Have you ever thought your boss is an idiot and you should have his/her job? In the past I have been fired a few times because I don't keep my mouth shut when I think things can be done a better way. I don't want to be fired this time, but to hang in long enough to make serious changes.
As some of you know, I have college education in gernotology (study of aging) and public policy and adminstration. When I learned about bureaucracies, it was the most depressing period of my life, and I decided to be a rebell rather than a bureaucrat. On top of this, the head of the gernotology department, knew nothing about Social Security. This is the guy who is suppose to teach us how to help seniors and he doesn't know how Social Security works. Okay, moving along----
The top case worker to who is responsble for helping seniors at risk, can not determine when a senior is needs help. I swear, she judged my neighbor is doing just fine when her daughter called for help, and she did nothing to help my easily confused neighbor. I pushed to become the nieghbor's Senior Companion because it is obvious she is cognitively impaired. Within a week, I report such severe cognitive problems, the case worker swings from doing nothing for this woman, to telling her daughter to get an attorney, which would mean institutionalizing the woman.
Why should you care? Because for $36 dollars a week, I can help this woman stay in her home, and if she goes into a nursing home, it will cost thousands of dollars every month. Multiply this by a few thousand people can you see why medicare is in trouble. But go back to the bureacrat's college education. She was not taught, when a senior can't pay bills, a son or daughter needs to communicate with Social Security and become the payee. It is easy and free. It does not require a very expensive attorney and trail that is emotional wrenching for everyone. She, as many bureaucrats have two extreme choices, do nothing or do way too much.
Milton and Osborn have an excellent argument about what is wrong with our country, but they just don't seem to have a good understanding of the governmental structure that is the cause of the problem. Civilized people can not abandon their old people, but neither should everything be done by extremely expensive attroneys and most expensive care, especially not when bureaucrats are paid to keep people in their homes. The justification for my job is keeping people out of nursing homes, and the case worker doesn't know how to work the system from a practical angle.
Months ago she should have told the daughter to become her mother's Social Security payee, and she should have given the daughter a few Internet links so she has the information she needs to make good decisions for her mother. God, I hate bureaucrats! And we should all be hating the education and attitude that is ruining out democracy!
rant, rant, rant.