Re: OT: Interesting article on the healthcare bill

["Robert L Bass" <robert@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

"G. Morgan" wrote:
>
> [snip a whole bunch of stuff about which we agree]
>
> Maybe you can share your story with the group you told me
> on the phone regarding hospice limits on your policy?

I have one of the major insurance carriers. I've been under hospice care since
before Christmas.  Twice now I've been admitted for multi-day stays.  Hospice
provides all of my medication which alone runs into the thousands every month).
They also provide a lift chair, hospital bed and oxygen system.  Nurses come to
my home at least twice a week, sometimes more if there's any crisis situation.
My policy limit is $6,000 per year for hospice services.  Everything above that
is "patient responsibility."  Fortunately for me, this one hospice' policy is to
not turn a patient away after the insurance runs out.  They receive private
grants from the pharmaceutical industry, the public and government.  I guess you
could call me a welfare recipient, but without this hospice I would have died
from the recent episode.  Although it turned out not to be SVCS, it would still
have been fatal -- just a little slower.

> I'll bet many in this NG have the same provider as you...

Most assuredly.  It's one of the largest in the country.

> and don't even realize how little insurance will pay for
> catastrophic illness and all the little bills that come along
> with it (your bed).

The above was only about hospice (end of life) care.  It
has cost nearly $2,000,000 my cancer treatment over
the last four years.  That's my life-time limit so if I start
any more chemmo or surgery they won't pay a dime.
There are clinical trials which are free to the patients
because they are sponsored by the pharmaceutical
company that is trying to develop a new drug.  I was in
one of those -- the one where they match the chemo to
the DNA of the tumor itself, two years ago.  Unfortunately,
it gave me neutrapenic fever so I had to drop out.

> Jim has been ignoring me for at least a year, but uses
> Google Groups so I know he see's my posts.  Would
> you kindly ask him to address this message?  I don't
> know why he ignores me, or what I did...  but I sure
> would like a response to this one.

Jim will see your words quoted here.  When I asked not
to make it personal, I only meant that it's preferable to
say for example, "When people believe...." than to say,
"When people like Jim believe..."  There was no
disagreement with what you said, only the desire to keep
the newsgroup in its current (incredibly pleasant) state.

--

Regards,
Robert L Bass

=====================
Bass Home Electronics
4883 Fallcrest Circle
Sarasota, Florida 34233
941-870-2310
www.basshome.com
=====================