Posted on 07/26/2013 8:34:30 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
The government spends a fortune on health care for impoverished older Americans, especially for people who are known as "dual eligibles," meaning they qualify for both Medicare and Medicaid.
Many, if not most, low-income older Americans live in substandard housing, and they receive little preventive medical care.
What if government could come into a person's home and provide a range of preventive health care services? What if this home-based intervention also included home improvements that allowed frail seniors to be more safe and secure in their homes?
And what if these services also saved the government a bundle of money in the long run, by either greatly delaying a person's entrance into a nursing home or preventing it altogether? In the process, of course, it would also be nice if these money-saving efforts greatly improved the person's quality of life. And how about if they even helped the person live longer?
Good deal, right?
(Excerpt) Read more at money.usnews.com ...
What if all of that sounds great in theory, but greedy labor unions, shady businesses set up to fleece the system, and gibsmedat fraudster benefit-grabbers screw it up into a giant taxpayer-fleecing boondoggle?
Think that might be the outcome?
Of, just maybe, what if people worked during their younger years to earn money to all of that stuff for themselves? That would work, too? Oh, and it's what made this country the greatest on the planet!
What if we could find another bull**it excuse to grow government even more?
I'll bet they'll even read your mail, and fill out your absentee ballot for you.
This is nothing new. Bad research on the part of the reporter. Home and community based waivers to a state’s Medicaid program have been around since the 80s, and they benefit populations way larger than the dual population.
It actually IS a good idea - a walk-in bathtub and rails might keep someone out of a nursing home, or prevent them from breaking a hip, which, after a certain age, is what amounts to a death sentence with the remainder of your life being awful AND expensive - but I have full and complete confidence that this will be bloated and cost-overrun to stratospheric levels by government involvement.
I was amazed at how many good and not terribly expensive ideas were incorporated into my FIL’s retirement community home. I plan on being a DIP (Die In Place) when I retire, so I’ll be doing some of these things in my home before I get too old to do them! Incredibly, my grandfather, possibly the smartest person I ever met, did this for himself 40 years ago and he had to make a lot of the fixtures - a man before his time.
Three reasons to put a stake in this:
Phantom savings never materialize;
spending always exceeds estimates;
programs always expand.
I don’t want government snoops roaming around my house...unless they have a search warrant issued by a court. Using the logic of this article...wouldn’t it be nice to have the government wipe my arse each day?
Fine. This is all we need on top of all our other financial demands: paying for everybody else's home repairs.
Colleges could offer classes in Arse Wiping, leading to a degree in Crap Cleaning Studies...
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