Equitable Access to Healthcare

SPEAKER_01 0:00

The following is for informational purposes only. For medical advice, please see a medical professional.

SPEAKER_02 0:17

Welcome to Staying Alive with Margaret and Susie. If you're watching this, you can see that Susie's not here today. She's really busy this week. And this is really nice because it provides an opportunity for us to do something that we'd always planned to do, and that's to bring on guests. And this is Regina, who's going to start speaking in a couple of minutes. And she's another one of our oldest college town friends, 50 plus years. And I know that Regina has had uh a lot of successes in accessing this very difficult healthcare system. So it seemed to me, her being our first guest, that it would be a good idea to talk on the topic of uh equitable access to health care, despite all the biases and prejudices that are built into our system here in this country that exists that that operates in oppressive systems, including in the healthcare system. And I started thinking about this regarding healthcare very much so when COVID hit. And I w and I was thinking about ageism primarily at that point because I was seeing my parent parents in their late 80s and their friends. When they got COVID, they weren't making it through. And and at that era, there were like a million deaths in this country, and over 80% were over 65. And they seemed to be dramatically up there for people in in their 80s. And it seemed to me that the government at the time the attitude was survival of the fittest, maybe it's time for the old folks to go, right? And uh that was really bothersome, and it it left me feeling like, how is my generation gonna make it through this? And what can we do to support each other to get through our our health care needs in this country when it's so the attitude is like you get what you pay for, and no, we're never gonna have uh health care for all, like you better make the money and pay for it, which is not what we agree on. And so, um, with that in mind, I want to welcome our very first guest on this podcast, and I want to welcome Regina and just jump right in so that you can tell us whatever you'd like to about your challenges and successes. Because I've no, I know she's had successes, or I wouldn't have invited her on, guys. Okay, like she's a success story in accessing decent health care in this country and getting doctors to listen to you. So, what has been your experience? So take take it away.

SPEAKER_00 3:22

Well, Margaret, I'm glad you started out talking about your revelation during COVID because that was the beginning of what turned out to be a very successful intervention, medical intervention when I was experiencing severe arthritis in my hips. But it actually at the moment of COVID, I was a special ed teacher and I was the oldest employee in the school that I worked in. And, you know, I was pretty healthy and vital. It there was not much of a focus placed on that. We were all a bunch of adults caring for children, K through eight. Um, but when COVID came, I remember us counseling our students that it was important that they stayed healthy because many of the students that I was teaching were uh cared for by their grandparents. And at that time, older people, seniors, senior homes, this was the big COVID death news was seniors were dying. And um, as Margaret described, it really was a kind of a too bad old people, too bad they don't have the access. I guess that's just the way it is. And I was alarmed. So as COVID kind of ramped up in my profession, and I was being asked to do more and more things online and in a sort of chaotic situation, I eventually ended up retiring, mostly for health reasons, and also the way the profession was adapting to COVID was very challenging. It was technologically heavy. I was creating meetings for family members, my students were not just our only clients, you can say, it was their families that we customarily dealt with. And getting working people to meet on a school schedule, it just became untenable. So when I left the profession, fortunately, I had a really kind principal, and I said he said you're you're eligible for unemployment and for health reasons. And that happened for a year. I got unemployment, and I, as it ran out, they kept saying, Well, you're eligible to apply for an extension. And I said, Well, I don't really know. I don't want to push this, right? I understand that there's a lot of restrictions on unemployment around health. And you know, I left, I didn't lose the job, I wasn't kicked out. So when I applied, of course, they were like, Oh my God, how have you been getting unemployment? We're gonna sue you. So it was like, okay, bye.

SPEAKER_02 6:13

And at that point, you were over 65, so you were on Medicare.

SPEAKER_00 6:18

I was almost 70. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 6:22

That and I wasn't gonna out you, but yeah, I knew how old you were. Yeah, yeah. But I also And what year was it that you got the hip hips done?

SPEAKER_00 6:31

It was following that. So it was within a year that that happened. So after I retired, unplanned, unprepared, I just did it thinking, my health, I'm a I'm the main target of COVID at that point. This is still not even a year in. And so I began to continue to do my life. I'm pretty active, and my hips became a huge problem. I remember talking to my doctor and saying, this is really an issue, but can you arrange some alternative things? Like the former doctor I had said that I had bursitis, there was no cure, but I'm having way more pain doing all the things he said I should. And so I actually got some treatment for acupuncture uh through my medical physician, and that was incredibly helpful. However, I continued to walk, hike, take saunas, all the things that the previous doctor had said were good, and I just hit a wall where I was actually not able to really comfortably walk around my house.

SPEAKER_02 7:47

And did any doctor say at that point a hip replacement would be a good idea?

SPEAKER_00 7:52

Or as I went to what was a new doctor, my Kaiser doctor, I said, I've got to get some kind of replacement. I would I need a doctor to look at my condition, the pain's getting worse. And so she hooked me up with a specialist who happened to be someone who had done hip replacements on friends of mine in the past. And I was really surprised. He was like, You're a perfect candidate for hip replacements, no guarantees, but you won't feel pain. So I fortunately got in way ahead of the time. I I thought I'd have to wait for three months, but somebody canceled. I was able to get in, which was great because I didn't have a lot of time to get scared.

SPEAKER_02 8:41

Yeah. And so that you remember I had my replacement at the same time, and what we find out when we get in there is like people were canceling right and left because they didn't want to be in the COVID hospitals. Right? So it was an easy time to get in. That's the nurses were really stressed out, but yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:03

I was surprised at uh what the positive thing about getting the surgery was there were several women in the same line as me getting hip replacements. They had had hip replacements before or knee replacements, and they were all just I was shocked. I went to the doctor, not at the crack of dawn, and they were like in and out before I was in and out of surgery. So that was positive. And then after surgery, it was like, yeah, they sent me home that day, and it's like, wow, things have really changed, and yeah, I was able to recover at home pain free. I didn't even use the painkillers they gave me because I have a little bit of a thing around painkillers, like they're not super effective, and I have a high tolerance for pain. So I ended up feeling like, yep, the doctor was right, pain-free, and then I ambulated for a few weeks. Kaiser has a slower program than a lot of others, they really discourage you from doing a whole lot until the hips are really healed up pretty well, the bones are netting. And then, yeah, I've never looked back. It has it was a miracle. I'm so glad I did it, and uh, I've not experienced any pain at all. And I was scared to do certain yoga poses, but the doctor was like, we need to update the website on our on our page because, or the page on our website, because you can do anything except run. It's the only thing he cautioned me not to do. So that was a success, but it was sort of through COVID, which was a really scary time for seniors in in terms of health care.

SPEAKER_02 10:59

Yeah. And I just want to uh say to people who are in other parts of the country that Regina's in the same area as me, Northern California Bay Area. And so she mentioned her health care provider, and they are a managed care system here in California, and at least throughout the North the West Coast. I don't I don't know where where else they are, but so so because you have that, I want to ask you, do you have Medicare Advantage? Um yeah, so that's that's the the plan that she's on.

SPEAKER_00 11:35

I have the senior I think.

SPEAKER_02 11:40

They call it senior advantage, which is Medicare Advantage. So if you live in an urban area like we do, there's pretty good access to advanced things like surgeries um that are needed which may not be as accessible in other places. Uh uh Susie and I had an episode on Medicare and I wasn't too positive about um Medicare Advantage plans because my my finding is that unless you're incredibly assertive, as Regina is, do you remember my friend Eva? She knew she knew how to work that system. Yes, yes, she knew how to do it. Like if you if you have an intelligent, articulate, incredibly persistent person who knows how to advocate for them oneself, that system works great. Unfortunately, not everybody has got the personality to do that. And so they just like, well, nobody called me, and so I didn't know I needed that test. Like you have to be quite a bit more proactive for yourself.

SPEAKER_00 13:00

I I know Margaret, you and I have talked about this too, the differences. I discovered uh a health disparity and outcomes among black and non-black women that was uh disturbing mostly not because of the news of disparity, disparities exist in every area by race. That wasn't surprising, but what was surprising was by class the disparity persisted. And the the folk lore, or certainly often uh I think about the fact that if you have enough money, and this is the kind of general American mythos, you can be shielded from most of the damaging aspects of racism or any other ism that is negatively impacting you. And what this health statistic stated was that uh black women, irrespective of their class, were getting uh poor out health outcomes. And this was specific to pregnancy, infant mortality, maternal mortality, all of that. Um, it wasn't specific to any other general area, but uh it did uh disturb me because the idea that having enough money is not a shield. In fact, they found that having more access actually created greater disparities for women, and that really, I think, really undercut the idea that it is only class that dictates your position. One of the things I do want to add is as Margaret said, Medicare advantage requires super advocacy. It requires you to absolutely be aware of what's available and to really push your doctor. I have a very assertive doctor, but she's a young woman. She doesn't know everything I need. So my experience is that it doesn't matter what kind of service, healthcare provider, or doctor you have, assertiveness is necessary, at least it has been throughout my life.

SPEAKER_03 15:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:20

Um no matter how great the facilities or poor they are, I've gotten great treatment at general hospitals that poor low-income people, and I've gotten poor service at nicer private specialists that have treated me as if there was nothing they could do for me. There was no way to heal or cure my problem.

SPEAKER_02 15:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:45

I didn't really have a problem because you know you're in pretty good shape, right?

SPEAKER_02 15:51

I wonder if the if our experience is also because we're in an urban area, because I know my friends that go to county, like a lot of our friends are artists, poets, musicians, they're our age. You know, I know I know plenty of people who are on Medicare with Medicaid as the supplement. And and so they go to the county hospital. Because what we know here in our city is that it's the same doctors who are at UCSF, it's the same exact doctors. And that's where I went before there was affordable care insurance, and the doctors are fantastic. Whereas my cousin in Appalachia is like, oh, I'm not going to the minors hospital, I'm driving to Pittsburgh, you know. So it it might depend uh if you're in a more rural area, whether those county hospitals are are quite up to snuff. But um so we've had we've had good experience.

SPEAKER_00 16:52

I was just gonna throw in something that I know we talked about it, it it's sort of broadly on the topic, but my first medical provider from the time I was a teenager was Planned Parenthood. That was the only doctor I had, the only doctor I saw, the doctor I needed really. And uh fortunately at the time, although I'm from this region that Margin I Margaret I live in, that's where I met Margaret. I was living in the Seattle area. And fortunately, uh very progressive, very supportive women's community. I got so much wonderful treatment. But I have to say that on my usual doctor's visits, annual visits for my pelvic and whatever, I encountered plenty of harsh uh doctors, mostly males, that I just felt that completely disdain from them. So Planned Parenthood, I love it. I've supported it. It was wonderful. It got me through my first couple of decades of adult life. Yeah, but I definitely experienced racism and uh uh dismissal and resentment or quality or questioning my you know moral ground uh um in that setting, too. So I uh it's just to underscore that you do have to be an advocate no matter where you are, and there's the treatment is available.

SPEAKER_02 18:30

Do you remember there was this one doctor we heard this on the Grapevine? Oh, there's a doctor out in the county who who uh is best friends with Andrew Weil. And of course, I knew who Andrew Weill was at the time, and uh and it's like oh, we're going to him, and he was so cute, he had like a long beard. Did you ever hear about him?

SPEAKER_00 18:51

It's like that was who I went to, and and he was he was like, I went to dentist in Bellingham for that same for that same reason.

SPEAKER_02 19:02

He was really cool, he was hip, and um, I didn't like him because he was way too into cocaine.

SPEAKER_00 19:08

I remember let's be honest. Yeah, he actually did the only root canal that I've had at that time that has never been replaced or cracked or damaged.

SPEAKER_02 19:23

Oh, that's good.

SPEAKER_00 19:24

I mean he was good. Gold was the best, and I thought, gold, that sounds so country. But he's like, you'll never have to replace it, and he's absolutely right. Yeah. And that was 50 years ago, at least. Amazing.

SPEAKER_02 19:41

So yeah. Well, okay, as you guys can see, I've digressed a bit, and and we're gonna we're gonna have a second episode uh following this, and on that episode, we're gonna talk about when women have aches and pains in particular, and we come to our doctor, and we're not necessarily taken seriously. And so uh we're gonna talk about that next. And so we're gonna leave that this episode here, and I want to thank Regina for joining us. I want to ask people to like and subscribe. And uh until next time, we are staying alive.

SPEAKER_01 20:21

You've been listening to Staying Alive with Margaret and Susie. This show is hosted by Margaret Cooley and Susie Hymas. To subscribe to our show, leave a comment or ask a question, please visit staying alive with margaretandsuzy.com. Our podcast is available on all major podcast platforms. If you've enjoyed our program, please feel free to leave us a five star review. Thanks for listening.