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Robin Bolduc with her husband, Bruce Goguen, and daughter Tiffany Zimenoff. Photograph: Courtesy of Robin Bolduc<\/p>\nRobin Bolduc, 69, Colorado<\/p>\n
Caregiver to spouse, Bruce Goguen (72), and daughter Tiffany Zimenoff (42) <\/p>\n
Bolduc\u2019s husband is a full quadriplegic and uses a ventilator to breathe due to primary progressive MS.\u00a0Her daughter has Down\u2019s syndrome with multiple underlying medical conditions.\u00a0Both Bruce and Tiffany use home health services.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBruce lives with me and requires 24\/7 line-of-sight care,\u201d Bolduc says, noting that Medicaid pays for her husband\u2019s attendant care, as well as disposable medical supplies and medical equipment such as a wheelchair, ventilator, oxygen and shower chair. \u201cMedicaid allows him to live in our home rather than a nursing home or in a hospital. He can be an important person in the lives of me, his children and his grandchildren.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Bolduc\u2019s daughter Tiffany lives in her own apartment with a live-in caregiver also paid through Medicaid.\u00a0In a typical month, she has multiple doctor appointments and several outpatient medical procedures \u2013 which are generally primarily paid through Medicare, but the co-pays are paid through Medicaid. (People who have both Medicare and Medicaid coverage are considered \u201cdually eligible\u201d and Medicare acts as the primary insurance.) \u201cMedicaid allows her to work, live independently and be a participating member of her community,\u201d says Bolduc.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIn Colorado, we have more support for family caregivers than many states.\u00a0Unfortunately, many families do not have access to all the resources available.\u00a0It is often a maze of bureaucracy to access.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Robin Bolduc with her husband, Bruce Goguen, and daughter Tiffany Zimenoff. Photograph: Courtesy of Robin Bolduc<\/p>\n
Bolduc estimates that she spends at least eight to 10 hours a month dealing with insurance and paperwork, sometimes providing the same information to multiple systems. She also sometimes must go through the appeals process as a result of administrative mistakes on the part of one or more agencies, and must get recertified every year.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Medicaid has been a godsend that Bolduc says lets her family enjoy a good quality of life, despite the medical challenges. \u201cWe have friends and family.\u00a0We interact with neighbors.\u00a0We have our dogs.\u00a0We have a good life despite our challenges,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd we provide employment for five people who work as attendants for Bruce and Tiffany.\u00a0While I provide the vast majority of Bruce\u2019s care and oversee Tiffany\u2019s care,\u00a0I simply cannot provide that level of care without help. And all of their attendants would lose their job.\u201d<\/p>\n
The potential gutting of Medicaid is terrifying to Bolduc. \u201cWithout Medicaid, I honestly don\u2019t know how we would survive.\u00a0Bruce would die within months,\u201d\u00a0she says.<\/p>\n
Jamie Davis Smith, 40s, Washington DC<\/p>\n
Caregiver to her daughter Claire Smith, 19<\/p>\n
Davis Smith\u2019s daughter, Claire, was born with a chromosome-related condition that causes multiple disabilities and significant medical conditions.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Claire is non-verbal, uses a wheelchair and needs support for every part of her day, from getting dressed in the morning to eating dinner at night. \u201cYet, she is very happy,\u201d Davis Smith says. \u201cShe loves going for walks, watching movies with her siblings, going in the pool and eating ice-cream.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Davis Smith says her daughter needs constant support for daily tasks such as brushing her teeth and taking medications, and needs someone to take her to doctor\u2019s appointments and handle any medical emergencies, so she has an aide both at school and at home. She also requires specialized equipment, including a harness, that helps keep her safe in the car.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Jamie Davis Smith and her daughter Claire in an earlier photo. Photograph: Courtesy of Jamie Davis Smith<\/p>\n
The work performed by family caregivers is often overlooked, and Davis Smith says it can take a toll: \u201cThere is a shortage of caregivers available for home and community support. Since we can never count on someone being available, a parent always needs to be able to drop everything to care for her. I had to leave my career, and it\u2019s hard to plan anything.\u201d<\/p>\n
Like many families, Davis Smith\u2019s family relies on a combination of programs and resources \u2013 which in their case includes private insurance \u2013 to obtain the services they need. Medicaid can help fill in the gaps and cover some of the costs that would otherwise be overwhelming. \u201cEven though Claire has excellent private insurance, it does not cover the home and community supports she needs to stay at home, such as an aide and specialized equipment. Without Medicaid, there is a real chance Claire would wind up in an institution, which has worse outcomes and is more expensive,\u201d Davis Smith says.<\/p>\n
\u201cClaire\u2019s needs have shaped my life. I left my career, and meeting Claire\u2019s needs has impacted every part of my family\u2019s life, from where we live to our daily routine.\u00a0Given that Claire needs constant supervision all day, every day, we could not survive without the services Medicaid helps us access.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Alyson Chadwick, 45, Stony Brook, New York<\/p>\n
Family caregiver for her mother<\/p>\n
Chadwick\u2019s mother has Alzheimer\u2019s and lived with Chadwick for two years but is now at an assisted living facility \u2013 a situation Chadwick fears could now be in jeopardy because of the ripple effect that Medicaid cuts may have on these facilities. \u201cI am worried they will lose funding from Medicaid and our bill will go up,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
Her mother, who is currently applying for Medicaid, needs support for countless daily activities, Chadwick says. \u201cShe needs help with her medication, meals, picking out her clothes, going to the bathroom, etc. Most things she does every day require help from other people. She can\u2019t use the phone without help.\u201d<\/p>\n
Alyson Chadwick and her mother. Photograph: Courtesy of Alyson Chadwick<\/p>\n
Chadwick says there\u2019s already not enough support for family caregivers and their loved ones, a situation that will probably get worse in the wake of Medicaid cuts. Her time as a full-time caregiver took a toll on her in many ways, Chadwick says. \u201cWhen my mom was living with me, all of my own medical issues were completely ignored. I didn\u2019t have the time to go to my doctor\u2019s appointments. Moreover, after spending so much time with her at her appointments, the last thing I wanted to do was spend time at more doctor\u2019s offices.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
There\u2019s also the isolation that many family caregivers face, something Chadwick says is not discussed enough \u2013 and which would become worse if caregivers lose access to support services. This in turn could put greater strain on the caregivers\u2019 own mental health. \u201cI felt very isolated because I couldn\u2019t leave her alone much,\u201d she says. \u201cAlso, she would wake me up in the middle of the night, so I wasn\u2019t sleeping well. I was depressed and anxious all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chadwick says Medicaid is a critical program that helps people from a range of backgrounds and financial situations. \u201cPeople tend to think Medicaid is for poor people in the inner city, but it helps a lot of middle-class families who just want their loved ones to be cared for,\u201d she says. \u201cWith an ageing population, we have to have a better way to support our elders and their families.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Robin Bolduc, 69, Colorado Caregiver to spouse, Bruce Goguen (72), and daughter Tiffany Zimenoff (42) Bolduc\u2019s husband is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":139067,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[49,48,84,392],"class_list":{"0":"post-139066","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-healthcare"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139066","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=139066"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139066\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/139067"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=139066"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=139066"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=139066"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}