Mood:
accident proneTopic: "Old Times Topic" (6)
If you have heard enough about healthcare reform to last a lifetime, then please feel free to save Frodo for another day, and proceed to another blog. Otherwise, what follows will give you pause, and add more fuel to your fire.
Bilbo is in the hospital. Actually, Bilbo is in the hospital, waiting to be discharged, but to where is the question (not to quibble with the Prince of Denmark). Bilbo is in the last stages of life, but continues to fight the competing onslaught of congestive heart failure, which begets pneumonia, which begets congestive heart failure, which begets pneumonia. . .Frodo assumes the picture is clear. Bilbo was a beautician in the era of the bouffaint, and many years of hairspray contributed more to her present state than all the cigarettes which ever bore the manufacturers seal of Lorillard & Co.
It has been deemed by medical personnel of all specialty and level of command that she is fit to release unto a facility known as "re-hab." It is believed that after a couple of weeks, she can return to her regular abode, but that "independent living" will become a phrase of the past, and that "assisted living" will be the facility required ad infinitum. The bizarreness arises when one realizes that Bilbo was technically released from the hospital two days ago, but she remains there, as a present day "Prisoner of Zenda," one might say. Bilbo has a "Medicare Advantage Plan," which, in this case, involves the megalith Humana (which bears a striking resemblance to the earlier citation of BP). Humana took almost three days to be convinced by medical minds and technical wizards that a 92-year-old in Bilbo's state could not be wheeled out to the curb and left to her own devices. Humana, it seems, is pissed that their fees continue to be reduced by Medicare, and that even with the co-pay to which they agreed, there is reason to have their accountants search for reasons not to meet their obligations.
There is a weight upon Frodo's shoulders. He has also learned more about the mess that ensnarls us all than he had ever dreamed he would know. After all the folderol, Frodo truly wishes that every resident of the State of Texas, and Rand Paul, someday (if not immediately) come under the aegis of a "Medicare Advantage Plan" that dumps them curbside, too.
Note also that Doctor Rand Paul is FOR the portion of the changes to Medicare that add to the guarantees paid to physicians.
At this point, InHumana (note Frodo's editorial spelling) has finally acquiesed, but it is now Friday, past quitting time. The result being that Bilbo needlessly stays in the hospital until at least Monday--and since Bilbo is a "Medicare patient," that means that the bills are paid by you, and by Frodo. It is as if this was an intentional act in order to vent their outrage at losing the fight.
Every battle is costly, and Frodo eats less and drinks more. Have patience, dear reader, if you look and he's not there. The keyboard comes last.
