Hands to Help Seniors

View From A Nonprofit Serving Senior Citizens In Carmel, Carmel Valley, Gonzalez, Greenfield, King City, Marina, Monterey, Pacific Grove, Pebble Beach, Salinas, Seaside And Soledad California

With millions more Californians eligible for Medi-Cal due to the new health care reform law, there are worries that there won't be enough doctors that take the low-reimbursement rate insurance to serve all of the newly insured.  There are now about 10 million Medi-Cal patients in the state, about 30% of the population, but there has not been a spike in new physicians.  Low reimbursement rates have already caused many doctors to drop out of the program.  O'Connor Hospital in San Jose is up for sale.  It's on the verge of closing because it can't afford to serve the new influx of Medi-Cal patients.  Some are hoping that additional power given to nurse practitioners and physicians assistants will help doctors deal with the new patients.  However, even with this change it's, unclear that the medical community will be able to keep up with the new demand for Medi-Cal doctors in California.

Please note that this blog reflects my personal opinion and may or may not reflect the opinion of Hands to Help Seniors and the individual members comprising the Board of Governors

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There was a sad story in Business Week about a retired professor with leukemia who recently paid $7,676 for a month's supply of medication.  The cost has tripled since he began taking the medication and his out of pocket costs have totaled more than $140,000.  "People with this condition are being taken advantage of by the pharmaceutical industry," Professor Hartford told Business Week.  "They haven't improved the drug, they haven't done anything but keep manufacturing it.  How do they justify it?" he asked rhetorically.  It's not just leukemia drugs.  Fifteen cancer drugs introduced over the past five years cost more than $10,000 per month, according to data from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.  And a cholesterol medicine used for people that have a rare genetic disorder costs $311,000 per year.  The list goes on and on.  The government needs to do something to make sure that these prices come out of the stratosphere so that the severely ill get the help that they need.

Please note that this blog reflects my personal opinion and may or may not reflect the opinion of Hands to Help Seniors and the individual members comprising the Board of Governors

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More bad news is leaking out in relation to the mess at the Department of Veterans Affairs medical centers across the country.  A new investigation has shown that staff members at dozens of VA hospitals all over the nation have been complaining for years about falsified patient appointment schedules and other improper practices, only to be told to shut up or they would be disciplined or even fired.  The New York Times interviewed four doctors, a nurse and an office manager who all said that they faced retaliation for reporting systematic problems.  The federal Office of Special Counsel is examining 37 claims of retaliation by the V.A. in 19 different states.  There are hundreds of disturbing stories like that of Dr. Jacqueline Brecht, a former urologist at the Alaska V.A. Healthcare System in Anchorage.  She told the Times that she had a heated meeting with administrators at a staff meeting in 2008 where she told management that using phantom appointments to make wait times appear shorter amounted to fraud. Days later, a top administrator came to her clinic, put her on administrative leave, and had security officers walk her out of the office.  "It's scary to think that people can try to stand up and do the right thing, and this is the reaction," Dr. Brecht told the Times.  I think we should all be disturbed by this type of management in our own government and I hope they move quickly to fix this.

Please note that this blog reflects my personal opinion and may or may not reflect the opinion of Hands to Help Seniors and the individual members comprising the Board of Governors

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Homeless military veterans will benefit from the Veterans Transition Center of Monterey County's (VTC) Stand Down event, which will be held August 1-3 at the Fort Ord Motor Pool at 4499 Joe Lloyd Way in Seaside.  "This is our way of offering these people who have sacrificed so much for our country a respite from their day-to-day lives," Terry Bare, executive director of the VTC told the Monterey Herald.  The three day bi-annual event provides food, clothing, shelter and a wide variety of services ranging from medical and dental to legal and veterinary help (vets are welcome to bring their pets).  Special housing will be available for women and their families, and the SPCA of Monterey County will be on hand to care for pets.  The most recent census found that there are more than 1,000 homeless veterans in our county.  Please support the VTC if you can. 

Please note that this blog reflects my personal opinion and may or may not reflect the opinion of Hands to Help Seniors and the individual members comprising the Board of Governors.

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View From A Nonprofit Serving Senior Citizens In Carmel, Carmel Valley, Gonzalez, Greenfield, King City, Marina, Monterey, Pacific Grove, Pebble Beach, Salinas, Seaside And Soledad California

The troubles run so deep at the Veterans Administration that people are not only losing their jobs, but some employees may be going to prison.  The Federal Bureau of Investigation has opened a criminal probe into scheduling practices at the Department of Veterans Affairs looking for fraud or misuse of government resources.  As I wrote yesterday on my blog, employees at 14 VA medical facilities told auditors that they felt threatened or coerced into to falsify scheduling records.  It's believed that this was being done because their supervisors were trying to make targets in their bonus plan which required them to schedule all patients within 14 days of their request.  If it's found that these supervisors had records falsified so that they could get bonuses that they shouldn't have been entitled to, they could be found guilty of fraud and other charges.  The situation still appears to be bleak.  The audit found that there are almost 60,000 veterans currently waiting to get an appointment at the VA.  The Senate stepped in yesterday and passed a bill which will allow more veterans to seek care outside of the system as well as making it easier for the agency's secretary to fire senior executives.

Please note that this blog reflects my personal opinion and may or may not reflect the opinion of Hands to Help Seniors and the individual members comprising the Board of Governors.

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