A couple of the health care proposals from Democratic presidential candidates specifically target people between 55 and 64. Without insurance, it can be a difficult time as ailments become more common, but Medicare is not yet available. As part of our series, Profiles in Health Care, New Hampshire Public Radio's Raquel Maria Dillon visited with an elderly couple in Northfield.
The Melbergs' yard is piled high with rusty old trucks, empty propane tanks, and other stuff that looks like trash. It?s a clue to Chester Melberg?s old job as a scrap hauler.
Up a pot-holed driveway, is their double-wide trailer.
OUTSIDE AMBI dogs barking
They have two cats and three dogs. The black one is called Bear ? he?s huge but friendly. The other two are confined in the bedroom when visitors come.
CHESTER 01/:22 you make a lot of noise, get back. C?mon in. he won?t bother you.
Chester and Joan Melberg are both dealing with some serious health problems. The differences in their experience with the healthcare system highlight the gap between someone who has Medicare ? Chester and someone who doesn?t ? Joan.
Chester?s heart problems landed him in the Emergency Room with breathing problems recently.
CHESTER :18 I had 15 pounds of fluid on me.
JOAN there was fluid in a sac around his heart, he was having an awful hard time to breathe.
CHESTER I spent a week in the hospital, I got out on a Friday. Monday night I was back in Emergency. The pills they gave me was too strong.
Chester also survived a heart attack, broke his leg, and fought off stomach cancer three years ago. The Melbergs have no complaints about the treatment he got at Lakes Region General Hospital.
JOAN :12 if there was ever angels, they have at LRGH. The girls in oncology they?re wonderful. ? he raises the devil with all of them.
Chester grins bashfully.
As a veteran of World War II, he gets his prescriptions free from the V-A clinic in Tilton. And at 79-years-old, Chester says the hardest thing about getting old is not working. He was reluctant to become what he calls ?a man of leisure,? and he misses work, but now he?s taking it in stride.
JOAN :11 he goes to McDonalds and sits and gabs with the guys.
CHESTER it?s like the old barber shop but it?s McDonald?s, all the old timers, sit in the corner, have our coffee and yack, like women.
Joan?s story, on the other hand is quite different. She hardly ever leaves the house anymore. She can?t. She has a bad knee, an arthritic back, and high blood pressure. Without Medicare, Joan?s situation is a lot more complicated.
JOAN :18 I have to have the knee replacement. As far as my back goes I think I have arthritis. The knee problem is just adding to that, so I don?t get around too well. I don?t even qualify to get a wheelchair. I?m between a rock and a hard place.
She has trouble getting healthcare. For some reason, she hasn?t taken advantage of some the programs that are out there.
Joan used to be enrolled in a Lakes Region Hospital program for people who have no insurance called HealthLink. The program requires patients to contact their healthcare counselor every 60 days.
JOAN :23 when you?re on HealthLink you have to make phone calls every so often and my short-term memory stinks. So I forget to make the phone calls, so they told me if you forget the phone calls you have to wait a certain length of time to be reinstated.
When she tried to re-enroll, the HealthLink staff tried to steer her towards applying for Medicaid. With an annual income of about 17-thousand dollars per year, they thought she?d qualify.
JOAN :25 They sent me papers and I filled out the papers. And I sent them in and I waited and I called down there. She said we don?t do it that way, you have to come in. we never received any papers.
CHESTER they probably threw them in the wastebasket. Hehe?
JOAN I haven?t got that much longer to wait.
Joan?s going to turn 65 in 9 months and will be eligible for Medicare. It can take up to a year and a half to process a Medicaid application. She says she?s reluctant to follow up.
JOAN :09 you have to go way to Concord, and *sigh* I?d have to go in a wheelchair because it?s a long walk to where you have to go.
She says she doesn?t mind waiting to visit the doctor until summer. She just tries to keep her mind off her aches and pains.
JOAN :14 I?m used to it so I just deal with it that?s all. Won?t be able to do nothing thru the winter anyway. As long as I sit in my chair and watch TV, get up and make us something to eat?
Joan may be resigned to waiting, but the hospital would prefer for her to take advantage of state and federal programs. Medicaid would also reimburse the hospital for the free care Joan got in the past, like the time she had a tooth abscess. It would also cover all her prescriptions.
Many of the Democratic presidential candidates have healthcare proposals that would help Joan, at least on paper ? and as long as she signs up. But neither Joan nor Chester have much confidence that the government will provide for their needs. They don?t vote.
JOAN :13 we?re disgusted with them so we don?t bother. The ones that?s got the most money is the one that?s going to get in. They cut our programs so they can send money overseas.
There are a lot of people like Joan Melberg, they can be difficult to serve and they provide a cautionary message to anyone hoping to improve health care. It is not enough to figure out which new services to offer; you also have to account for how those new services will be received.
For NHPR News, I?m RMD, in Northfield.
