So I find myself wondering what kind of sandwich I would be able to label the following event and one that comes to mind is a "Kobe Beef Burger, " cost 140.00$ per burger. Why you might ask, well when it comes to seniors health care, it seems like you are told you have to have the best for your health but it's going to cost you.
I find it absolutely amazing how our world works for those who are disabled. In my opinion, there are not enough options for people who have multiple disabilites, to access proper care and maintain their human dignity along the way. In our household, Jeff's dad has mulitiple disablities, blindness, being the most debilitating, although he will tell you otherwise. So in respect to getting his hearing aides, because he was suffering from age related hearing loss, he brought the hearing aides home and to our surprise, we couldn't believe how many instructions came along with it. For instance, batteries, who knew he would have to change them once a week and they are the size of baby aspirin, so for a blind man, "practical impossibility" comes to mind as a new term that I just made up. So Dad came up in the morning with his little bag of goodies to give us a lesson on his new hearing aides. It is quite cute, his attention to detail and making sure to get it right. His biggest concern at this time is not the fact that he has to turn them off every night by finding the little switch, but how long the batteries will last and how does he change them. So he went through the instructions and Jeff and I listened and asked questions. Overall, it went fine. A sidenote here, Ryan came up to his grampa and asked a question and dad heard him quite clearly for the first time ever. I made reference to this and dad commented back, "I guess they really are working."
You see, dad is not thoroughly convinced that he needed to spend the money for his hearing (4G's). Well, it so far has paid off and this became evident to him, in the van on our grocery trip outting for the day. There was a lot of background noise in the back of the van and Ryan began talking to grampa and grampa heard him and answered him back. So I asked dad what he thought about the hearing aides in the van, and he again replied, "they are really working." So time will tell if he really truly feels that way.
On another health note, the same week that dad went to get his hearing aides he also made a trip to his dentist only to be told that he will need teeth and bridge work and implants that in the end could cost up to 10,000.00$ for one side. So I ask, where is the assistance for our seniors. Hello, they are not working anymore and how are they supposed to acquire that kind of money on the pension that is provided to them. Their pension does not allow for these kinds of extravagant costs and even if they have a blue cross program that they pay for it does not allow for such work to be done. So here in lies the dilemma of a senior...live without the tooth, or have all of this work done, pay for it and then have the dentist tell you that your other teeth have rotted because of age and now all of that work is for not! Simply amazing. As dad said at the breakfast table, I think I would rather go without, because who knows I could die the day after and all that money would have gone down the drain. I understand his comment, but I have a hard time with the government not chipping in a portion or having regulations with our dentists for seniors. In my opinion, by not having the work done, we are opening ourselves to new medical issues and possible hospital trips due to possible gum disease and heart issues. In the end potentially costing the health care system even more money than if it had a formula to contribute to maintaining seniors health.
So I come back to the sandwich choice: Choosing a Kobe Beef Burger gives you hearing aides and new teeth. Choosing a regular ground beef burger gives you no hearing assistance and changing your diet to soft foods because you no longer have teeth. Hmmmmmm......
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