My Father — 30 Year Career U.S. Diplomat — Left Out To Dry

[babylonsister]

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/11/4/5214/

My Father — 30 Year Career U.S. Diplomat — Left Out To Dry
by Peter Schaufele

“You probably have never heard his name, though you might recognize his face. You may not know the lives led by career U.S. diplomats over the last fifty-odd years, but people like my father bled red, white, and blue during the Cold War years, ushered in a new era of relations with the Third World, and wrote the book on how to deal with integrity with people across the world. His kind were rare, and are much more rare today. He truly cared about the world.

snip//

Over the past few years Dad had become quite infirm, and his mental faculties began to fail him. It is always so difficult to see someone who had such command of all their talents suddenly reduced in strength and stamina and mental acuity. So, about a year ago now, my Mother and I made the decision that we couldn’t properly care for him anymore — we had been successful doing so for quite some time, but it became too much for us — and we placed him into an assisted living facility in Northwestern Connecticut, nearby where my parents had retired.

Now the truth hit us like a ton of bricks. Dad’s health care would not cover the cost for the 24 hour care he required. We made inquiries to all the proper government agencies, pulled every rabbit out of hat we could think of, but it was not going to happen. A thirty year career diplomat, award winning, well respected and beloved, responsible for some of the few *good moves* enacted by the United States over the past fifty years, was left out to dry by his government insured health care.

Quickly we switched over to Medicaid, which would pick up roughly fifty percent of the cost of the 24 hour care, and breathed deeply with prayers, hoping this would somehow work. The monthly cost for caring for him is around $12,000, so we wound up having to pay roughly $6,000 a month. Now a year has passed, and dear dad is still fighting for life, breathing, eating, and seeing his family every day, though his condition continues to worsen.

But we cannot afford to keep paying for the care. It has finally come to this. And we are on the verge of having to sell the family house, the only thing of value we have left. Now, it’s easy to think that we’re rich — and there are certainly millions of people out there in the United States who have it worse than we do — but we certainly are not rich, in any way, shape, or form. We once had security, in the house and in investments. But it has all dwindled away because of the escalating prices of everything these days, including health care. We are not rich. We have next to nothing. And now we are being forced to make the extremely difficult decision to sell our house in order to take care of dear Dad.

We all know what’s happening to the economy in this country. To sell property at this time is akin to economic suicide. Clearly we are on the verge of a depression, no matter what our corporate media tell us. And our family finds itself in the position in which so many wonderful Americans find themselves: having to sell out to the system in order to stay alive. I have investigated alternatives, contacted various governmental associations, sought out any avenue I could find, to help us. Heck, I’ve even considered contacting Henry Kissinger, with whom my father once worked. But we all know about Henry, don’t we? Who the hell would want to shake hands with a world renown war criminal, one of the chief architects of our demise in this country, just to get some financial assistance for a slowly dying true hero? We sure don’t. We would rather waste away than go there. After all, we still have integrity, while Henry can’t even travel to most places in the world for fear of being arrested. We will have to sell the house.

The story of William Schaufele is a sad, broadly-stroked picture of what has happened to this country. While many Americans remain hoodwinked by what they hear, see, and read, we in fact have already lost just about everything, and the bottom is going to drop out any time now. And the mere fact that my dear father has been left out to dry, impoverishing his family as a result, because of a corporate driven health care system and an unconcerned, uncaring governmental infrastructure, is just one painful thread in the rapidly deteriorating tapestry of America.

--Peter Schaufele

[gateley]

1. My God. Inexcusable and shameful. It breaks my heart. nt

[SharonAnn]

13. Medicare does NOT COVER NURSING HOME CARE! For anyone!

Why don't people understand this? It's very simple. Mredicare, through its various components, pays for hospital care, doctors care, medical tests, prescriptions, but NOT long-term nursing home care. Certainly not Assisted Living care.

This will happen with all of us if we need it. Even Long-Term care insurance will probably only cover part of the cost. That is, if you have Long-Term care insurance. You do, don't you?

People are expected to pay for their Assisted Living Care and nursing Home care out of their assets. That's one of the purposes of saving money for later years. You may need it.

[ben_meyers]

2. So his government insured health care doesn't work?

I must be missing the point here. If he had a Federal job with retirement and health benefits what went wrong?

[DURHAM D]

4. Please see comment below. n/t

[babylonsister]

5. Not all health benefits cover 24-hour care; that seems to be

what happened.

[DURHAM D]

3. Yep -

My mother in "special needs" (Alzheimers unit) facility for the past year also. We expect her to be there for many years to come. What I would like to know is how they "switched him to Medicaid" - so half the expenses were picked up? My Dad pays for my Mother's care right out of his own pocket. Even worse and very cruel, very little of the monthly fee ($6,000)is tax deductible.

I think most people think Medicare picks up the tab for this type of care and don't realize the tax code sees it as "just housing" and not "health care" and is therefore not deductible.

[babylonsister]

6. Maybe there's an age limit involved? I don't really know... nt

[DURHAM D]

7. Sure -

If his father is under 65 his private health insurance might be expected to pick up the tab but they don't if it is just Alzheimers/Dementia care.

If patient is over 65 Medicare does not pick up the tab for Alzheimers/Dementia care either. As I mentioned, it is viewed as housing not health care. Hillary actually commented on this issue (and the unfairness of same) in the AARP debate. She talked about the fact that the children of these patients often take early retirement to stay home and care for parents because Medicare does not cover their care, etc. Hillary also wants a change in the tax codes so that these early retirees (generally women) won't take a big hit on their financial future (reduced Social Security benefits).

In either case if the patient is moved from an Alzheimers unit to a Alzheimers/medical care unit Medicare (and probably private health insurance for patients under 65) will pick up the tab. For example, if my Mother needed a hip replacement, after the surgery she will be moved into a medical unit and Medicare pays. However, once recovered from surgery she will be moved back into the Alzheimers only unit and then no more help from the government.

Honestly, most Alzheimers patients are only moved to "medical Alzheimers" units when they need a feed tube inserted. This, of course, is near the end.

[babylonsister]

8. That is so sad and unjust. Thanks for repeating yourself because

my brain didn't absorb what you said about Alzheimers patients being considered only for housing benefits, not healthcare. This system is so screwed up in so many ways.
I'm sorry to hear about your mom and what you're going through. :-(

[DURHAM D]

9. My Father also has Alzheimers.

For some reason he has plateaued for the past year and a half. He lives in a retirement community and we have a home health care nurse check on him every other day (not covered by Medicare). My sister checks on him on the other days.

We had fully expected our parents to be living together again before now and feel very fortunate that our Dad (who is 6 years older than our Mother) is holding on. But he is so lonely and visits her four times a day. Often they take a nap together in her little bed. The care providers love them and their story. I flew out to visit last weekend and three of the young people working in the unit approached me (they were all new since my last visit) and wanted to know more about them. The questions - Is is true they have been married for more than 67 years? Have they ever had a fight? Have they always been so sweet and supportive of each other? Have they always been so affectionate with each other? And then the real surprise question from an 18 year old boy -How can you, as their child, match or improve on their model?

[babylonsister]

10. Oh my, I can't even imagine. I'm glad they are close in proximity,

and still remember each other. Thank goodness for small favors. Married 67 years? WOW!
Did you have an answer to that last question? I'd think that'd be a tough one, unless you could banish disease.

[Rydz777]

11. Your father Is fortunate to have a son like you who cares. I have

wondered myself what I would do with such a dilemma. I read that a retired couple with very elderly parents who needed constant care actually moved with their parents to India where care is affordable - even tho' I believe they had no connection to that country. That, sadly, is desperation.

[flashl]

12. Imagine, if you can. Americans without ANY resources

with love ones in desperate need of care or without means to paid the $6000 that medicare will not cover and must work.

In the 90s, I became painfully aware of caregiver needs and the need to provide respite support to give relief to distraught caregivers, families, and individuals dying alone.

The amount of human suffering overlooked in this country with our "pay for service" health care system is beyond comprehension.

[Fredda Weinberg]

15. I was there for each of my parents.

I don't expect others to make the sacrifice I did, but my purpose was to see my parents off comfortably and I did. After my father's first stroke, I stayed until she was back on her own and came back when she surrendered.

I learned this by watching my mother care for her parents (my father's hadn't survived WW II).

None of 'em were left in the care of strangers.

You can't levy enough taxes to pay others to care for our elders.

[hedgehog]

14. Another winner of the reverse lottery. The last statistic I read

said all of us have a 25% chance of ending up in a nursing home. That could be from dementia, a stroke, a coma, a broken hip, a car accident. Run 5 miles a day, keep your weight down, take your vitamins I don't care what you do, you are going to die some day and you may spend time in a nursing home on the way out. If you do, anything you've managed to save though your life goes to pay the bills. At $6,000/month as in this case, it doesn't take long to run through a life time's assets.


So Medicare doesn't cover a nursing home bill. Guess what? It's our government, our money and we can change the rules!

So you choose: how do you better protect the typical American family; spend the money on a couple more carriers for the Navy, some more humvees for the army, or this?