Heart
Awareness Month 2013 and Future Plans
I am in the process of reviewing Long Term Health Care for
myself. A number of small seemingly insignificant events have intersected and I
expect to make a decision soon as to whether to take a policy. Heart Awareness month reminds me that, as a
heart patient, I always have in the back of my mind the thought that someday my health may be diminished and I will need help at home or in an assisted
living facility. All of this I am prone to unrealistically deny in the recesses of my
psyche. I claim to my friends that when I am at that stage I want to be put
down. Out of my misery and the inconvenience I will cause those still around me. I am not making the case for physician assisted suicide here (which I
support) as it is a more serious subject and not to be treated frivolously.
Rather the thought of living a far diminished lifestyle is difficult for us all
to imagine and apparently no amount of exercise, diet, preventive medical
regimen will be able to keep the creeping fingers of older age away from our
ankles. So how do we prepare? Or do we shoot from the hip when the crisis
begin? I’ve been down that road and, as a survivor, have weathered the storms and
come out the other side, but is there an easier way? Probably. I just wish it
didn’t seem like I was being sold a used car by the broker, prodded with the 7% increase for
LTC that kicks in on my next birthday and warnings that California will soon be
one of the last States to implement a premium increase with my carrier.
As an un-married man in a loving long term relationship who
can’t visualize his partner having to move him, change his diaper, cook and
whatever else will be needed to maintain a life, a childish immature
voice squeals in my head. "Blah, Feh. Not for me."
But the last words of the insurance broker as he walked out my
door are what remain. “Let’s age with grace, dignity and common sense. “ That
seems reasonable and doable with a little forethought, discipline and sacrifice.
If you don’t make plans to care for yourself, who will?
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