Homestead mailing list

[EarthNSky <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net>]

A question to those of you who are reading the new health care proposal
from the Obama administration, and to those Canadians on the list....

My folks were here for dinner this evening and they relayed some fears
that are apparently rampant among seniors.  They have friends from
Canada and I know people on the list also have friends in Canada, and I
know we have members in Canada, so I figure this is a good place to ask
to suss out the truth.  For balance, I should say that this area,
specifically my parents and their circle of friends, are conservative
and not fans of the current President.  My folks spend half of their
time in a campground of sorts where people from all over the continent
vacation and I think there might be a good deal of fearmongering going
on and I'd like to get to the truth.  Some of their Canadian friends say
that they use the US healthcare system because the Canadian system is
slow and inefficient when dealing with seniors.  Here come the questions:

1.  They have heard that good medical care for those over the age of 59
will be hard to find.  They have heard rumors that fewer diagnostic
tests will be performed, fewer will get timely referrals to specialists,
and medications will likely be generic only.
Is there any kind of age breakdown-special circumstances for seniors,
etc. -cut in the new proposal?
Is it true that older Canadians are often considered lower priority for
services and have to wait months for appointments and diagnostic tests
and services like CT scans or mammograms or cataract surgery?

2.  What does the new plan say about those who intend to have surgeries
overseas?  Will insurance companies pay for elective surgeries and
treatments done elsewhere?

3.  If Medicare is cut, exactly where will those cuts come from?  Will
it be at the expense of our elderly, and eventually us, those who are
approaching being able to eat off the senior menu-the AARP crowd?  Right
now, I have a neighbor who has stage 4 prostate cancer who needs several
surgeries, non-cancer related, blood clots, etc.  His former physicians
are no longer accepting Medicare patients and the closest physician he
has found that will accept him as a patient is down outside of Atlanta.
 That is a long drive for someone who is sick and elderly.  Is this an
omen for the future of eldercare?

4.  I know Gene and others rave about Canadian healthcare, what some
call socialized medicine.  Since we have Canadian members, I would like
to hear firsthand the disadvantages of such a system, especially for
patients over 55 years of age.  Do they have to travel far for medical
help?  Is there a long wait for services?  Do they get the same priority
as younger patients with the same illnesses?

Thanks in advance for anything you can tell me about this stuff...

Oh, and one unrelated question about healthcare...

I got my SS statement and I do not qualify for disability because I
don't have enough credits in the right period of time.  I've worked off
and on throughout my life, for several years at a time, but never
consistently enough to qualify for long term disability.
However, I know people who have never held a job for more than a few
months, who haven't worked in decades, and somehow they get a SS
disability check when they probably haven't paid in enough over their
lifetime to even draw a retirement check.  Can someone explain to me how
this happens?  My stepsister is mentally ill(schizophrenia) and is a
ward of the state(Arkansas, not GA), she draws a disability check and
that pays for her to live in a group home and her money is managed by
them, I think.  It is a good arrangement for her-just what she needs-as
she gets medication cheap and counseling and they do activities and have
group and all kinds of stuff...I know she needs this help, but I can't
but wonder how she qualified for it?  I see people all the time going to
docs and getting a doctor to help them get disability.  If they haven't
worked and don't have enough credits, like me, how in the world do these
people get disability?  What am I missing?

B
--
Duct tape is like The Force:  There's a Light Side, a Dark Side, and, of
course, it holds the universe together.
EarthNSky Farm, NW Georgia, USA