Kate Dyer-Seeley  

Whew, where to start on my recap of the Public Policy Forum?  I decided to begin with the issue that is foremost in my mind, and that I personally spoke about at the forum.  I think many of my blog readers are already familiar with this piece of my family’s story, but read on because we need your advocacy too.

Here’s the quick recap:  When my mom was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s in her mid-fifties her insurance company deemed her condition pre-existing (there’s a separate back story on this which I’ll leave for a later post) and refused coverage.  Since she was under the age of 65 she had no access to Medicare even though she spent her career paying into the system.  My dad was forced to cash out big chunks of their retirement, pay-down their assets, and legally separate from her in order to make her eligible for Medicaid.  Losing a loved one to Alzheimer’s is difficult enough without the constant worry over paying for care and the gut-wrenching process of legal separation.  My father paid for my mother’s care out of pocket.  She died before any government assistance kicked in.  And the scary thing is, they were lucky.  They had savings and retirement money.  

The Ending the Medicare Disability Waiting Period Act of 2007 is one of the national priorities for the Alzheimer’s Association.  This bill would phase out Medicare’s two-year waiting period so individuals under the age of 65 with Alzheimer’s are eligible for Medicare immediately after they receive their determination of disability. 

Here’s my first call to action-ask your congressional representatives to sign-on to the bill.  What I learned in DC is that there’s little chance that this bill (or any others for that matter) will move this legislative session.  Congress is in a holding pattern with the presidential election looming.  The goal is to keep this issue in the forefront for 2009.  Click here to find your congressional representatives.  Take five minutes, shoot them an email, and tell them you want their support on this issue. 

FYI in the state of Washington Senator Cantwell and Representative McDermott have signed-on to the bill.  Senator Murray (pictured with me above) hasn’t yet, but I’m anticipating an email any day with her support!

This entry was posted on Friday, May 16th, 2008 at 11:22 am and is filed under Alzheimer's Info, Public Policy Forum, Speaking. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.