Aging parents

How many of you out there are taking care of your parents? Maybe taking care of your in-laws? Kevin and I are. We are taking care of his mom. I really feel too young to have to take care of parents. I thought it would come much later. His mom had a stroke and has a bad hip, and diabetes. She can barely walk across the room. She can’t leave the house and certainly can’t drive because she is legally blind. The good news for her is she is native American and gets good health care at the Haskell Indian Clinic. She has no income and is on disability as well. We do her shopping for her and take her to all of her appointments. I don’t regret it don’t get me wrong. I just thought this happened later in life.
My mom has COPD now. In a few years she will probably need more help. My little sister loves to play the part of hero so I think she will fill in a lot with mom. But I will of course do what I can do. My mom still smokes though… that puzzles me. Why if you are having trouble breathing would you still smoke? But then again I have never been smoker so I have no idea how hard it is to quit. I do have mitral valve regurgitation however. And when I get out of breath I have a hard time catching it and I don’t like that feeling so I think I would stop smoking. For me the only big problem right now is stairs and carrying things.
My step-dad had a heart attack a few years back. It was scary. Scary for everyone. We all stayed with my mom the entire time. We took turns staying the night with her and everything. My mom doesn’t do well when left alone. Jim had his surgery and is better now. But I think we were more worried for my mom if he didn’t make it than we were for him. Sorry Jim… but dying isn’t the worst thing. 
My dad…. Well he never really tells us much. He is a guy who glosses over the bad stuff. I think he is in pretty decent health but if he wasn’t… I am not sure he would tell us. He has Ann to take care of him though. I don’t really worry about having to take care of him.. he is in Georgia. But I definitely do worry about him. He turned 70 this year!!! Yikes!! I feel like all of the sudden he is old.
Kevin’s dad… well I think one day he will just fall over and die. No prolonged anything. Someone will go to his house because no one has heard from in a few days and we will find him there. I hope that isn’t insulting… it isn’t meant to be at all. It is just what I think.
The general condition of health care right now concerns me for my mom and step dad. They are the “caught in the middle” people. Jan gets disability and healthcare. My dad and Ann have enough to take care of themselves but my mom is doing okay. Okay means a big health care problem would hurt. And because she is okay… I feel like the healthcare for the middle of the road people is worse than the health care for the bottom of the ladder people. Am I wrong in this thought? Any opinions? I am not sure why I think that… I just do. I only know a couple of people who signed up for the Affordable Healthcare and both of them… say they haven’t paid for it yet. Nothing. How does that work?
Oh well, I should get back to work… just thought I would drop a thought off.

Healthcare

I am getting ready to head into the weekend. I have a lot on my mind and I could certainly use a nap today. But that won’t happen for sure. The topic for today is medical care. My doctor started 2 years ago with a membership system. He no longer deals with insurance of any kind. That is not to say you can’t file for yourself. It saves him a ton of money on administration just in that one think. My family pays $95.00 a month. What we get for that is easy appointments with little to no wait time. We pay approx. $20 for a regular office visit. He can also do what we want or what is best for us instead of what insurance would want. You want a mole removed off your face or somewhere? He will do it because he doesn’t have to justify anything to insurance. You want a 30 minute appointment… you can have it. You still need regular insurance for things that would require surgery or hospitalization. For your girly annual apt he sets aside an hour for you. He asks tons of questions and listens!! I am curious what others think now is this day and age of a plan like this? What are you doing and paying for your health care? I am also just curious if any of my friends have gone out and even looked at the Affordable Health Care website. If you have… did you sign up? I am honestly curious how it is working for folks. I hear on news programs and such but I am sure they lean a little to the right considering what I am listening to.
Thanks and Smooches!!!