Grandma's House

Well, the other shoe is dropping here in Missouri. Our illustrious governor Matt Blunt is trying to push through a plan to force the disabled on oxygen to start paying for their own equipment service and supplies after they've been on oxygen for three years. This is outrageous! And I'm not just saying that because I'm an oxygen patient. The supplies for oxygen tanks are not individually really that expensive, however you have to replace tubing and cannulas frequently. Tubing must be replaced once a month, and cannulas at least once a week. For each tank. If the patient is on a concentrator, they require filters which need to be replaced frequently, and God help you if it breaks down. Plus you have to have backup oxygen tanks in case of a power failure, and portable tanks so you're not trapped in the house for the rest of your life. Then there is the cost of the machine itself. The rental fee for a concentrator is well over $300 a month. Not to mention the doubling of your electric bill because it runs 24/7.

If you're lucky (as I am) to be on liquid oxygen, you have two large tanks in your home, which need to be refilled every other week. Then you have two small tanks for travel, which can be filled off the large tanks. Under the governor's plan, all maintenance, and I'm assuming this includes the valves and internal workings on the tanks, must be paid by the disabled person who is probably living on a pathetic Social Security check.

This is just as stupid as the cutting off of 90,000 plus patients from the Medicaid rolls was last year. Many older people won't have the slightest idea how to go about fixing these machines. The oxygen companies take care of the maintenance now so the patients don't have to know how to do this crap. I sincerely hope the state legislature shoots this plan down. A lot of older Missourians are depending on it.