HEARING - U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging

12
As I understand it, you have not only liquidated all your savings,
but you had to sell your house in order to pay the medical bills you
have referred to; is that right?
Mrs. YELINECK. Exactly sir, yes.
Senator HEINZ. And so you are broke?
Mrs. YELINECK. We are broke.
Senator HEINZ. And you are in debt--
Mrs. YELINECK. Yes, yes.
Senator HEINZ [continuing]. To nursing homes, to hospitals, to
doctors.
Mrs. YELINECK. I have no idea how much we are in debt, though.
I would have had those figures, as I told Senator Melcher, if the
University Hospital Clinic would have come through with what I
requested.
Senator HEINZ. What are you going to do if these $4,000 or $5,000
worth of bills that you have described, that everybody says, "Well,
you have to pay us"-what are you going to do?
Mrs. YELINECK. I do not know, I do not know. And my husband is
of very sound mind-well, his background will tell you, having
been a special agent for the Internal Revenue. He is very anxious
to get out of the nursing home. God love you, I hope none of you
ever have to be in one.
Senator HEINZ. He does not want to be in the nursing home?
Mrs. YELINECK. Oh, no.
Senator HEINZ. He is unhappy there?
Mrs. YELINECK. Oh, very, very.
Senator HEINZ. Why is that?
Mrs. YELINECK. He is the only sane one in a room with four patients.
It is pretty hard-nobody to talk sports with, nobody to talk
football with, nobody to talk baseball with, nobody to talk anything
with.
Senator HEINZ. You are saying he is in a lot better shape than
the other three people there?
Mrs. YELINECK. Oh, well, he just read Lee Iacocca's book; he just
read Carl Sagan's Cosmos, to give you a little idea of the type of
man he is.
Senator HEINZ. Well, I was asking about the other three people
in the room, I gather, they are in pretty bad shape?
Mrs. YELINECK. Yes, very bad shape.
Senator HEINZ. Are you in such a condition yet that you have
had to or you anticipate putting off necessary medical care either
for yourself or for your husband?
Mrs. YELINECK. I have done that, Senator Heinz, for the last 5
years. And the doctors have warned me, "If you do not come in and
have a complete physical so we can get to the bottom of all this,
your husband is going to be living, and you will be gone."
Senator HEINZ. This was 5 years ago?
Mrs. YELINECK. No. This was just 8 weeks ago.
Senator HEINZ. What does your doctor want you to do, and what
do you feel you cannot afford to do?
Mrs. YELINECK. Well, they are talking about another exploratory
surgery in my intestines, because I am also afflicted with endometriosis,
which is a contamination of the pelvic region. I cannot see
doing that, because that would just leave Don.