You Can't Get There From Here

Recently, I was in an ER for a problem serious enough that my blood was typed and cross - matched with the idea of giving me a transfusion.  In the end, that was not done, and I went home with a list of symptoms that would indicate that I should return at once.  The problem dragged on and I was admitted to the hospital proper for further tests and monitoring.

    This issue was so serious that I had to tell them that if my heart stopped I wanted no extraordinary measures. 

     Let me note that I went to the ER per the advice of my primary care provider's advice nurse. I took the precaution of getting that permission/order from Humana and my own doctor because Humana does not like covering sick people.  Supposedly, I can get all the free mental health care I want until the end of the year, up to and including seeing a psychiatrist for talk therapy and medication monitoring.  However, if I am bleeding to death internally, I am not allowed to be admitted to the hospital. Don't ask me, I just live in this rickety old body.  

    I received a letter dated September 26th indicating to me that Humana was not going to pay for rhe days I spent in the hospital because:  "Under Medicare the request is not medically necessary. (see Medicare Benefit Policy Manual, Chapter 1, Section 10)  MCG care guidelines, 24th Edition, -- Anemia, Iron Deficiency or Unspecified ORG: M-35 (ISC)"

    At this point, the temptation is to call Humana and really let them have it.  Was it iron deficiency anemia that caused me to lose so much blood I might need a transfusion? 

    However, figuring this is routine, the first answer always being no, I refrained.  Instead I called my doctor, and also wrote to the hospital and requested they send more information to Humana.  I am also filing an appeal of the decision, according to the letter I got.

    I am old and tired of this stuff.  Suppose I did not have the mental wherewithal to file an appeal and deal with all this?  I already have a bill for over 36,000 dollars from another hospital because they are apparently the only teaching hospital in the county not sponsored by a university.  No, it does not make any sense to me.  As for that debt, they are welcome to sue me.  I have clothes and a TV and some books.  Good luck with that.

    The message is pretty clear.  In the modern version of the USA, there is no place for elders to have a decent life.  Topping off the irony, because I worked all of my life and wound up  making good money for a woman, my Social Security is 150% of the official Federal Poverty Level.  Therefore, no Medi-Cal, no Extra Help from SSA, no benefits I paid for all those years.  The Poverty Level?  Less than $20,000 per year.  Yeah.  Calling my Social Security an "entitlement" is a Big Brother style attempt to change the meaning of a word to color popular reaction to it.  I gave one-third of everything I made from age 15 to age 62 so I would not have to eat dog food or live in a homeless encampment.  I knew perfectly well that my family was working class, and I would be responsible for myself in my old age, should I live to be old.

    I am grateful to have a family that takes good care that I can get to my doctor appointments, get to the grocery store, and go out for a walk in the park.  Not everyone has someone to help when it all goes sideways. 

    In prayer for peace over this matter, I realized I needed to write it all out.  Sometimes that's all it takes for me to come to grips with something without losing my cool.  So, here it is.  You can't get there from here in medical care in this country unless you share Job's patience and the persistence of the old woman who would not leave the judge alone until she got what she wanted.  

    So, calmly now, I can do the next thing without losing conscious contact with God.  I can do what's necessary because there is always enough time to do God's will.  There is no lack of peace available to me so long as I stay in the moment.  And I can do the footwork to solve my problem without  leaving everyone in my wake scarred by my sarcasm!  

    Have a holy day, my fellow believers.  See you around the block....