From TPM Reader RT …
I recently lost my father and an uncle to lung cancer. Both were diagnosed with stage 4 diseases within three weeks of each other. My father lived for nine months after diagnosis and my uncle lived for eleven. Both were covered by Medicare.
Having done battle with employer-provided insurance companies and because of the right-wing bamboozlement about the quality of Medicare, I was actually very surprised that Medicare covered the illnesses of both with no “rationing” or typical insurance-co wrangling.
A stage four cancer is a somewhat hopeless thing to face and at no time did
anyone even remotely suggest that palliative care was the only option. The care strategy was left to the patient and the facts about the patient’s options were presented by the doctor.Without Medicare, both illnesses would have certainly bankrupted the family. It is sobering to think that the state of the health insurance industry today means that you really have no safety net for a major medical loss until Medicare is able to cover you.
The patient-doctor consultations which the deathers are crying about are an essential component in facing a terminal illness. The patient has to plan and be given the options and expectations of a very difficult process – a process which, as KS alludes to – can significantly alter the quality of one’s life when time is no longer a luxury. Many people don’t plan for their own demise. The consultation at least provides a framework for understanding what needs to be done to get affairs in order before it is too late.
