Dear Editor:
I was surprised and glad to see Mary Schantz's Nov. 30 letter to the editor. It was a prime example of how government-run health care just doesn't work. Medicare and Medicaid make patients and medical providers jump through hoops with a bunch of rules and red tape that help no one. Like Ms. Schantz stated, Medicare won't pay for custodial care from a nursing home. Custodial care is like dressing, bathing, eating and normal daily routines that patients need help with. However, Medicaid will pay for these but later, after the patient dies, they will try to recoup from the patient's estate. Medicare will pay for therapy while a patient is in a nursing home. Medicaid will not. Nor can family and friends pool their resources to help pay for therapy. If they do Medicaid will cancel their coverage. So patients on the government-run health plans are at the mercy of government bureaucracies which drag out necessary medical procedures. With only government-run plans there is no place else to go, one is stuck on that system. Government only bogs things down and makes it difficult because government always treats its constituents as adversaries trying to get something for nothing. It tries to protect itself with endless regulations and red tape. If one wants to change that system, then like Ms. Schantz indicated one has to go through Congress and the president to make those changes. It is government, so these things take lots of time, in some cases years if at all, in the process many people will be permanently debilitated or worse yet dead. Being government, they will enact more crazy laws and regulations which will make things even worse. At least with insurance plans, multiple charities and new innovate ideas all vying for our patronage they will provide better products/coverage for a person's needs at lower costs. We need to let the government do what it does best, which is create endless useless red tape and leave health care to the individuals who actually want to help.
One thing I'd like to see is our health-care providers to be treated like our entertainers, the best getting millions for doing their job well. I'd rather see nursing home staff being paid millions rather than football players who kneel during the national anthem or actors who scream they are nasty. Time we get our priorities straight.