My mother has Medicare because she is old enough to qualify, yet too old to buy healthcare insurance. When she turned 62 years old, the company she was insured with cut her off, forcing her to take Medicare.
About seven years ago, my mother was diagnosed with cancer, which forced the removal of a piece of jaw bone and most of her teeth. She then went through radiation therapy and has been cancer free since.
Now her remaining teeth are infected and need to be pulled. The infection is caused by a lack of resistance caused by the radiation therapy. She has to take antibiotics to keep the infections at bay, they never really go away, and the infections will eventually become worse and will kill her. None of that is in dispute by Medicare.
Now, she is scheduled to have surgery to remove her remaining teeth, but the surgery is not covered by Medicare, nor her supplemental insurance because it is considered to be a dental problem, not a medical problem. Her doctor doesn't accept dental insurance, which she also has.
As a taxpayer, I never minded Medicare, because the way the world works, I'm going to be on it when I turn 62 years old because my insurance company will force me onto its rolls and become my supplemental policy.
I don't understand why Medicare will pay for the antibiotics for the infections caused by her teeth, but will not pay for the removal of her teeth when all of this has been caused by cancer and the necessary radiation treatment that followed.
I am sharing this story because it is my understanding that under the proposed healthcare system marching through Congress now, this type of illness wouldn't fall through the cracks. If that's true, then I would support healthcare reform because healthcare has to be better than what we have now.
Maybe our Rep. Ralph Hall, R-Texas, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, or Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas or someone from any of their staffs would have an answer for me. They tell us that healthcare reform is bad for the American people. But is healthcare reform worse than not covering treatment that could heal? Apparently the current system already has its death panel in place -- it's simply the denial of necessary and proper coverage.