Health care in The Republic of Ireland today
My BIL (brother-in-law) was recently diagnosed with a very severe and aggressive form of Alzheimer's Disease. He is 86 years old and so far, out of 10 children born, he is the only one that has manifested this horrific illness. My husband is beyond devastated (his sister sent me a picture of his ailing brother at Xmas time and he has it next to the bed where he can see it).
In any event, I had to ask, "What will happen to him? Who will pay for this?". I've been quite worried as said BIL had been living alone most of his life, never married and living in a small cottage behind the main house he was born in.
I knew that the Irish government was helping him prior to this time by coming by to check on him a few times a week and taking him to medical appts. as needed and also providing food and other help needed at no cost. The family itself is far from being "broke".
In any event I asked my other BIL that lives south of where I live what sort of care was he receiving. He told me that he was moved to a care home in Galway City and that he is receiving "excellent care". The picture we were sent pretty much proves this as he is seated in a chair, is well dressed and looks just fine, which is why the picture will remain where it as as long as my husband sees fit.
EXCELLENT is the word I'd like to emphasize in this post.
Can we say that a person in this country would receive "excellent care" if they were to suddenly find themselves in such a condition (not that they would necessarily know!). In our country it would manifest nothing but worry worry worry.
While the Republic of Ireland sure has many problems, they have NOT FORGOTTEN its elderly and disabled citizens which is most certainly the case with our own country, the USA! What we do instead is threaten to cut the benefits that such citizens receive and offer them nothing at all in hopes that they'll just croak instead.
If the Irish can care for own, especially given their current state of financial affairs, America should be able to do the same, but it seems to me that the WAR is the answer to all that ails us as Americans.
God knows how sick I am of this and I'm thinking that Ireland does have their act together a lot more than the USA ever did when it comes to caring for its citizens. As for the cost of this, I never heard a word about it so I assume that the Irish government has stepped in and doing what it should for this fine man, my BIL. If there was a cost involved, believe me, I would have heard all about it by now!
Shame on you America for not caring for your own. I find in to be quite embarrassing to be honest with ya''ll that our country cannot and will not do the same!
In the meantime, prayers for my BIL John Joe are greatly appreciated! It is a sad sad thing to see happen to a man that I met some 30 years ago who worked the farm his entire life and became a highly regarded stone mason late in life being he knows a trade that is long forgotten. He enjoyed his stay in America for about six mos. and I know he was glad to return home to the "old country" so to speak and he never paid America another visit after that time.
Thanks for reading this post.
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The entire family has pretty much gone the 
view of the Roman Catholic Church with good reason and a good number of them have converted to Buddhism and they now have a small temple on their land (and no, I am NOT JOKING!).
One thing about the Irish, they NEVER FORGET (unless they end up with some form of dementia!).
I am in constant contact with my in-laws and the BIL that lives south of me is the family patriarch so to speak. He knows all that goes on with every member of the family and calls us a few times a month to "check" on us as he knows that neither of us are not in a great situation health wise.
I have traveled to Ireland a few times in my life and twice has been since the Euro became their currency.
I find it quite amusing to say the least as the Irish view this whole scenario with the European Union (they sort of do their best to ignore them IMO!). 
You are not allowed to drive after you are 73 years old thanks to EU rules and gee, it was my 75 year old sister-in-law that picked me up at the airport in Dublin and she was telling me about how her 92 year old husband drives around in circles for hours searching for the cheapest gasoline to purchase (sounds kind of familiar eh?) and that he has it in his mind that she is having an "affair" with someone. In fact, he was suspicious of her the day she came to meet me at the airport and queried her extensively and wanted to know "WHO" I was! So much for that no driving after 73 years of age law eh? 
As for the rest of it, I am very glad to know they haven't caved in and dumped the elderly and the disabled as America is doing its best to do. It is quite sad as I find myself trying to comfort my husband and he can only say to me a few words about life these days and they tend to be the same too often and they are, "What happened to all of the old people? We worshiped them when I was growing up in Ireland as they had much knowledge that was passed down from generation to generation and if it weren't for them, we'd have no identity to find from the days of the Famine except for the old graves found on my family's property".
Do we value our elders? I rather think not. Sad as all hell IMO.
Scared sh*tless.
I have MS and my elderly husband is going blind. We need help and there is NONE for us unless we dump everything we've got and go the poverty route. NO MEDICAID for the likes of us and gee, guess what pays for nursing homes if you have no long-term care? YOU PAY until YOU are flat broke and do the "spend down" thingy to get that crap thing called "MEDICAID"!
My late mother died of cancer. She had no long-term care and guess who paid the bills while she was in a care home? It was I, that is who, and her "wonderful" Federal health care benefits did not pay a dime towards it. I never told her about this and assured her that everything was being taken care of (but I did not tell her who was taking care of it) and not to worry and to concentrate on getting better! She died not knowing the reality of the America that my father fought in WWII for and that she herself worked a long 25 years for. She had a paltry life insurance policy that was worth $4,000.00 when she died and that was about the end of it.
Ireland looks good as of recent. Damn good. 
Because we have more than $2,000.00 in our savings account we do not qualify for Medicaid. Period.
As for the house I live in and own, I am beginning to wonder how much longer we will be able to stay here. Recently we had to take out a $10,000.00 loan to make improvements on the property that were critical.
As for upkeep, it is becoming very difficult. My husband can still do some things but not nearly what he used to be able to do. I'm fairly useless given my condition which is confined to bed more days than I care to admit. So, this leaves us in a bad situation at best.
While my husband has a lot of relatives, I have basically none left that care about me except for a few Native American foster relations (mother was adopted by the Cherokees in 1925). A sad life it has been for the most part and I actually look forward to death as I have nothing to look forward to except getting worse and perhaps ending up in a "hell hole somewhere" as the former parish priest put it. He if any one would know as this is what a priest does -- visits and tends to the elderly and infirm and he too is from Ireland and he knows what "excellent" care is without strings attached!
Sadly, said priest is now retired and living elsewhere. Best I know he is still around however.
Last edited Tue Feb 17, 2015, 10:43 PM - Edit history (1)
What a sad reality it is in America for people like these people I discuss -- they are what you call the middle class -- Americans that are like most Americans in this country and people just like this are what made America what it once was a long time ago that I still remember. It is wrong, plain wrong!
As for the timber industry, we won't go there. 
And I cannot disagree with a word you have written for it is the truth.
The health care system in America is GREAT if you have money to pay for it. If you don't, good luck!
I'm sorry to read about your mother's cancer and how it wiped you out like that. In my mother's case, she was gone in three of the longest months I've ever lived in my life. I cannot imagine having to go through that as long as you did! 
Caregivers never get the respect they deserve and as I posted in my original post, America should be ASHAMED of themselves for the way they care (or fail to care) for their citizenry!
The land of the free and the home of the brave my arse!
However, he might not know who my husband is I think. It sounds like he's in rough shape from what my other BIL tells us. My husband has no desire to go to Ireland as he "doesn't want to see what the EU has done". He's well-apprised of the situation naturally as am I.
I am not physically well enough to travel anymore sadly. I did it while I still could do it though knowing that time is clicking away and that if I'm going to do something and think I can do it, I do it!
However, my last trip abroad I ended up in an ER in Hungary (hahahaa) and ended up in the ER when I got home as well. I was advised to not try to travel via air anymore because of what happened to me (an allergic reaction to the TSA perhaps?). Just kidding, well not really ... 
I hope you can take care of yourself and take it easy. Best to you!
