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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21<br />
Mrs. RIEGER. No.<br />
Chairman MELCHER. So a porti<strong>on</strong> of your husband's prescripti<strong>on</strong>s--<br />
Mrs. RIEGER. I am having to pay myself.<br />
Chairman MELCHER. What does that run per m<strong>on</strong>th, including<br />
your own?<br />
Mrs. RIEGER. Well, if I bought mine and his both, I would be<br />
paying around $75 m<strong>on</strong>th. Right now, last m<strong>on</strong>th, I paid-his runs<br />
different-but the last m<strong>on</strong>th, I picked up $32 of his that was not.<br />
Chairman MELCHER. Now, I want to get this straight. He has<br />
Social Security income.<br />
Mrs. RIEGER. Yes.<br />
Chairman MELCHER. He is eligible to be in this nursing home<br />
and pay $25 per m<strong>on</strong>th?<br />
Mrs. RIEGER. Twenty-five dollars is what is left out of his Social<br />
Security that I can use to pay.<br />
Chairman MELCHER. All the $498 except $25?<br />
Mrs. RIEGER. Yes-goes to the nursing home.<br />
Chairman MELCHER. I see. So you are faced with paying the prescripti<strong>on</strong>s<br />
for yourself and him and taking care of whatever your<br />
medical needs are, and waiting for the golden day when you are<br />
financially able to have the knee surgery--<br />
Mrs. RIEGER. Yes.<br />
Chairman MELCHER. And what is your other medicati<strong>on</strong> for?<br />
Mrs. RIEGER. High blood pressure and a heart c<strong>on</strong>diti<strong>on</strong>. I have<br />
not taken any heart pills for quite a l<strong>on</strong>g time, because they are<br />
the most expensive.<br />
Chairman MELCHER. Have you been able to save any m<strong>on</strong>ey, or<br />
did you have any savings?<br />
Mrs. RIEGER. The first 6 m<strong>on</strong>ths that he was in the nursing<br />
home, it took everything we had.<br />
Chairman MELCHER. All of your savings?<br />
Mrs. RIEGER. Yes.<br />
Chairman MELCHER. And so you still have to pay $700 of hospital<br />
charges that go back 7 years?<br />
Mrs. RIEGER. Yes, and then <strong>on</strong> top of that, I owe our former<br />
doctor, who now has retired, I owe him $1,500-but Dr. Sim<strong>on</strong> said,<br />
"Well, I know you will pay it someday, Edith, so I am not going to<br />
press you for it." But I am just <strong>on</strong>e who does not want bills hanging.<br />
Chairman MELCHER. So $1,500 to him, $700 to the hospital, and<br />
$1,300 to the drugstore.<br />
Mrs. RIEGER. Yes. And I have been paying the Alva Hospital. I<br />
owe them some <strong>on</strong> his last trip to the hospital. I have got that<br />
down to $43, though, which I will be able to take care of.<br />
And <strong>on</strong> top of that, he had a Medicare supplement, but I had to<br />
drop it because I could not pay it.<br />
Chairman MELCHER. In other words, you exhausted what you had<br />
set aside, and in order even to cope with the past bills that you are<br />
paying off, you are working 50 hours a week cooking at the supper<br />
club and putting off your own health care needs.<br />
Mrs. RIEGER. Yes.
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