Tiered healthcare.

Two summers ago, I was catching up with a guy from the neighborhood who I know and I was saying how much I liked working in assisted living, and the subject of private nursing homes and Medicaid reimbursements came up.

His company had done PR work for some nursing home chains, and he was saying that the trouble is that some private homes do indeed give better care, but those ones forego Medicaid reimbursements, so it's only richer folks who are in them and who get those staffing levels, which I think is true, I don't think he was lying.

Anyhow, like last month I visited my uncle when he was in the hospital for minor surgery, and his place was very chi-chi and he even had a menu where he could order his meals from the kitchen and they'd make it up fresh and bring it to him within like forty-five minutes.

It had stuff like chicken sandwiches and "Catch of the Day" fish and meatloaf and mac 'n' cheese (with a heart healthy version!) on it, and that shit was just insane.

He also said a nurse had told him that the staff there was trying to unionize.

I wonder how much money that place took in, and in any case it seems like another example of tiered healthcare.

Somehow I don't think I'm going to get that level of care there or at the place I work at by the time I get old (if I get old! - people do die young all the time, and you never can tell who will go), unless something changes radically with the economy and social service provision.

It's been straight to the bottom with me.