Last month I asked the hospice representative what is Medicare paying for the oxygen tank and oxygen machine, plus the nebulizer and hospital bed, and with a straight face, was told $3.00, per day. I told them that it does not sound right. Today, however, I manage to wrest from them the true cost, $100.00 per day!!!!! I told them that that is exorbitant and outrageous. For that cost, Medicare could actually BUY that equiptment and it would have been paid for in full for less than two weeks of hospice "care". As is, a nurse only comes by once or twice a week. I am starting the fourth month of hospice, so therefore, Medicare has spent thus far, $9,000.00+, and I'm sure each time a nurse visits, Medicare is paying an outrageous price. So to make a long story short, I opted out of hospice, effective immediatelly. I do not want to be a part of an enterprise that is abusing the Medicare program with unconscionable practices. I am ambulatory and quite able to take care of myself for the time being, so therefore, hospice is unneeded. When the time comes, THEN I will avail myself of their "services".

When my dear late wife was receiving hospice care, a PRIVATE insurance company paid for everything. She was well taken care of and lacked for nothing. When she was diagnosed with cancer March 14, 1997, I immediatelly called my employer and requested Family Medical Leave, which was granted. I spent every day with her untill her death, June 5, 1997, 7:30 pm MST. She, like me, received a lot of support from all the family members, and that includes my Mother and brothers and sisters.

My dear siblings want me to move to New Jersey so that they can look out for and take care of me, but I respectfully declined, since New Jersey is like a foreign country to me. I have been living in the Southwest for nearly forty years and it's "home" to me. Although I have visited New Jersey many times, I get very anxious to return to the desert. I tend to think that anyone that has been living in the Northeast for most of their lives would find the desert strange, as though it's a foreign country also.

I hope that the Medicare folks start paying attention, and stop these less than altruistic companies from ripping off the taxpayers.

Donald