Barbara J. Hamby

Caring About Medicare

I’ve never particularly been a fan of the Kennedy family, or Senator Ted Kennedy. Some of their escapades have been pretty startling. However, some members of the family have performed good deeds with what seems to be unselfish motivation.

When I toured the Senate chambers on a visit to Washington, D.C. a few years back, I was surprised that Senator Kennedy was the only one in attendance. He was reading a speech into the Congressional Record. I thought to myself, rather uncharitably I must admit, that he probably was attempting to assuage a guilty conscience.

However, when I read yesterday that Senator Kennedy made a special trip to the Senate to vote on the Medicare bill, I was very impressed. I have been a cancer patient and can remember how I felt when I was recovering. It’s difficult to imagine that the senator would go to that much trouble for purely political reasons.

As a senior citizen, my interest in the Medicare legislation is personal, as well as national. I’m horrified to hear that our president, esteemed by some, is threatening to veto this bill. It’s impossible for me to understand how someone so well off, with excellent health coverage for himself, his family, and his political supporters, can be so callously indifferent to the needs of all us senior citizens who are not that fortunate.

So far, I have access to Medicare and supplemental coverage through an HMO, but have no idea how long I’ll be able to afford the premiums, that go up every year, at a much larger rate than any pension increases.

What are you thinking, Mr. President?