Hopefully the state will ask the federal government for help on these programs before large groups of people are effected by the cuts. These may not seem a big deal but if these people don’t take care of simple problems with their feet and teeth, those problems will become worse and will cost more to get fixed. This means going to the emergency room and putting strain on other state budget areas that would not normally have to handle these issues. Perhaps the state can look at all of the areas of the budget and spread the cuts over a larger area so that people are not hit as hard. If Boston were to cut the hours that state agencies were open by a few hours a week that could make a lot of money available to prop up services like the ones needed by the disabled community until either the economy improves or federal money becomes available. While families should be there for the disabled, they cannot always have money available because they have their own bills and children that need to be helped. Medical bills tend to be expensive and many people now do not have the extra money that they used to that could be used to pay for bills that popped up with out notice. Hopefully the work that has been done in the senate will make it easier for everyone to get health insurance and to get medical help. Otherwise hospital emergency rooms are going to be filled to capacity with people that don’t have emergencies, but do not have anywhere else to go to get help.,

Doctors cannot work like the government – run for years in deficit and then print up new  money to pay for the previous losses. They need to be able to pay for bills and salaries as they come in and if they do not get enough money from patients coming in then they have to close down. That is in essence what is happening to the Medicare recipients and local doctors. They cannot afford to take care of us at the rate the federal government pays out so they flat out refuse to see us. So much for the medical coverage handed out by the government. I paid huge sums of money to the tax structure of this country before I was injured. As a software consultant I paid all that was owed so others could be helped and that I would be if something terrible happened. Well that time was three years ago when a hit and run driver ran me down and left me for dead in the street. As a tertraplegic stuck with complex regional pain syndrome I find it all but impossible to hold down a job because I am hospitalised as least once a month for pain or things tied to the pain. The last week of the month is back to back visits to all my doctors so we can figure out how to deal with problems with my spine and infections that are in the bone. So I live off of SSDI and hope and pray that Medicare allows my doctors and hospitals to continue to see me. My pharmaceutical issues would blow most people away and to show how fun things have been I hit the doughnut hole in June, and blew past it in August and am now having Critical Care government payments covering my drugs at 95%. That is until next year when I somehow have to find $2500 to get though the doughnut hole again. I’m hoping my pain doctor can get me on cheaper drugs soon, and that is assuming he will still see me after the new medical bill becomes law.

There are many things to be fixed in our medical system, but the way we are doing it now will guarantee the death of thousands. If we cannot see our doctors and hospitals and get the drugs we need at a rate we can afford, then we might as well throw in the towel and stop pretending that Medicare pays for things. Lets start thinking about how doctors pay for their bills and how they can stay in business and allow Medicare the pay at those rates or we will soon see a time where Medicare is a terrible thing to have to deal with. Here is to our Senate and House members to talk to everyone involved and forget about the insurance companies and lawyers who are killing out medical system. With the bill going through congress we are all running out of time.

Most do not believe these types of stories until it happens to them or a member of their family. Then they get to stare down the barrel of financial ruin to keep a family member alive and comfortable. Plus once you are dropped from one insurance company, it becomes impossible to get coverage for that problem ever again. So the first company paves the way for all other insurance companies to deny you help and coverage for whatever you need coverage for. But in reality there is no insurance for you because no one will cover you. There is no way for you to pay for the outrageous fees that are necessary for doctors, hospitals and medicines. The once covered patient now gets to look forward to non-existent nursing care, no drugs, and no hospitalization regardless of how bad things get. Not a fun thing to look forward to, but it appears that more and more of us will have to face this without anyway of fixing it. While this type of preditation should be illegal and would be under the new laws being debated in congress. Note that the insurance companies are presently working hard to kill this legislation because it would make this type of insanity illegal.

Until then keep calling your congressmen to let them know your thoughts on this. The insurance companies are not your friends and will do anything to save their bloated profit margins at any cost. We all realize that companies need to make money to grow and bring more services to their customers, but not steal money from customers that are then dropped the moment they need help. This has been an issue with insurance companies for a long time, but this is our chance to fix these issues so no one has to decide between their health and their wallet.

We can appreciate that states are in the inenviable situation of paying for services while receiving less from taxpayers as more peoploe find themselves unemployed. However, if the problem is approaching critical, contact the federal government and ask for help. Taking away civil programs that let people live healthy and safe lives is a stupid thing to do. Forcing the sadibled to get help in help in hospitals instead of doctor’s offices is very expensive. Plus since the same doctor never sees the patient in the emergency room, no real standard of care is provided because everyone gets to start over again. It makes no sense to spend a lot more money on the same service or less service because the first cannot be funded properly. Like the old saying, "there is never time to do it right, but there is always time to do it over" fits well in this situation. Except we are taking about people and not widgets and those peoople have lives that deserve to be the best that can be lived. That is not going to happen if people are sick and never get well. What kind of quality of life exists if the person is in constant excruciating pain? Everyone deserves better, especially those that have already paid their dues and are just looking for help.

Either a social worker comes to the home or you get a phone call saying that nursing care might be available to you – but they need a few pieces of information. At that point they start asking detailed information about your medical conditions (HIPAA violation?) and info about your home, mortgage company as well as what cars you own and bank account data. They then come back on the phone and say you qualify for nursing care — if you sign everything over to them. That is right, they will then ask you to sign over your home, cars, bank accounts and Social Security checks over to this entity. Supposedly then the state will send your nurses to help you for an undetermined amount of time and and undetermined type of care. When asked how long we could then live in our own home if we signed up for this, we were told that "most times we don’t remove the previous owners from the home". When papers are sighed, the state immediately takes control of your home, cars, bank accounts and Social Security checks. That means your car(s) disappear, officials may show up to throw you out of your home, and you can no longer write checks from your accounts.

The state now decides what you can pay for groceries, medication, or anything else. You are allowed to own $2000.00 of personal items when you sign up. If you own more than $2000.00 of items you must hand them all over to the state. That flat screen TV – off to the state. That really nice stereo you picked up 5 years ago, the state owns it now. The computer you purchased last year, a state official will really appreciate that new iMac. You will be forced to live in virtual bankruptcy unable to purchase any items for yourself or your family. Christmas is permanently canceled because you are no longer allowed to own anything.

This scam is real and the states are implementing it. We know that Georgia is doing it and we are trying to find out which others have signed up. This is a giant warning to the care givers that these state officials will try to get the disabled to sign everything over without the care giver in sight. They know that they can take advantage of the elderly with Alzheimer or the disabled taking strong drugs, neither of which are capable of making important financial decisions. This insanity is sanctioned by the state and they will push it hard that this is the only way to get nursing help in the home. Once this is signed up you immediately lose everything, these is no recourse and there is no way of getting your property or money back. Kiss your social security check goodbye, hope you don’t need it to pay your mortgage, prescriptions or daycare.

We would like to collect stories about this happening to our readers. If you have experienced this please drop us a line and tell us a little about what happened and what state was involved. We want to create a list of states to avoid or at least be aware of so no one is abused.

It is easy to push off what we plan to do for the future as we age, but the years fly by quickly and each of us better have a plan. Now is the time to figure out how much insurance you need and how much your caregiver needs. Think about what would happen if your caregiver were to be laid  up or injured – who would take care of  you? Many insurance policies only allow nursing care for a few hours a day, anything past that is on you. So if your nurse came in the morning to get your morn king program started how do you get into bed? Who puts dinner together? Who takes care of your caregiver during this time frame? These can be scary thoughts but now is the time to get them worked out while you don’t have to deal with them now. Don’t wait until a disaster strikes and you have no way of taking care of those around you and there is no money to help you and your caregiver. The amount of money spent on a good insurance policy is nothing compared to the heartache involved when there is no one to keep the family running or to do basic functions during the day or night.

Americans are used to dramatically overpaying for equipment and services for some time. The all time classic was the military spending over $1000 for a hammer that anyone could purchase at the corner hardware store. It is sad that government contracts allow this type of insanity to continue, but many parts of congress do not have rules to purchase from the lowest bidder or to even try and negotiate with the supplier. It is bad enough when the military buys things that they can get cheaper, but Medicare is costing a fortune as it is so any savings would be helpful. If we are to get a handle on Medicare and Medicaid costs, then we need to start here. There is no reason to overpay on items merely because the government is used to doing business with a particular company. There is no way that we can keep overpaying on medical care and expect our tax structure to keep up with the increases.

All of us have a stake in making medicare care in this country affordable and safe. Doctors need to be able to order procedures and drugs without having to worry about what will be paid and what will not be. No one’s health ca be tied to a price tag and no one should have to worry that someone else will decide whether they will be healed or nor. As is stands now under Medicare Part D, insurance companies can decide what drugs to cover and which they don’t. If you pick a company that covers what you are taking now but get sick, you may not be able to get the drugs you need. This is especially true of expensive drugs that do not have a generic to purchase. Powerful pain drugs like Actiq are not covered so if you have chronic pain there may be no drugs you can take that are covered. So you get to suffer because of bureaucratic red tape. This needs to stop. There is no reason why a drug a doctor prescribes is not made available and covered by insurance. Unless this is fixed we will have a group of have and have nots. WHile that is bad enough in schools, it ks inexcusable for medical care.

Everyone deserves the best that we can properly afford. Please contact your congressman and senators to let them know what you think about this. The new bill going through congress will never be the best it can be unless we all participate and let everyone know what we need. Democracies are not spectator sports. If we don’t participate, don’t complain about what happens with the new Medicare changes.

We have seen or read about the town hall meetings on healthcare and the yelling matches they have turned into. While it is easy to see why everyone is upset at the possible changes that will be made to our medical system, working to get things fixed is a better place to put your energy. We all want medical care that is affordable, safe and effective. Some stores like Walmart have made deals with the drug companies to reduce the cost of their medications and we should have the government do the same. The drug companies need to make money so they can research new drugs, but the spiraling costs are going to make it impossible for an of us to afford them. The disabled are in the worst possible situation because most are on SSDI and cannot afford the more expensive drugs with the already existing plan. Add that to the doughnut hole and we have a need to do dramatic changes so that everyone has access to the drugs and services they need.

Not changing anything is guaranteeing that thousands of people will die because they cannot afford their medication after hitting the doughnut hole. The new plan has worked out a deal for the drug companies to charge 50% of the cost while in the doughnut hole. That is a good place to start, but more work needs to be done. When you need to spend two thousand of your own dollars before you can get out of the hole and into catastrophic care something needs to be done. Most in SSDI cannot afford thousands of dollars let alone hundreds. The doughnut hole needs to be removed so that those that run out of benefits under medicare automatically move into catastrophic care without a giant outlay of money. People on heart medication only take it six months out of the year because they run out of benefits and don’t have the money to pay for it themselves. That is something worthy of being fixed and should be agreeable to everyone. No one should have to die before changes are made so that those that need medical care can get it at a price they can afford. Having world class care that we all can afford is a worthy endeavor we can all work toward.

To make matters harder on the disabled, Social Security denies nearly two thirds of all initial claims. This forces hundreds of thousands of people to either wait in line for a hearing or to pay for a lawyer that specializes in disability payments. So people get to wait months before any money comes in, or lose a percentage of their payments to a lawyer forever. More money has been given to Social Security to bring down the number of cases quickly. Note that this has already happened but with only a tiny amount of money, but the number of cases are just holding steady, there is no decrease in the average number. It is obvious that major changes to Social Security need to be made so that everyone can be handled quickly and there is money to pay for everyone in the program. 

Just as the medical system is presently going through changes that should help everyone to gain medical care affordably and those that are sick cannot be thrown out, Social Security needs help. Unfortunately this is a political football that no one wants to deal with and each congress kicks it to the next one. This has worked for the last twenty years but we are at the point that we are seeing major cracks in the system that may eventually breakdown if we do not act. Just as our infrastructure needs to be updated so bridges, roads and electrical systems can handle the load of more people, Social Security needs updating. Things need to be streamlined so people don’t wait months to get help and there is money in the program to last indefinitely. Waiting for a massive crash is ridiculous for the largest economy on the planet. We can fix the problem, but we need to make the decisions that need to be made so we don’t throw millions of people in the street because we could not vote on a bill.