Healthcare - What a Mess!

A volunteer that I work with frequently has been keeping me in the loop about his healthcare issues. He suffers from a variety of issues including clinical depression and heart-related issues. I've known him for about six months and the depression has been debilitating for him. Some days when I've seen him, he can barely move or talk and he is pretty open about the medications not working and the doctor not believing him that he's having problems with it.

Last week he called me to check in about a project and he was... upbeat. It was the first time EVER that he answered "Good!" when I asked him how he was doing. He even laughed at himself recognizing this. This response was far different from the man who, the first time I met him, cried as he told me about his wife's passing and his inability to feel it because they had him on the wrong medications for his depression. Since that time two years ago, he has gotten off medication (and could barely function nearly losing his home and more) and tried new medication. His doctor told him to "get over it" when he talked about how his wife's passing had affected him deeply because of his inability to feel emotions during that time. "Get over it". Really? That's the best the doctor can do?

I am not a medical professional but after the first few interactions with him, I could tell that the guy had a will to live. He was trying to engage in life. Three days after having a stent put in, he showed up to help me do a trail maintenance project (which I never would have allowed had I known!). A week later he showed up to help with another project even though he was having some trouble with the surgical site (I managed to send him home early from this one). This guy was making an actual effort but his doctor's best advice was "Get over it and keep taking the medication that isn't working".

Finally fed up with a lack of response from this doctor, he changed doctors in December. The new doctor switched his medication immediately and within about a week, he started feeling different - better!

During the first week of January, he went to the pharmacy to get his new prescription refilled. He was clean-shaven, had gotten a hair cut. He was smiling. He felt... good. When he got there, they told him that as of 1/1/12, he no longer had any health coverage or prescription coverage. He was heart-broken. A different person would have quit. Had he not had a recent break-through with the new medication, maybe he would have quit. He had certainly considered suicide in the past! But he didn't quit. He called me and signed up for another trail project and he set about trying to get his insurance re-instated. 

After several calls he reached one person at the Medicare office who gave him the attention he needed. She helped him to get back onto a healthcare plan (without understanding why he had gotten kicked off in the first place) and even helped him select the right prescription plan based on his various medications. She was the bright spot in the darkness that is the current healthcare system.

I won't wax poetic about how to fix it. I'm not nearly informed enough to really know what needs to happen. I do know that in December I spent several hours sorting out my father's Medicare and prescription coverage because it was so confusing for him. I may not have the answers but I know that kicking people out of the system isn't it. I do know that they system is broken and needs serious attention!

The fellow I mentioned has gotten his healthcare squared away. He's got his medications covered. He's doing well. But how many other people got kicked out of the system and either don't know what to do to fix it or don't even know they don't have healthcare and may not know until they are in a bad situation? It's a mess.