HEARING - U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging
HEARING - U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging
HEARING - U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging
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cause he is not in need of 24-hour skilled nursing; and yet this man<br />
cannot do anything.<br />
And having taken out this supplemental insurance for nursing<br />
home care, we felt that he was covered, So he has put in an appeal.<br />
I do not know how far we are going to get with this appeal, but I<br />
am not going to pay it until there is an appeal. I do not have the<br />
m<strong>on</strong>ey to pay it.<br />
Chairman MELCHER. Mrs. Yelineck, there have been 7 years,<br />
then, of increasing health problems with your husband. Do I understand<br />
you correctly that you are now paying 30 percent of your<br />
income for health care, whether it is prescripti<strong>on</strong>s or what-haveyou?<br />
Mrs. YELINECK. Yes, sir.<br />
Chairman MELCHER. That is over and above Medicare and your<br />
insurance coverage?<br />
Mrs. YELINECK. Yes, sir. The down payment <strong>on</strong> our home has all<br />
g<strong>on</strong>e for that.<br />
Chairman MELCHER. If I understand you correctly, the costs have<br />
increased for your husband during the past 12 m<strong>on</strong>ths; is that correct?<br />
Mrs. YELINECK. Oh, yes, you are very correct, sir. And this is all<br />
from his care at the University of Wisc<strong>on</strong>sin Hospital and Clinic,<br />
and these are the bills from 1985 and 1986.<br />
Chairman MELCHER. Are they paid?<br />
Mrs. YELINECK. No. Thank God for an auditor <strong>on</strong> the Commissi<strong>on</strong><br />
<strong>on</strong> <strong>Aging</strong>, who comes and helps me every 3 weeks go through these<br />
bills. There are terrible discrepancies in them. One bill will say you<br />
owe $3,000, another <strong>on</strong>e says you owe $2,100.<br />
Chairman MELCHER. The 1985 bills are not paid yet?<br />
Mrs. YELINECK. Yes, 1985 and 1986.<br />
Chairman MELCHER. Have not been paid?<br />
Mrs. YELINECK. Some of them are paid, and some are not.<br />
Chairman MELCHER. Now you have had some of your own health<br />
problems.<br />
Mrs. YELINECK. Those bills just started coming in last week.<br />
Chairman MELCHER. Do you mind telling us if you and your husband<br />
can financially cover the costs that you are facing right now?<br />
Mrs. YELINECK. Oh, no, there is no way, Senator, no. I would<br />
have to turn to my brother who is an old salt, living out <strong>on</strong> his<br />
boat in Key West, FL. I hate to do that.<br />
Chairman MELCHER. You would get help from him?<br />
Mrs. YELINECK. There would be the possibility. He is 77 years<br />
old.<br />
Chairman MELCHER. And your husband, I see, is 73; is that correct?<br />
Mrs. YELINECK. Yes, he is 73.<br />
Chairman MELCHER. And you are 68?<br />
Mrs. YELINECK. Yes, sir.<br />
Chairman MELCHF.R. Well, just tell us what this means to you, or<br />
what you recommend that we do, because you apparently will be<br />
able to pay these bills with the help of your brother; is that right?<br />
Mrs. YELINECK. Oh, I should not have said that; no, no.<br />
Chairman MELCHER. What do you mean?