MEDICAID ROADBLOCKS

They have to sit in hospital emergency to get seen by a doctor or nurse, this can take up to 6 to 8 hours of waiting and the majority are seniors. I was in the hospital for a medical test and the hallways were lined with very old people laying on beds waiting for the doctor, it’s so sad to see this happening.

I'm developing a very poor opinion of our medical care system. When my father was in his mid 70's, he said that he felt like he was getting blown off by his doctors because of his age. I told him that he was imagining that. Now that I'm in that age range, I have to agree. I feel like they think if they bide their time that I'll die and no longer be an irritant. I've been to the ER many times with my husband and waited at least 8 hours. They checked him to make sure he wasn't going to die in the next 15 minutes and put him in line in the hallway or even waiting room with many other elderly patients. They "can't" give any pain medicine other than Tylenol although there are people literally screaming in pain. I understand that they often were scammed by addicts trying to get a fix. They are short of help and some of the "help" they have don't give a flying fig about the patients. It was really bad during covid when there were so many traveling nurses. They had no connection to the local hospital other than being able to draw a paycheck sometimes double what the regular staff was paid. I was last in the hospital in 2019 and it took almost 48 hours to get a room. It's likely worse now. The best hospital I've been to with my husband was in Pennsylvania when he fell at our hotel and broke his neck. I've never seen such an efficient operation! We were in and out of there in about 5 hours. They sent all his tests and records back to our local hospital so when we got home 2 days later. We went from the airport to the hospital and all the necessary information was waiting. Our hospital is the largest in the state. Relatives who live in a border area usually go to a hospital in the bordering state. They report that nothing is different there.