Firefighters say they’re swamped by calls for routine care from senior homes

The ‘this’ is taking care of someone who is declining or needs assistance for daily living - added on to the responsibilities of one of their children, which is how I read your comment.

The difficult situations I’m talking about were folks who didn’t need emergency intervention and weren’t hard cases. Rather folks who would wander out side the home looking for yard work to do and then hurt themselves because they thought they were 20, or who would try to go to union hall (that they used to go to), and then get lost on the way.

Those situations were much, much harder to handle than they looked from the outside, and caused immense stress on the caregivers relationship with their spouse (and them), required full time attention (which means no job and fewer social events or other outside activities), and while yes placed less strain on ‘the system’, were an immense strain on the people involved.

They still ended up having to go to care homes, as it eventually (after 5ish years) was too crushing a load.

I dislike means testing as much as anyone, but a simple test of "are you a private business/facility with more than 1 employee" is one that I could get behind due to its inherently low bureaucratic overhead.

Certainly not in the opinion of the Dr's or insurance companies, who didn't think he should be or needed to be in a dedicated nursing home.

So perhaps you're jumping to conclusions?

Near as I could tell, the only difficult cases they felt should be in nursing homes were those that were violent, non-compliant with direction, prone to escape (not in this sense which is a 'hey, I want to do x', but will listen if you catch him), but the type that will actively try to bypass security measures, or unable to care for themselves in major ways (like lock in syndrome, inability to follow directions, inability to recognize basic environmental factors, etc.).

Are there potentially easier cases where they are 100% fully functional, yet in nursing homes? Maybe I guess, but I didn't run across any when I was visiting them later. All had some significant cognitive issues that made them very difficult to care for in some major way. But then, this is in California where it is extremely expensive for nursing home care ($3-5k/mo last I remember).

Dude I paid for it via my FICA taxes. It’s called being on SSDI (which is an ENTITLEMENT program which allows you to have Medicare). In other words, I paid enough into the system to receive such care. It is an entitlement program, not a welfare program.

However, there are 2 disability programs. The other one is called SSI (a means tested program) which is a form of WELFARE (which I am NOT eligible for). You have to be very indignant to be eligible for Medicaid, which is likewise an insurance program. However it can be quite a shitty insurance plan depending on the state you live in, and it can end up being life or death for many disabled. As I said, this situation depends on which state you live in, which is unacceptable and disgusting and it really shows how much one cares for their fellow Americans.

You are basically an idiot for being unaware of the semantics of these two programs as you can become disabled at any time. I suggest you actually spend some time on SSA.gov to learn more.

Also, how dare you talk shit about the cost of my medication. As I said it’s an entitlement program obtained via working (except in very rare cases like End Stage Renal Disease). It is in no way my fault that the government actuaries did not do their jobs properly so that we were properly taxed for such things in the first place. I don’t get it: the American public, assholes like you, think it’s OK to talk shit about the cost of my precious lifesaving medication. Yet, the American public does not do anything to compel congress to negotiate the prices of such lifesaving medications.

By the way, I fight back against this BS about the cost of medications all the time. It’s called reading patents and going through engineering school. Trust me, I know how much these medications actually cost. So yeah, I talk shit about it all the time to people like healthcare lawyers fighting the system.

But seriously, it’s called America and I have a right to this medication whether you agree with it or not.

Also, Americans lack the reasonable expectation that someone will care for them. So, there’s a baseline anxiety and fear that dominates our politics which can end up being quite sadistic.

This situation in its entirety is quite unique in the developed world, and Americans have not gotten their act together. I mean, I even get much better care for my type 1 diabetes (autoimmune and insulin dependent) in Croatia, which I am a citizen of. Because of being Croatian, the world is really my oyster and it confers me Freedom of Movement rights as I am a European Union citizen due to being Croatian. So I can live in 27 EU countries and more, where I am conferred far more rights, including with respect to healthcare.

Most importantly, I don’t have to put up with bullshit drama from Americans like you who think it’s OK not to care for their fellow citizens.