This is an invitation to
start writing your Senator, Representative, and the President of the United States to
encourage them to put partisan politics aside and proceed to get some meaningful health
care legislation in place that includes support for caregivers of dementia victims at
home. Because many of the Medicaid rules are controlled by state, I would also encourage
you to write to your state legislators. Below, I have included excerpts from the letter I
sent to my congressman, and links to help you to find and write to yours.
Letter to my congressman
Congratulations on your recent victory. Now with politics aside, I am hoping that the Congress and President can work together to make progress on some of the major issues facing our country.
I am a full-time caregiver for my wife, Shirley, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease at age 50, two years ago. She has declined rapidly, and now requires 24 hours a day care. I was forced to take early retirement from a fortune 500 company where I had worked for 29 years, in order to care for her. I attempted to work part-time for a number of months until that was also no longer possible.
I have found that because of our young ages (both in our 50's) community services available to seniors with similar situations is not available to us. Also, there is no support available to families that want to keep their loved ones at home as I do. The devastating alternative is the placement of the loved one into a Nursing Home, with asset reduction taking from IRAs and 401Ks until the point that the victim can qualify for medical assistance. Families are many times destroyed in the process.
Following is an excerpt from the Alzheimer's Association Newsletter of Winter 1993 with regard to the President's health care proposal in this area. It addresses this issue very clearly and recognizes the needs of the family as well as the victim. I would hope that something similar to this could be brought forward and passed soon.
"The President proposes that severely disabled persons, including specifically those with cognitive impairment such as Alzheimer's disease, receive a flexible array of services at home and in the community. The program would pay not only for traditional home health care services, but also for companions, respite, home modification, day care, services in board-and-care homes, or any other service defined in an individual plan of care. Persons of all ages and income would receive benefits; those with incomes over 150% of poverty would pay a portion of the cost according to a sliding fee scale."
Thanks for taking the time to read this. Can I have your support in making this a priority?
Respectfully,
How to contact your Congressman and the President
Now would be a good time (after the election) to start writing letters to your congressmen, and even to President Clinton, reminding him of the importance of getting new health care legislation passed. The intent was said to be to help protect and keep families together longer by providing more options and support for home health care. I have to believe that this would be more cost effective vs. forcing people into the medical assistance program earlier, by forcing a decision in favor of the NH and depletion of all assets.
For those that may want to start making some noise on this along with me, here are the addresses of the White House from where you can e-mail Bill or Hillary. Also, a site that allows you to look up your senator or representative and their e-mail addresses by state.
The White House (you can e-mail the President from here):
http://www.whitehouse.gov/WH/Welcome.html
Congressional E-mail Directory where you can locate your senator and representative:
http://www.webslingerz.com/jhoffman/congress-email.html
Hope that many of you will join me in turning up the heat in this area.