Most. POWERFUL, Special. Comment. EVER!

[WeDidIt]

Bravo, Keith.

God Bless you.

God Bless your father.

[sakabatou]

1. May Keith's father get through this.

[Rhiannon12866]

2. I hope so, too.

I'm always saying that KO has outdone himself, but I can't imagine him ever topping this... ;(

[roguevalley]

13. given he has infections and kidney problems, he probably is on the downward

spiral now, bless his heart. fighting it like my sweet papa did and my pa lost after a valiant fight. there is nothing worse than having to take care of a terminal parent. I have only now, three years after the fact, mentally blocked the bad and can only access the good. Nothing worse than dwelling on the bad. Keith is a good son. Lovely picture at the end.

[Lars39]

14. ~

:hug:

[roguevalley]

15. lars,

:hug: back at you.

[Rhiannon12866]

20. Sounds like his Dad has overcome a lot, so far.

If only he can make it through this. And my heart goes out to you, too, my friend. I lost my Dad, too, cancer. It still haunts me and he had good health care. ;( :hug:

[cutlassmama]

16. He hit it about 4-5 times. He was amazing. I hope his father

can either overcome his illnesses or go in peace.

[Rhiannon12866]

19. I'm amazed that he got through it...

I wish his father some peace, but it's got to be horrible for Keith. He lost his mother not long ago. ;(

[johnfunk]

3. Keith's Special Comment hit me like a sack of bricks -- my best friend is in a nursing home...

... with terminal cancer. He is near death, and his Medicare ends in a few days. The care he is receiving is very good -- but at the end of the day, it's all about the Benjamins (I've been dealing with billing), and this country's regressive views on medical care make me sick.

[DURHAM D]

4. How does his medicare end? nt

[johnfunk]

6. Limit on nursing home care under his specific circumstances. In-fucking-sane.

[DURHAM D]

8. Medicaid? nt

[patrice]

9. Yes, it's probably the Medicaid that's running out.

I work in a "low end" nursing home (with 0 Deficiencies in our last survey, btw) and I have never heard of someone's Medicare running out.

[DURHAM D]

11. Thanks - I have also never heard of medicare running out.

That is why I asked the question.

I think a lot of people mistakenly think that regular medicare recipients get nursing home and assisted living routinely paid for by the government. Both of my parents lived in Special Needs units (Alzheimer's) at the end of their lives - my mother for two years and my dad for six months. Their out of pocket expenses far exceeded $200,000. And, to make things worse much of it was not a tax write-off because it was considered "just rent for housing".

Note: They did have long term health care insurance but it was taken out when they were in their early 60s but they were 88 and 94 when they died. In other words, it didn't pay much toward today's high cost of care. JFTR neither one of my parents ever had any health issues until Alzheimer's so they never tapped medicare for much of anything. I guess my point is that so many younger people assume all older citizens living in rest homes are receiving government assistance when they are actually paying their own way with the money they saved over a life time.

[patrice]

12. Of course, there are those for whom the Spend-down for Medicare is NOT a good trade.

Because they have too much to spend down, so they use their own resources for whatever care they decide to pay for.

Others don't have that much, so Medicare, even with the spend-down, is a good deal for them and, once they are on it, Medicare does not go away.

Homes also use Medicaid for those who qualify and who have qualifying needs. My MIL, for example, went on Medicaid whenever she had to go into the hospital, but, then, back onto Medicare when she returned to her long-term care home.

I know that Directors of Nursing like Medicare better, because they can do whatever they and the doctor decide is medically necessary without having to hassle with insurance Bureaucrats.

It's a commonplace in LTC that more money mostly buys you pretty interior decorating and well kept landscaping. Staffing shortages are soooooooo intense that ALL of the facilities, rich and poor, suffer high resident:staff ratios, so staff work wherever THEY want and they are mostly looking for the places that allow them to do good professional care while controlling systemic tendencies toward insane scheduling (due to staff shortages). And it's the not-for-profits that allow the professional staff to work more guided by professional standards, while the for-profit places control their professional staff more for reasons that obviously have to do with the necessity of making a profit and paying dividends. The result of all of this is that, depending upon how risk is being managed in a given not-for-profit home, Medicare can buy you pretty good care, especially if family or some other resident advocate works with the staff on the care plan and there is longitudinal follow-up to help identify the small things that can often make all of the difference in whether an Elder is up and about or in the hospital.

[mzmolly]

5. I agree

fully. I was completely transfixed. Incredibly moving to say the least.

[nolabear]

7. "Help! Help! Help!" It should be on every pair of lips in this country.

Every sign, every e-mail, every website. HELP! You're there to help! We PUT you there to help us! For your children's and your grandchildren's sake, HELP, because if you don't this is going to come back and bite you.

I know KO doesn't read DU threads, but I'll say it anyway. Thank you, and I'm so so sorry for your struggle and your father's pain.

[patrice]

10. Been there a couple of times. KO is absolutely right. We need Help.

:cry:

[Stuart G]

17. Great Comment...you can watch it all without interuptions here

An amazing 13 minutes of commentary, Love, Faith, Caring, and why we need great medical care for all without concern for cost.


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/

[Stuart G]

18. Please take the time to watch this comment. It will touch you. nt.