re: #154 SanFranciscoZionist

Thanks. My views on Health Care reform have changed over the last year or so. My grandfather who was 83 at the time fall and broke his hip two years ago. He had surgery and was recovering after a few months. He had some trouble with his heart and went back into the hospital. While he was in the hospital he fell and broke his hip again (the other side). The second fall did him in and it seemed to accelerate his dementia. As a result of the stress, my grandmother died in her sleep a few days before Christmas last year.

My grandparents were like many at that age. Their only source of income was from social security. He also get some help from the VA since he was a WWII vet. After my grandmothers death, my grandfather was moved to a state nursing home. Seeing the people that were in the nursing home was an eye-opening experience.

Shortly after watching the Steelers-Ravens game(like me he loved the Steelers) he started choking on his dinner. I was told he stopped breathing for several minutes. Somehow they revived him but he was in pretty bad shape and it became evident that he wasn’t going to pull out of it. Sadly, I got the call two days later to drive the 160 miles to my hometown to “let him die”. All of his close family (kids and grandkids) were in the room to be with him when the medical life support was removed. He passed away shortly after everything was removed. It was an experience that don’t want to repeat for a long time.

To get to the point…. I was against the current version of the health care reform but I acknowledge that something more than tort reform and increased flexible spending accounts needed to be done. There is a segment of people in this country that simply can’t afford health insurance.

The Republicans can’t just try to repeal Obamacare. They need to come up with a better idea. Don’t count it though.