It’s a sobering thought: If I live long enough to need nursing-home care, I will probably need Medicaid. I hope not, of course. I have been fortunate to have worked all my life and to earn enough to save for retirement. I have never needed any public assistance except for a FEMA loan for flood damage.
But my retirement funds will run out in a few years. Then I will sell the house and manage for several more years on my own. And if I am lucky, I will die before I need Medicaid.
But if I live on, maybe into my 80s or 90s, what then?
Well, if Congressman Patrick McHenry and his fellow tea party Republicans have anything to say about it, I won’t even have the modest income I am receiving from Social Security. Medicare, which doesn’t cover nursing-home care anyway, will be dismantled. Folks like me — you know, middle-class baby boomers who have been contributing to Social Security and Medicare all their lives — will be at the mercy of a system that provides tax cuts for the rich and minimal services to the poor.
Patrick McHenry has voted to cut Medicaid by a third. My first concern is for the poor children and families who are hurt by cuts to health services. And since I visit people in nursing homes who depend on Medicaid because their retirement funds have been depleted, I am concerned about them.
Looking to the future, I am also concerned for people like myself whose resources will simply run out before they reach the age of 80. Maybe they were counting on selling their home, but its market value is not enough to support them. Maybe they were hoping their children would support them, but a few months of unemployment have set the kids back indefinitely.
Patsy Keever will not abandon any of us. Thank goodness we have the choice of electing someone to the 10th Congressional District who truly puts people first. Patsy will watch out for the interests of kids, middle-class families and seniors. Oh, she won’t abandon the rich, mind you. That’s because she will represent all the people of our district.
— Sarah York
Fairview
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