You might have noticed that I was not posting early this year. I had a triple by-pass open heart surgery on Jan 11. The operation went fine---until a cardiac nurse stepped on a hose connected to my catheter while I was being led to a bed. I don't know how to say this graciously, but it had been inserted up my penis to somewhere in my chest. The pain was excruciating. I was doped up pretty good, but my memory kicked on and then off again in less than 10 seconds. Strangely I can remember being led a few seconds BEFORE the pain and a couple of seconds after the damage. Nothing before that and nothing later than that until a new catheter was inserted. I remember screaming my head off, and then a feeling of the catheter being guided gently up the canal. This "set back" turned my 5-day hospital visit into 8 weeks, 4 which were for rehab. Once I got home I healed fast. I could actually feel improvement every new day. Remarkable beyond my dreams. I was given a doctor's appt for the following month. Everything went good at the doctors office. I had my meds adjusted and he told me I needed more cardiac rehab. He gave me several locations where I could get it; he told me to contact my Medicare Advantage provider with that info. All was well. Enter Obamacare. I was told I missed the newly govt initiated 30-day deadline to register for rehab. I wasn't covered. To keep it short, my doctor was able to get me enrolled because I had started my rehab after the "set back" (and before the new govt regs). He told me I still had 2 blockages and an aneurysm that were too small to be repaired at this time. They'd have to be monitored until they grew larger. Now why did I share this personal indignity at this time. I submit this as evidence to support the more encompassing below story. Rich Martin Seniors BEWARE - BE SURE TO READ THIS ONE! Worth reading no matter who you are!!! "Seniors" Forget about getting to age 75, this exact thing happened to me this morning at Danbury hospital here in Ct. I was scheduled for a cardio-lite stress test. This is a tread mill stress test where during the process they inject nuclear dye into your blood stream and then put you in a CAT scan or something similar and take a picture of your heart. If all is good the heart shows up red, if there are blocked arteries anywhere that portion of the heart shows up pink. I have had three of these tests in the past twelve years due to blocked arteries discovered in 2000. They use the test to determine if I need a roto router or a bypass operation. So I arrive at the hospital at 8 am this morning and I am in the process of checking in at Cardiology and the lady says that my appointment has been canceled. She makes a call and speaks with someone and hands me the phone. It is a nurse in cardiology who says that my medical coverage denied the procedure. I said it was routine, part of my heart maintenance process and ordered by my PCP and with approval from my Cardiologist who is the head of Danbury Cardiology which is right where I was standing. She goes, "yes but we were denied our request". So I say, I have Medicare so what is my backup insurance doing denying anything. Then the bombshell, she says it was the Medicare board that denied the procedure. At that point, I turn to everyone behind me, and it was a long line, and I say to them "well you won't have to wait too long today because my stress test procedure was just canceled by a Medicare Death Panel. I am only 67 so can you imagine what is going to happen when we really get old". The entire waiting room and everyone there from patients to staff just went dead silent. So I turn to the front desk and tell them, " I guess I will have to write a letter to the editor of the Danbury News Times and call my Senators and Congressman and let them know the Death Panels have already convened". Then I walked out. By the time I got home the message machine was blinking. My PCP had already called and so did the hospital and guess what, Medicare decided to approve my stress test procedure and if I could get back down to the hospital they would fit me in right now for this 3 hour procedure. I told them I couldn't make it, that I was going fishing because I didn't know how many more fishing trips I could get in before I went into cardiac arrest but not to worry about me costing the government any money because I am a 30% disabled Army veteran, due to Agent Orange poisoning which is what caused this heart problem to begin with, and I qualify to be buried for free in a plain pine wrapper in the cheap graves section at any National Cemetery. I certainly don't want to cost our government any money so maybe we just won't do this procedure anymore and we can use the money to redistribute it to all of the illegal's to keep them alive so they can mow the lawns at the National Cemeterys. So this Death Panel crap has started. If we don't vote this guy and his criminal cronies out of office this November then we will all die younger than we should as broke paupers as the country goes bankrupt. Feel free to distribute my note to anyone and make it a mission to not only make your vote count but on behalf of all of us please make an effort to change the thinking of anyone remotely willingly to get intellectually engaged in this critical time in our country's history. <><> - SENIORS - <><> WELL ISN'T THIS SOME SPECIAL NEWS GRANDMA AND PAPA!!! I had one of the most troubling, most disturbing conversations ever with Dr. Suzanne Allen, head of emergency services at the Johnson City Medical Center in Tennessee . We were discussing the "future" and I asked her had she seen any affects of Obama Care in her work? "Oh, yes. We are seeing cutbacks throughout the services we provide. For example, we are now having to deal with patients who would normally receive dialysis can no longer be accepted. In the past, there was always automatic approval under Medicare for anyone who needed dialysis -- not anymore." So, what will be their outcome? "They will die soon without dialysis," she stated. What about other services? She indicated as of 2013 (after the election), no one over 75 will be given major medical procedures unless approved by locally administered Ethics Panels. These Panels will determine whether a patient receives medical treatment or not. While details on specific operating procedures and schedules, Dr. Allen points out that most life-threatening emergencies do not occur during normal hospital business hours, and if there are emergencies that depend to be resolve within minutes or just few hours, the likely hood of getting these Panels approval in time to save a life are going to be very challenging and difficult, if not impossible she said. This applies to major operations such as receiving stents, bypass surgery, kidney operations, or treating for an aneurysm that would be normally covered under Medicare today. In other words, if you needed a life-saving operation, Medicare will not provide coverage anymore after 2013 if you are 75 or over. When in 2013? "We haven't been given a specific date -- could be in January or July....but it's after the election." This is shocking to any of us who will be 75 this year. Her advice -- get healthy and stay healthy. We do not know the specifics of the actual implementation of the full Obama Care policies and procedures -- "they haven't filtered down to the local level yet. But we are already seeing severe cuts in what we provide to the elderly -- we refused dialysis to an individual who was 78 just the other day....we refused to give stents to a gentleman who was in his late 80s." Every day, she said, we are seeing these cutbacks aimed at reducing care across the board for anyone who is over 75. We can only hope that Obama Care will be overturned by the Supreme Court -- otherwise, this is a death sentence to those who are over 75....perhaps you should pass this on to your friends who are thinking of voting for Obama this year. Regardless if you have private health care coverage now (I have Aetna Medicare Part B) -- it will no longer apply after 2013 if the Ethics Panels disapprove of a procedure that may save your life. Scary, scary, scary. Think about this? You? Your parents? Your loved ones? Didn't know about it? Of course, not. As Nancy Pelosi said...."well, if you want to know what's in the bill, you'll have to read it....." After it was passed. This is a graphic reminder of the need to stay healthy. Get your plot now at Forest Lawn....while they last. Is this a death sentence to those of us who will reach 75?.....Yes! Please do pass this along to those in your address book. -- To join RichsRants, send email to: [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/richsrants?hl=en
