“My Last Patient,” by David Scheiner, Chicago

“The long-term-care insurance we’d bought a while back paid for a nursing aide for 12 hours a day; she came from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. I took care of Margaret for the other 12 hours, with the help of Margaret’s two daughters, Valerie and Michelle. But I was on call 24/7. I even placed a baby monitor next to Margaret’s bed so that I could be at her side at a moment’s notice.  …  The fact is, even with the best care and the best insurance, there’s not a system in place in this country to properly manage the type of long-term illness my wife had.’”

LTC Comment (from Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for Long-Term Care Reform):
Read this moving story and reflect on why “there’s not a system in place in this country to properly manage . . . long-term illness.”  I think, ironically, the government tried unsuccessfully to impose such a system which the free market unencumbered could and would have provided.  Explaining what that statement means is at the heart of the Center for Long-Term Care Reform’s work. 

My Last Patient

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