November 27, 2025 • 43 mins
Listen in as host Steve Kuker, President of Senior Care Consulting, visits with Gerald Lynn, author of the book “Surviving the US Healthcare System”. Gerald highlights some disturbing statistics and realities of our healthcare system as well as how to address these issues with information from various chapters in his book. This book can be used as a manual or guide you can refer to over and over again as needed. “Surviving the US Healthcare System” can be purchased at Amazon, Barnes and Nobel, or at AuthorGeraldLynn.com. Then, Steve answers his most frequently asked question “when to consider moving from home to a senior care community”. As we enter the very busy holiday season, it’s extremely important to conduct your search NOW and get your name on a waiting list before we hit peak demand in January! If you postpone your search until after the holidays, it is highly likely you will not be able to get into your chosen community. #SeniorCare #SeniorCareLive #SeniorCareConsulting #SeniorLiving #KansasCitySeniorCare #SeniorCarePlacement #SeniorCareAdvisor #Franchise #SeniorCareFranchise (800) 331-6445
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Are you caring for an aging loved one? Are you
a senior searching for answers? Welcome to Senior Care Live,
a program dedicated to you, providing information, education and resources
for seniors and their caregivers. And now America's senior care consultant,
Steve Keecker.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Hello, and welcome to Senior Care Live. I'm Steve Keeker,
your senior care consultant, and I really appreciate you tuning
in today. We have a very interesting program today with
my special guest. He is mister Gerald Lynn, and he
has written a very very interesting book. It's called Surviving
(00:44):
the US Healthcare System. And with that, Gerald, welcome to
Senior Care Live.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
Thanks Steve.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Let's just jump right in here and you and I,
like I said, you know, we easily spoke for an hour,
hour and a half on the phone about this. It's
just this is a very compelling book. So tell us
about your background and then what led to writing this
very interesting book.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
Yeah. I was a pharmaceutical rep for twenty seven years,
worked for multiple companies selling multiple different drugs. And I
also took care of a friend of mine seventy two
years old for about eight months of my life. He
had a stroke and a heart attack, and I also
was with my mom through the end of her life hospice, etc.
So I got a well rounded background and saw things
(01:32):
in the system that you won't see if you're in
like a doctor or a nurse, et cetera. I got
to talk to the people in the background that would
be office managers, of medical assistance, everybody that you can
think of that makes up healthcare. And the reason why
I wrote the book is I got to a point.
It started twelve years ago. People tell me that I
just saw these cracks in the system and I always
(01:53):
cared about patient, not about the medications that I sold,
and patients were just getting left behind. Insurance industry is
a big problem, and I just see I saw the
system get worse and worse. Nineteen nineties when I started,
and I finally said, you know, I got a I'm
semi retired. I got out of the industry, and it's
I just had to put my third thoughts down to
(02:14):
paper and help some people. That's my intention.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
Excellent Again, the book is called Surviving the US Healthcare System,
and gerald, I think the three ways to get that.
Speaker 3 (02:26):
Yeah, you can get it on Amazon. You can get
it on Barnes and Noble, and you want to go
to my you can also go to my site, authorgerald
Lynn dot com. Now you want to put my name in,
It's Gerald Lynn c MR and that stands for Certified
Medical Representative and then you can find every set of
social media you want on me.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
Okay, And the website is very very good. And again
this is very compelling. It will your eyebrows going to
go up, like, oh, I hey, and I didn't realize that.
I didn't know that, or maybe I didn't look at
it look at it that way. So obviously it's not
a perfect system. You found all the cracks and the
blemishes and where people could fall through the cracks and
(03:07):
maybe not receive the care or or just all the
problems that we've discussed earlier, so significant problems with the
healthcare system. And you had mentioned that Americans are just
confused and many times uninformed about how their healthcare system works.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
Well, DHS has a statistic that only twelve percent of
adults in the United States have proficient literacy.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
In their healthcare Now what does that mean?
Speaker 3 (03:34):
They just don't know, They don't know aside from what
to do when things hit them for example, you have
a health insurance plan from your employer. Do they know
everything and how everything works. No, they get hit in
the face when they get sick. And that's pretty much.
So people don't know what they can do, what they
can't do. Actually, have a chapter on advocacy because people
(03:56):
just don't know. When they're told no, they just accept
it and they go on from there. And actually, doctors
are the number one trusted profession in the United States.
Not that they should or shouldn't be, but when a
doctor tells you, hey, this is so no question, no
second opinion. So people just don't know what to do.
I guess, and my book is a manual and a
guide to know what to do, what to look out for,
(04:20):
when to be concerned. Well, so that's what that means.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
Absolutely. Here's an example. So this year, I've consumed a
lot of healthcare, use a lot of benefits, et cetera.
And you know if you say, okay, well I need
to set up an MRI or a a CT scan, cascin.
And so you just go out and just pick a place, Well,
guess what according to your healthcare insurance, are they an
(04:45):
in network provider? Are they a kind of a second
tier provider or if they're the third tier, that just
made you're paying less for in network more for a
second tier, and then you're going to pay almost cash
out of pocket for the third and people don't know
what provider is in what tier. And that's just one
one of the probably one hundred different examples.
Speaker 3 (05:08):
Well, yeah, that that that pulls you back to insurance.
And you got to remember, insurance is health Insurance is
not healthcare. It's just like any other kind of insurance
you have in your life, your home, your car. It's
there when things break and then it's there to help
you pay for them. So but the rules and regulations, yes,
it depends on the quality of your of your plan.
(05:29):
The more expensive PPO plans, you don't need what's called
the referral, which means your doctor has to justify why
you need something you don't need permission, you don't tie
up your physician. And yes, limiting YouTube and this happens
to our seniors card have been on the managed care
Medicare advantage plans. You're limited to the list. If you
(05:49):
don't like your doctor, well that's the list, and then
if you go someplace else, you may very well have
to pay out of pocket, and those are the more
restrictive plans that we have. So yeah, you're one hundred percent.
That's stuff that I go into my book on the
chapter on healthcare, that's chapter three. It's it's a big
it's a big maze of things to go through, and
my book navigates, Okay, this has happened, you can't get
(06:12):
these results. Watch out for this because this is how
it might go. And that goes back to literacy. They
don't understand when the process doesn't work and they can't
get what they need and they have to wait forever
to see somebody.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
In chapter one and eight addresses this, uh, this concern
or this issue. Is that correct?
Speaker 3 (06:30):
Yes, yes, I I hit these topics right right up
at the beginning, and that's where I got that statistic
about healthcare literacy.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
Okay, the book is Surviving the US Healthcare System by
Gerald Lynn, And you could go on Amazon and just
just type in Gerald G E R A L D
Lynn L y n N and then put a CMR
after that, and and you're gonna you're gonna find it easily.
You could also find all the social media uh networks
that he's involved. You could go to Barnes and Noble
(07:01):
to find the book, or you could go directly to
his website, author Gerald Lynn dot com. And there's a
there's a high rate of death or a permanent disability
due to misdiagnoses in the US, and you talk about
that in chapters five, in chapters eight, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
There's a statistic that I have. I didn't mention it
in the book because I saw it even it was
even more serious than I thought. JOHNS Hopkins in twenty
twenty three came out with a statistic that's seven hundred
and ninety five thousand Americans a year either die or
of permanent disability from a misdiagnosis and a mistake. And
(07:42):
the problem with a misdiagnosis is not only is are
they wrong. They probably are treating you for a disease
you don't have, and what they're going to use to
treat you. And I've heard this in a number of instances,
Like since I wrote the book, I get stories from everyone.
The medications they use might make you worse, and it
takes time between offices, there's communication issues. But yeah, that's
(08:05):
a crazy number I think every year.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
Yeah, there's no doubt about it, and Jerald, I love
that you set this book up. This is not some
kind of a novel that you read and you're like, Okay,
that was wonderful. I enjoyed that, and you put it
on the shelf. This has really written more as a
manual that you can go back and refer to. Is
that correct?
Speaker 3 (08:25):
Yes, if you go to each chapter. Matter of fact,
I know several people that read it. One of them
was the doctor that I know. He said it was
nice because he didn't want to read the book cover
to cover because the first four chapters are for people
that don't know the system. They don't know insurance, they
don't know this or that. But you can go to
the hospital section, or you need more care like long
term care and things you have to do after the hospital,
(08:46):
or advocacy, so you go to the table contents. You
can pick what you want to read right then, and
if something happens in your life, you can go, oh
my mom's in the hospital, go right to the hospital section.
So you're one hundred percent right, it's a manual.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
Okay, And give us the number of individuals that either
you know have experienced death or permanent disability due to
a misdiagnosis.
Speaker 3 (09:09):
Seven hundred and ninety five thousand, and that's every year.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
That's an annual number.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
That's that's not an AGRAG and that's from JOHNS Hopkins.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
Oh my gosh, yeah, I know. Take that in right, Yeah, yeah,
that that is that is unbelievable. Again, if this is
catching your attention like it's catching mine, and Gerald, I'm
I'm going to order the book and I'm really looking
forward to uh to to reading this thing cover to cover.
And like you said, referring to the book as almost
(09:40):
like emmanuals, you can go back and you can check
out different chapters. And so for a listening audience, here's
the book Against Surviving the US Healthcare System and again
author Gerald Lynn cm R. What does a CMR stand for? Again, Jiell.
Speaker 3 (09:55):
I went to before I was a pharmaceutical rep, before
the computers in Google, and I got certified. Took me
two years. I couldn't look things up usually, you couldn't
call somebody, so I had to know my stuff.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
You had to know things well. Well, I was.
Speaker 3 (10:12):
I was thought of as as a resource. Now you
didn't have to get that. But back then, pharmaceutical companies,
some of them paid for them like piser. They I
had to ask for them to pay for it took
me two years. Matter of fact, when I started, I
how do you used to go to the medical school
in Tucson, Arizona to take Then they got computers to
do that. But yeah, so I wanted to know what
I didn't know.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
And now the Senior Care Live Question of the Week,
Generic drugs work exactly the same as the original formulation,
Is that stay matrue or false? What do you think?
Speaker 1 (10:43):
You're listening to Senior Care Live on the Senior Care
Broadcasting Network. For more information, visit seniorcare Live dot com.
Speaker 4 (10:51):
We'll have more with Steve coming up next. Welcome back.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
You're listening to Senior Care Live on the Senior Care
Broadcasting Network. For more information, visit seniorcare Live dot com.
Now back to the Senior Care Live Question of the Week.
Generic drugs work exactly the same as the original formulation.
Is that statement true or false? And the answer is false? Unbelievably,
(11:36):
Gerald tells me the answer is false. And Gerald, what
in the world are you talking about? Because I always
I've been told for my entire life. Oh, just get
to generic. It's the same thing. You're saying it is not.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
Well, it is the same thing in that it is
the same molecule. So if you're getting reservistatin, for example,
it is the molecule reservice statin. What changes it? And
let me give you something that's actually from the FDA.
Generic drugs can vary eighty to one and twenty five
percent from the branded medication. They are not tested in people.
(12:13):
They take the package insert information. It's supposed to be
the same, right, So they take the information that's in
the little white paper that you get with the medicine
and they just use it to the generic. Now, the
difference what the generics are. There are different binders, fillers,
and other ingredients to make it to where sometimes they
will not work at all. And what's interesting about that
(12:36):
is a generic manufacturer's drug may not work as well
as the other manufacturer's drugs, So generics aren't even equivalent
to themselves. And what happens is you get off of
what's called steady state, which means you're already stable on
this and everything's working fine, and unless you have something
like good or high blood pressure, you can't recognize that
(12:59):
it's not working. And I had this happen with my
smp re resol. This is a certain specific manufacturer's brand
of generic. It will not work at all. Wow, that's
because of the binders, fillers and how your body metabolizes things.
And that's every human being is different and we have
different ways of making this, certain drugs that don't even
work in me, and that happens to other people as well.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
But yeah, okay, so guaranteed we just blew thousands of
minds right there. So I had no idea. So look,
we're speaking today with author and pharmacy pharmaceutical represent well
former pharmaceutical representative, right, you're you're kind of the semi
retired at this point. But Gerald Lynn, and he's written
(13:42):
a compelling book, Surviving the US Healthcare System. You can
pick it up on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, just go
directly to Gerald's site. It's author Gerald Lynn, g E
r A L D L y n N author Gerald
Lynn dot com. You know how many times it seems
(14:03):
difficult to get in to see your doctor right away.
You may have to wait for you know, forever maybe
to see a specialist or get a timely test result.
Why is that?
Speaker 3 (14:13):
Well, first of all, there aren't enough doctors. Yeah, it
costs over half of it calls up over half a
million dollars dollars to become a doctor. It takes eight
to twelve years. A lot of people don't want to
do that, but that and manage care organizations. Many doctors,
especially new ones, they're not working for themselves. They're working
for somebody else. And when you're working for somebody else,
(14:35):
they want they have quotas as to how many people
you need to see today. Usually it's about fifteen. You
can't do great medicine see impatients every fifteen minutes, but
that's really where it is, so they pack people in. Now.
There's another caveat to that too. If you don't have
an established doctor, you will not get in to see
a practice. You have to go to urgent care because
they have to see you first. Takes an hour. They
(14:55):
do a physical. So you can't just call up a
doctor and say, hey, doctor Jones, I heard you were
good for my friends, so and so I need to
see you today. Won't happen.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
They have to establish you as a new patient, which
takes them. That's a much longer initial appointment, and they
may not have that for two three months.
Speaker 3 (15:09):
Out exactly if it's a specialist. Especially I had an
issue with the gurology office. I was an established patient.
Oh yeah, well he can't see you have to see
a PA. Well when can you see me? Well maybe
for your next physical?
Speaker 2 (15:23):
Yeah, next year.
Speaker 3 (15:24):
Yes, So you see a physician's assistant or a nurse practitioner.
Not that they're bad. The ones that are older are better.
They've been around, they've experienced. That's just because of experience.
Younger people they have not seen some things, and that's
where that's where you get misdiagnosed.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
This from oh boy, all right, and you address this
issue in chapter two yep, yep, okay, and then communication
issues between doctors and hospitals or maybe doctor to doctor.
This occurs all the time, too often.
Speaker 3 (15:55):
Well, let's explain why everybody. Probably here's the term electronic
medical records systems. The problem is when they were instituted,
that the offices were not given enough money. They said,
fifty thousand dollars is what they got. Five hundred thousands
probably more like it. But the problem is none of
the systems talk to each other unless you're in the
same system. The VA is a great example I wish
(16:16):
everybody would work that way. If you're in the VA system,
anywhere you go, they can find your records. In the
United States, you go to a hospital and you're not
a patient of one of their offshoots, you're blind. They
don't have your records, they don't know what drugs you're on.
You're in there for treatment of something, and if you're
not conscious especially or can't tell them, that's what the
(16:37):
problem is. And then people don't realize either. The main
form of communication between doctors, offices, and hospitals and between
each other are still fax machines.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
See which blows my mind. I think it's a positive
in a huge negative. But you're right, you're right. We
have a lot of silos around here, healthcare silos. In
our neck of the woods, in the Kansas City area,
the two big EMRs would be EPIC and Soner and
you if you were in Soerner now you're in EPIC.
These two systems do not communicate with each other period
(17:08):
And you're right now you're stuck in a silo and
you and you have communication issues big time. So you
addressed that in chapter five and eleven.
Speaker 3 (17:18):
Now let me take that up just one mom, okay, god, sure, okay.
Just so you have two different doctors, you have a
cardiologist and your primary care doctor. You have the same system.
If one of them doesn't put in the new medicine
that you would just started on, chances are that won't happen.
But if they don't, then the other office doesn't know,
so you may have a drug interaction because one doesn't
know what the other one did if it wasn't put
into the computer.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
Yep, yep, absolutely, And I live this with my own grandmother.
This has been quite a long time ago, but she
was on like two over the countermeds. Went to the hospital,
they added a bunch, went to the rehab hospital, they
added a bunch, and by the time she was discharged
after about a month long, you know, a hospitalization between
(17:59):
the two back to her assistant living community, she was
on about a page and a half of medications, over
five thousand dollars a month, and she felt horrible.
Speaker 3 (18:08):
How many duplicate is? Well?
Speaker 2 (18:10):
Good, good question. So I had to call the doctor
and say, look, if it doesn't kill her, take it off,
take it off of her. And he got it down
to about one thousand dollars and I guess what, she
felt much better. She felt much better because she was
just being completely over medicated. And then you mentioned that
health insurance companies fight against your doctor instead of letting
(18:34):
you get the care that you need. And why is that?
Speaker 3 (18:38):
Once again, it's reactive. It's reacted to what's just happened.
Just like your car, you have an accident. Okay, now
you can have this care. Well, if you're not sick already,
many insurances will not let you get certain tests. You say,
I want this or that. Nope, sorry, until you're sick,
we can't justify giving you the test. You know, recently
the Affordable Care Act came up and we just had
(18:59):
a government shutdown supposedly over it. But just think of this.
If it's affordable, it should be able to stand on
its loan. But what is that. It's an insurance plan
you could get yourself, but you can't afford it. Well,
who controls the cost of that insurance plan? The premiums
are set by insurance companies, not the government. Yep, easy enough.
That that's who controls cost. And that's subsidizing something that's
(19:20):
controlled by another entity that is not yours yet. Yeah,
I'm just going to pay somebody to give me what
I should get because they charge me too much. He
subsidize me buying a new car.
Speaker 2 (19:29):
So so many issues, Jerald, this has been fascinating. The book.
Get the book Surviving the US Healthcare System by Gerald
Lynn and Gerald. Thanks so much for being on today.
I really appreciate it very much. Thank you so much.
Speaker 3 (19:41):
You're welcome.
Speaker 1 (19:44):
You're listening to Senior Care Live on the Senior Care
Broadcasting Network. Have a question, visit Seniorcare Live dot com.
Stick around. We'll have more with Steve coming up now.
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Speaker 2 (21:07):
Welcome back. You're listening to Senior Care Live on the
Senior Care Broadcasting Network. For podcasts of the program, visit
Seniorcare Live dot com or wherever you get your podcast.
How about that? All right, would just like to say
thanks again to author Gerald Lynn. He wrote a very
(21:28):
compelling it's going to raise some eyebrows. It also provides
a heck of a lot of information on how to
address some of these things. But the book is called
Surviving the US Healthcare System. He was a pharmaceutical rep
and he was always about the best interest of the patient,
not trying to get the most doctors to use whatever
(21:50):
medication it was. And he was very successful because he
put the person first. And that's anyone doing that that
you're a winner in my book, right right, So, but
he also was the caregiver for his own mother and
another friend, and he saw firsthand all like he kind
of described it as the cracks in the healthcare system
(22:12):
and the gaps and all of the things where people
kind of fall through or bad things happen or negative
things happen because of this and that and the other.
So so it's it's a it's a really amazing book.
I would highly recommend that you get your own copy
of that, Surviving the US Healthcare System by author Gerald
(22:33):
Lynn G. E R A L D L Y N
N and uh. And you could get that on Amazon,
Barnes and Noble, or directly on his website, author Gerald
Lynn dot com. And again, this book is it's not
like a novel where you read it like, oh yeah,
(22:54):
that was pretty interesting. It's really designed as more of
a workbook where you can refer back to different chapters
for different things. And along with pointing out some of
the issues, he also lets you know, I think even
as important, maybe more importantly, how to address those issues
and and and deal with some of these some of
these things. So again, Gerald, it just thanks so much
(23:17):
for being on the program. That was that was incredible,
very very interesting. All right, So now that we are
I mean, here we are right, Thanksgiving is less than
a week away, which is I mean, I can't even
believe I'm saying that I have no clue where the
time is going. My wife says almost every day she's like,
(23:39):
oh my gosh, the time is going so fast. And
it always takes me back to something my grandma told me.
I was a young college kid, wet behind the ears.
I thought summers lasted a really long time, because they
did back then, and I would go to go to
college in the mornings that i'd stop by her house
and she'd make me lunch and we'd hang out for
a while, and then i'd go to work at an
(24:01):
afternoon job. And I always used to remember Grandma saying,
oh my goodness, honey, the time is just going by
so fast. And I believed her one hundred percent. I
believed her, but I just couldn't relate to it, because
you know, I'm twenty years old, I don't know anything,
I don't have a lot of life experience, and it
didn't it was it didn't feel like it was going
(24:21):
by fast for me. But now I'm in full agreement
with my grandmother, and every time I think about that,
I look up and I say, Grandma, you are so right.
It's just unbelievable. And I didn't doubt her. I just
couldn't relate to it. So now I can relate fully.
But anyway, so as we're as we have a lot
(24:44):
of families who may be in town this weekend for
in early Thanksgiving. Lots and lots of families will have
Thanksgiving on Thanksgiving Day on that Thursday, like my family does,
but a lot of families live from out of town.
They may have to to two different Thanksgivings, maybe both
sides of the family, et cetera, or maybe maybe that
(25:05):
that particular day. Just as it works, a lot of
people have Thanksgiving over this weekend or maybe on one
of the other days of the week coming up, and
maybe next weekend, the weekend after Thanksgiving. So I just
want to talk about some of this stuff. So for
the next week week and a half, we have families
(25:26):
traveling back to Kansas City and they're all gathering together
like most of us do. Not all of us do
this stuff. Most people gather up at least with friends,
but we always gather with family and it's very traditional
Thanksgiving meal, and we talk about what we're thankful for.
We say a prayer of thanks before our meal and
(25:49):
the whole thing. Right, So, and this year we have
a lot to be thankful for. I survived brain surgery
and the whole thing. So this has been a hell
of a year. Let me let me just say that.
But anyway, so families will gather and maybe they haven't
seen mom or dad, or or grandma or grandpa or
(26:11):
another loved one, aunt, uncle, et cetera. Maybe they haven't
seen them for a long time, maybe a year, maybe
even a couple of years. Maybe maybe you talk to
your mom on the phone or you or you know,
you FaceTime Dad and and you say, well, yeah, I
think their their memory might be just slipping a little bit.
But uh but yeah it's still doing pretty good. And
then you get back home and then you're around them
(26:33):
for an extended period of time and you're like, oh, oh, oh,
my goodness, I think we have I think we have
an issue here, we have a we have a problem.
And one story I'll never forget. One of my earliest,
one of my first clients, early early she may she
may have been my second or third client, long time ago.
(26:56):
She had that aha moment unfortunately. So she lived in Denver.
Mom lived here in the Kansas City metro area over
in Praix Village and super sweet lady. And she said,
every year around the holidays, I would fly home Thanksgiving
and Christmas, and every time we would we would do
(27:17):
a lot of baking, lots of baking. And she said
that they were making cookies and she said okay, and
she she got the one cup scoop and she said, okay, Mom,
we need a cup of sugar. She hands it to
her mom. She turns around and she's doing all, you know,
doing what she was doing, and then the sugar wasn't coming.
(27:41):
So she turns around and looks at her mom, and
her mom is just standing there with the cup, looking
at the cup, and she didn't know what to do
with it. And she said it took me a second.
And then she said I was just like, oh my goodness.
(28:04):
And she didn't say that out loud, but she thought it.
And she's like, oh my gosh, my mom doesn't know
what to do with the cup. We have baked for decades,
in decades, and she said, okay, Mom, I need a
cup of sugar. And so she went over. She kind
of showed her how to get a cup of sugar.
She go, oh, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, okay, all right,
how I'll get you a cup of sugar. But she
(28:27):
she for she wasn't sure what to do with it,
and she said, my my blood just ran cold. I'm like,
I mean, I knew she was slipping a little bit,
but I that blew blew my mind, and I thought this.
And she lived alone in this house, in this big house,
and she had already been taken advantage of financially by
(28:49):
some shyster saying you need a new roof, gave him,
you know, half the money for a roof. Of course,
never saw the guy again. Right, So she's slipping there
a little bit because she never would have done that
or you know, before then, and she couldn't remember it.
So you see where all this is going. So families
gather and they have these aha moments, these oh my
(29:13):
goodness moments, and so families talk and they get together
and they talk about it, and they said, you know,
we need to we need to bring in a home
care provider to be with mom, or we need to
take shifts and check on mom, or maybe we need
to move mom to assisted living where there's twenty four
hour supervision and assistance and that kind of a thing.
(29:34):
So or maybe we might even need long term care
because we have some other medical issues on top of
the cognitive issues. So families talk, they make plans, and
they're like, you know what, it's we just realized this.
This is this newly realized issue. So we're not in
a crisis, it's not an emergency, but we need to
deal with this, we need to address it. So after
(29:56):
the holidays, after the holidays, let's get through the holidays,
and after the first of the year, let's go out
and let's look at some places. If you need it
assisted living or long term care, if you need a
care community, let's go out look at some places and
get on the list, or maybe go ahead and get
mom or dad or our loved one moved in. And
(30:18):
so that happens. That happens a lot. So over the
next couple of weeks, I'm going to be addressing issues
and things that you need to know around that newly
realized oh my goodness moment and help you out with that.
So the number one question that I have been asked
since the year two thousand and two, that's a long
(30:40):
time ago. Right, It's the most frequently asked question that
I've had, and it's not even close by a mile.
And that question is, Steve, when should we move? When
should we consider moving from home to a senior care community?
And so what I'm going to do, you know, coming
(31:02):
up next is that I am going to discuss, you know,
some of the things that should trigger that conversation, because, frankly,
I mean, sometimes it's pretty obvious moms had five falls
in the last week and a half, and now that
that's becoming you know, a major situation, right or moms
forgetting to take her medications or something something's happened and
(31:25):
we need to move right away. It's very very clear,
but usually it falls into that gray area and it's
not so clear at all. So coming up next, I'll
discuss what should trigger the conversation of considering moving from
your home to a senior care community.
Speaker 1 (31:43):
You're listening to Senior Care Live on the Senior Care
Broadcasting Network. To contact Steve or a guest of his show,
this is Seniorcare Live dot com.
Speaker 4 (31:52):
We'll have more coming up.
Speaker 2 (32:01):
I'm Steve Keeker, President of Senior Care Consulting. For those
of you working in the business of senior care. I
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(33:11):
Welcome back. You're listening to Senior Care Live on the
Senior Care Broadcasting Network. Have a question, visit seniorcare Live
dot com. All right, So back to the most frequently
asked question that I've had over the last twenty what
is that?
Speaker 3 (33:26):
What?
Speaker 2 (33:26):
Twenty three years Steve when do we move. We don't
want to move too soon, we don't want to wait
too long. What does that look like? We just we
want to get it right. So I always say that
you know that. Again, Sometimes it's very obvious. Usually it's
not so obvious. So the following things should trigger the
conversation of considering moving from your home to a senior
(33:48):
care community. Number one, when we have a safety issue.
This is this is by far and away number one,
when it's no longer safe to live at home. And
a lot of the examples I'm just going to fly
through some of this, but a lot of these examples
are related to having dementia some sort of a cognitive impairment.
(34:08):
You can have early dementia, it can be you know,
right in the middle, or advanced, different forms of dementia, Alzheimer's,
lots of different forms of dementia, but any type of
cognitive impairment. So leaving the stovetop burners on obviously a
major major safety issue. And if that is an issue,
first of all, it's oh, oh no, we've never had
(34:32):
any problem with that. Well, it's not a problem until
the day that it is a problem. So I would
be proactive with that, and if you believe that it's
dangerous to have your loved one operating a stove or
the oven, then unplug it or turn the gas off
or flip the braker if it's electric, so you can
(34:53):
do it's pretty easy. Easy to disable that, okay, and
then you can help provide food. And there are lots
of services and meals on wheels, all kinds of stuff.
But just just disable it and take that one off
the plate, off the table. There another one wandering away
and can't find your way back home. This is very
common with individuals with dementia and off Oftentimes, unfortunately, if
(35:20):
they're away from their house either walking away, they they
may get confused not be able to make their way
back home. What I think is maybe even worse is
driving away. Should be driving in the first place, but
now you know you're driving out of Kansas City and
the next thing you know, you're in Tulsa or oh
Maha or Denver or Chicago. You know you're not even
the same state. And we have these silver alerts out.
(35:41):
Every time I see a silver alert on social media,
every time, I just automatically boom, I repost it because
you never know if someone might see that and then
be able to help this person. Malnutrition and dehydration. Boy,
this is pretty common. This is pretty common. You got
to check in on your loved one and see if
(36:02):
this is an issue. Not eating properly, definitely, not drinking properly,
leads to all kinds of problems. Unsanitary living conditions due
to the inability to keep things up, frequent injuries at home,
frequent falls, frequent hospitalizations. This one flies under the radar,
but it is a major safety issue. Not taking your
(36:24):
medications properly, maybe not taking them on time, maybe not
taking them at all. That's a major major safety issue.
And then of course you have the elder financial abuse,
and that one makes my blood boil and I don't
understand it. But these things fall into that category of
when it's no longer safe to live at home, that
(36:45):
should definitely trigger the conversation of considering moving from home
to a senior care community. Number two. I would call
this a one A or a very close number two.
When the caregivers health and well being are in decline.
(37:07):
Perfect example, you have an eighty year old spouse caring
for an eighty year old spouse, and the caregiver spouse
is just being crushed from the stress of being the caregiver.
So your health and your well being. We're talking about
your mental health, emotional health, spiritual health, and of course
(37:28):
your physical health. So as caregivers, we place our own
needs kind of on the back burner, right. We skip
doctors offices, appointments, dentists appointments. We don't keep up on
our optometrist appointments. We skip social events like getting together
with the ladies for book club, getting together with the
guys for you know, donuts and coffee on Friday mornings.
(37:51):
So we skip socializing, we stop going to church, all
of these things. We just kind of withdraw, and the
stress just keeps piling on and piling on and piling on.
If you see this, you gotta step in. Here's why
(38:14):
stress is such a powerful force. I don't I can't
tell you how many times I've seen to where the
caregiver's spouse dies before the person they're taken care of
because they're crushed with the stress. They have a stroke,
they have a heart attack. They put their their own
(38:36):
needs on the back burner, and maybe all of a sudden,
the doctors didn't catch a cancer that all of a sudden,
is now this huge problem when they could have maybe
caught it a couple of years ago and treated it right.
There are all kinds of examples, but I've seen the
caregiver's spouse pass away before the person they're caring for.
(38:56):
You can't let that happen. This is avoidable, but you
have to step in and take action. Don't ignore it.
Don't ignore it. Number three, when the cost of in
home care becomes too expensive. Now. I am a huge,
huge fan and proponent of home care services. I refer
(39:20):
to home care companies all the time. But if your
need for in home assistance rises to the level of
twenty four hours so they're around the clock. You know,
this used to cost fifteen to twenty thousand dollars a month.
Now it's a solid twenty five to thirty thousand dollars
(39:41):
a month. And I don't care how much money you have.
That's a lot of money if you can afford it
at fantastic, But maybe you pay for that for a
little while and then you're like, wait a minute, I
think we could be better stewards of the money and
maybe move to assisted living for six to eight thousand
dollars a month and get twenty four hour care. It's
(40:02):
not in your own home, it's not the same, but
maybe it's a more cost effective way to get that care. Okay,
So it could just be that in home care and
home support is just it's a financial issue. And then, last,
but not least, when the care that you provide is
just not enough, why not consider changing your role from
(40:22):
the caregiver to the care manager, meaning, let's go out,
let's find a great place that can provide the hands
on care twenty four to seven, and then you can
go back to your original role as the loving husband,
the loving wife, the loving son or daughter, in my case,
the loving grandson and manage their care, speak for them,
(40:45):
make sure that they're getting all the care that they
need and that they deserve. And if you need help
with that search and selection process, okay, even through the holidays.
I've been talking about this all the time. No one
has enough time to get this done. Well, we've done
the research for you. We can get you through that
whole process. Put you in a position to make an
(41:07):
informed decision, make decisions you're comfortable with the find the
right place and the best place first, and get it right.
The first time, and we can help you do that
in just literally a few hours of your time. That's
resonating with you. Give us a call right now is
the time that we need to be doing that. Nine three,
nine four five twenty eight hundred or visit online at
(41:28):
Seniorcare Consulting dot com. It would be our honor to
serve you and your family. All right, I'm Steve Keeker,
and I wish you grace in peace. May God bless
you and your family on this day and always join
me next week right here on Senior Care Life.
Speaker 5 (41:51):
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Speaker 2 (42:51):
Quid pro quo a Latin phrase that means an exchange
of goods or services where one transfer is contingent upon
the other. Here's an example. I'll recommend your senior care
community if you'll pay me a huge kickback from my referral.
The free referral services have a vested interest in you
choosing one of their business partners. That's how they make
(43:14):
their money. Does this paid recommendation sound objective or credible,
of course not. I'm Steve Keeker with Senior Care Consulting.
I'm so proud to say we have never received a
single penny from any provider ever. We offer replacement service
with integrity for help finding the right senior care community,
without conflict of interest, and without the quid pro quo
(43:38):
called nine one three nine four five twenty eight hundred nine, one, three,
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at Seniorcare Consulting dot com
Are you caring for an aging loved one? Are you
a senior searching for answers? Welcome to Senior Care Live,
a program dedicated to you, providing information, education and resources
for seniors and their caregivers. And now America's senior care consultant,
Steve Keecker.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Hello, and welcome to Senior Care Live. I'm Steve Keeker,
your senior care consultant, and I really appreciate you tuning
in today. We have a very interesting program today with
my special guest. He is mister Gerald Lynn, and he
has written a very very interesting book. It's called Surviving
(00:44):
the US Healthcare System. And with that, Gerald, welcome to
Senior Care Live.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
Thanks Steve.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Let's just jump right in here and you and I,
like I said, you know, we easily spoke for an hour,
hour and a half on the phone about this. It's
just this is a very compelling book. So tell us
about your background and then what led to writing this
very interesting book.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
Yeah. I was a pharmaceutical rep for twenty seven years,
worked for multiple companies selling multiple different drugs. And I
also took care of a friend of mine seventy two
years old for about eight months of my life. He
had a stroke and a heart attack, and I also
was with my mom through the end of her life hospice, etc.
So I got a well rounded background and saw things
(01:32):
in the system that you won't see if you're in
like a doctor or a nurse, et cetera. I got
to talk to the people in the background that would
be office managers, of medical assistance, everybody that you can
think of that makes up healthcare. And the reason why
I wrote the book is I got to a point.
It started twelve years ago. People tell me that I
just saw these cracks in the system and I always
(01:53):
cared about patient, not about the medications that I sold,
and patients were just getting left behind. Insurance industry is
a big problem, and I just see I saw the
system get worse and worse. Nineteen nineties when I started,
and I finally said, you know, I got a I'm
semi retired. I got out of the industry, and it's
I just had to put my third thoughts down to
(02:14):
paper and help some people. That's my intention.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
Excellent Again, the book is called Surviving the US Healthcare System,
and gerald, I think the three ways to get that.
Speaker 3 (02:26):
Yeah, you can get it on Amazon. You can get
it on Barnes and Noble, and you want to go
to my you can also go to my site, authorgerald
Lynn dot com. Now you want to put my name in,
It's Gerald Lynn c MR and that stands for Certified
Medical Representative and then you can find every set of
social media you want on me.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
Okay, And the website is very very good. And again
this is very compelling. It will your eyebrows going to
go up, like, oh, I hey, and I didn't realize that.
I didn't know that, or maybe I didn't look at
it look at it that way. So obviously it's not
a perfect system. You found all the cracks and the
blemishes and where people could fall through the cracks and
(03:07):
maybe not receive the care or or just all the
problems that we've discussed earlier, so significant problems with the
healthcare system. And you had mentioned that Americans are just
confused and many times uninformed about how their healthcare system works.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
Well, DHS has a statistic that only twelve percent of
adults in the United States have proficient literacy.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
In their healthcare Now what does that mean?
Speaker 3 (03:34):
They just don't know, They don't know aside from what
to do when things hit them for example, you have
a health insurance plan from your employer. Do they know
everything and how everything works. No, they get hit in
the face when they get sick. And that's pretty much.
So people don't know what they can do, what they
can't do. Actually, have a chapter on advocacy because people
(03:56):
just don't know. When they're told no, they just accept
it and they go on from there. And actually, doctors
are the number one trusted profession in the United States.
Not that they should or shouldn't be, but when a
doctor tells you, hey, this is so no question, no
second opinion. So people just don't know what to do.
I guess, and my book is a manual and a
guide to know what to do, what to look out for,
(04:20):
when to be concerned. Well, so that's what that means.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
Absolutely. Here's an example. So this year, I've consumed a
lot of healthcare, use a lot of benefits, et cetera.
And you know if you say, okay, well I need
to set up an MRI or a a CT scan, cascin.
And so you just go out and just pick a place, Well,
guess what according to your healthcare insurance, are they an
(04:45):
in network provider? Are they a kind of a second
tier provider or if they're the third tier, that just
made you're paying less for in network more for a
second tier, and then you're going to pay almost cash
out of pocket for the third and people don't know
what provider is in what tier. And that's just one
one of the probably one hundred different examples.
Speaker 3 (05:08):
Well, yeah, that that that pulls you back to insurance.
And you got to remember, insurance is health Insurance is
not healthcare. It's just like any other kind of insurance
you have in your life, your home, your car. It's
there when things break and then it's there to help
you pay for them. So but the rules and regulations, yes,
it depends on the quality of your of your plan.
(05:29):
The more expensive PPO plans, you don't need what's called
the referral, which means your doctor has to justify why
you need something you don't need permission, you don't tie
up your physician. And yes, limiting YouTube and this happens
to our seniors card have been on the managed care
Medicare advantage plans. You're limited to the list. If you
(05:49):
don't like your doctor, well that's the list, and then
if you go someplace else, you may very well have
to pay out of pocket, and those are the more
restrictive plans that we have. So yeah, you're one hundred percent.
That's stuff that I go into my book on the
chapter on healthcare, that's chapter three. It's it's a big
it's a big maze of things to go through, and
my book navigates, Okay, this has happened, you can't get
(06:12):
these results. Watch out for this because this is how
it might go. And that goes back to literacy. They
don't understand when the process doesn't work and they can't
get what they need and they have to wait forever
to see somebody.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
In chapter one and eight addresses this, uh, this concern
or this issue. Is that correct?
Speaker 3 (06:30):
Yes, yes, I I hit these topics right right up
at the beginning, and that's where I got that statistic
about healthcare literacy.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
Okay, the book is Surviving the US Healthcare System by
Gerald Lynn, And you could go on Amazon and just
just type in Gerald G E R A L D
Lynn L y n N and then put a CMR
after that, and and you're gonna you're gonna find it easily.
You could also find all the social media uh networks
that he's involved. You could go to Barnes and Noble
(07:01):
to find the book, or you could go directly to
his website, author Gerald Lynn dot com. And there's a
there's a high rate of death or a permanent disability
due to misdiagnoses in the US, and you talk about
that in chapters five, in chapters eight, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
There's a statistic that I have. I didn't mention it
in the book because I saw it even it was
even more serious than I thought. JOHNS Hopkins in twenty
twenty three came out with a statistic that's seven hundred
and ninety five thousand Americans a year either die or
of permanent disability from a misdiagnosis and a mistake. And
(07:42):
the problem with a misdiagnosis is not only is are
they wrong. They probably are treating you for a disease
you don't have, and what they're going to use to
treat you. And I've heard this in a number of instances,
Like since I wrote the book, I get stories from everyone.
The medications they use might make you worse, and it
takes time between offices, there's communication issues. But yeah, that's
(08:05):
a crazy number I think every year.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
Yeah, there's no doubt about it, and Jerald, I love
that you set this book up. This is not some
kind of a novel that you read and you're like, Okay,
that was wonderful. I enjoyed that, and you put it
on the shelf. This has really written more as a
manual that you can go back and refer to. Is
that correct?
Speaker 3 (08:25):
Yes, if you go to each chapter. Matter of fact,
I know several people that read it. One of them
was the doctor that I know. He said it was
nice because he didn't want to read the book cover
to cover because the first four chapters are for people
that don't know the system. They don't know insurance, they
don't know this or that. But you can go to
the hospital section, or you need more care like long
term care and things you have to do after the hospital,
(08:46):
or advocacy, so you go to the table contents. You
can pick what you want to read right then, and
if something happens in your life, you can go, oh
my mom's in the hospital, go right to the hospital section.
So you're one hundred percent right, it's a manual.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
Okay, And give us the number of individuals that either
you know have experienced death or permanent disability due to
a misdiagnosis.
Speaker 3 (09:09):
Seven hundred and ninety five thousand, and that's every year.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
That's an annual number.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
That's that's not an AGRAG and that's from JOHNS Hopkins.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
Oh my gosh, yeah, I know. Take that in right, Yeah, yeah,
that that is that is unbelievable. Again, if this is
catching your attention like it's catching mine, and Gerald, I'm
I'm going to order the book and I'm really looking
forward to uh to to reading this thing cover to cover.
And like you said, referring to the book as almost
(09:40):
like emmanuals, you can go back and you can check
out different chapters. And so for a listening audience, here's
the book Against Surviving the US Healthcare System and again
author Gerald Lynn cm R. What does a CMR stand for? Again, Jiell.
Speaker 3 (09:55):
I went to before I was a pharmaceutical rep, before
the computers in Google, and I got certified. Took me
two years. I couldn't look things up usually, you couldn't
call somebody, so I had to know my stuff.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
You had to know things well. Well, I was.
Speaker 3 (10:12):
I was thought of as as a resource. Now you
didn't have to get that. But back then, pharmaceutical companies,
some of them paid for them like piser. They I
had to ask for them to pay for it took
me two years. Matter of fact, when I started, I
how do you used to go to the medical school
in Tucson, Arizona to take Then they got computers to
do that. But yeah, so I wanted to know what
I didn't know.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
And now the Senior Care Live Question of the Week,
Generic drugs work exactly the same as the original formulation,
Is that stay matrue or false? What do you think?
Speaker 1 (10:43):
You're listening to Senior Care Live on the Senior Care
Broadcasting Network. For more information, visit seniorcare Live dot com.
Speaker 4 (10:51):
We'll have more with Steve coming up next. Welcome back.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
You're listening to Senior Care Live on the Senior Care
Broadcasting Network. For more information, visit seniorcare Live dot com.
Now back to the Senior Care Live Question of the Week.
Generic drugs work exactly the same as the original formulation.
Is that statement true or false? And the answer is false? Unbelievably,
(11:36):
Gerald tells me the answer is false. And Gerald, what
in the world are you talking about? Because I always
I've been told for my entire life. Oh, just get
to generic. It's the same thing. You're saying it is not.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
Well, it is the same thing in that it is
the same molecule. So if you're getting reservistatin, for example,
it is the molecule reservice statin. What changes it? And
let me give you something that's actually from the FDA.
Generic drugs can vary eighty to one and twenty five
percent from the branded medication. They are not tested in people.
(12:13):
They take the package insert information. It's supposed to be
the same, right, So they take the information that's in
the little white paper that you get with the medicine
and they just use it to the generic. Now, the
difference what the generics are. There are different binders, fillers,
and other ingredients to make it to where sometimes they
will not work at all. And what's interesting about that
(12:36):
is a generic manufacturer's drug may not work as well
as the other manufacturer's drugs, So generics aren't even equivalent
to themselves. And what happens is you get off of
what's called steady state, which means you're already stable on
this and everything's working fine, and unless you have something
like good or high blood pressure, you can't recognize that
(12:59):
it's not working. And I had this happen with my
smp re resol. This is a certain specific manufacturer's brand
of generic. It will not work at all. Wow, that's
because of the binders, fillers and how your body metabolizes things.
And that's every human being is different and we have
different ways of making this, certain drugs that don't even
work in me, and that happens to other people as well.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
But yeah, okay, so guaranteed we just blew thousands of
minds right there. So I had no idea. So look,
we're speaking today with author and pharmacy pharmaceutical represent well
former pharmaceutical representative, right, you're you're kind of the semi
retired at this point. But Gerald Lynn, and he's written
(13:42):
a compelling book, Surviving the US Healthcare System. You can
pick it up on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, just go
directly to Gerald's site. It's author Gerald Lynn, g E
r A L D L y n N author Gerald
Lynn dot com. You know how many times it seems
(14:03):
difficult to get in to see your doctor right away.
You may have to wait for you know, forever maybe
to see a specialist or get a timely test result.
Why is that?
Speaker 3 (14:13):
Well, first of all, there aren't enough doctors. Yeah, it
costs over half of it calls up over half a
million dollars dollars to become a doctor. It takes eight
to twelve years. A lot of people don't want to
do that, but that and manage care organizations. Many doctors,
especially new ones, they're not working for themselves. They're working
for somebody else. And when you're working for somebody else,
(14:35):
they want they have quotas as to how many people
you need to see today. Usually it's about fifteen. You
can't do great medicine see impatients every fifteen minutes, but
that's really where it is, so they pack people in. Now.
There's another caveat to that too. If you don't have
an established doctor, you will not get in to see
a practice. You have to go to urgent care because
they have to see you first. Takes an hour. They
(14:55):
do a physical. So you can't just call up a
doctor and say, hey, doctor Jones, I heard you were
good for my friends, so and so I need to
see you today. Won't happen.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
They have to establish you as a new patient, which
takes them. That's a much longer initial appointment, and they
may not have that for two three months.
Speaker 3 (15:09):
Out exactly if it's a specialist. Especially I had an
issue with the gurology office. I was an established patient.
Oh yeah, well he can't see you have to see
a PA. Well when can you see me? Well maybe
for your next physical?
Speaker 2 (15:23):
Yeah, next year.
Speaker 3 (15:24):
Yes, So you see a physician's assistant or a nurse practitioner.
Not that they're bad. The ones that are older are better.
They've been around, they've experienced. That's just because of experience.
Younger people they have not seen some things, and that's
where that's where you get misdiagnosed.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
This from oh boy, all right, and you address this
issue in chapter two yep, yep, okay, and then communication
issues between doctors and hospitals or maybe doctor to doctor.
This occurs all the time, too often.
Speaker 3 (15:55):
Well, let's explain why everybody. Probably here's the term electronic
medical records systems. The problem is when they were instituted,
that the offices were not given enough money. They said,
fifty thousand dollars is what they got. Five hundred thousands
probably more like it. But the problem is none of
the systems talk to each other unless you're in the
same system. The VA is a great example I wish
(16:16):
everybody would work that way. If you're in the VA system,
anywhere you go, they can find your records. In the
United States, you go to a hospital and you're not
a patient of one of their offshoots, you're blind. They
don't have your records, they don't know what drugs you're on.
You're in there for treatment of something, and if you're
not conscious especially or can't tell them, that's what the
(16:37):
problem is. And then people don't realize either. The main
form of communication between doctors, offices, and hospitals and between
each other are still fax machines.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
See which blows my mind. I think it's a positive
in a huge negative. But you're right, you're right. We
have a lot of silos around here, healthcare silos. In
our neck of the woods, in the Kansas City area,
the two big EMRs would be EPIC and Soner and
you if you were in Soerner now you're in EPIC.
These two systems do not communicate with each other period
(17:08):
And you're right now you're stuck in a silo and
you and you have communication issues big time. So you
addressed that in chapter five and eleven.
Speaker 3 (17:18):
Now let me take that up just one mom, okay, god, sure, okay.
Just so you have two different doctors, you have a
cardiologist and your primary care doctor. You have the same system.
If one of them doesn't put in the new medicine
that you would just started on, chances are that won't happen.
But if they don't, then the other office doesn't know,
so you may have a drug interaction because one doesn't
know what the other one did if it wasn't put
into the computer.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
Yep, yep, absolutely, And I live this with my own grandmother.
This has been quite a long time ago, but she
was on like two over the countermeds. Went to the hospital,
they added a bunch, went to the rehab hospital, they
added a bunch, and by the time she was discharged
after about a month long, you know, a hospitalization between
(17:59):
the two back to her assistant living community, she was
on about a page and a half of medications, over
five thousand dollars a month, and she felt horrible.
Speaker 3 (18:08):
How many duplicate is? Well?
Speaker 2 (18:10):
Good, good question. So I had to call the doctor
and say, look, if it doesn't kill her, take it off,
take it off of her. And he got it down
to about one thousand dollars and I guess what, she
felt much better. She felt much better because she was
just being completely over medicated. And then you mentioned that
health insurance companies fight against your doctor instead of letting
(18:34):
you get the care that you need. And why is that?
Speaker 3 (18:38):
Once again, it's reactive. It's reacted to what's just happened.
Just like your car, you have an accident. Okay, now
you can have this care. Well, if you're not sick already,
many insurances will not let you get certain tests. You say,
I want this or that. Nope, sorry, until you're sick,
we can't justify giving you the test. You know, recently
the Affordable Care Act came up and we just had
(18:59):
a government shutdown supposedly over it. But just think of this.
If it's affordable, it should be able to stand on
its loan. But what is that. It's an insurance plan
you could get yourself, but you can't afford it. Well,
who controls the cost of that insurance plan? The premiums
are set by insurance companies, not the government. Yep, easy enough.
That that's who controls cost. And that's subsidizing something that's
(19:20):
controlled by another entity that is not yours yet. Yeah,
I'm just going to pay somebody to give me what
I should get because they charge me too much. He
subsidize me buying a new car.
Speaker 2 (19:29):
So so many issues, Jerald, this has been fascinating. The book.
Get the book Surviving the US Healthcare System by Gerald
Lynn and Gerald. Thanks so much for being on today.
I really appreciate it very much. Thank you so much.
Speaker 3 (19:41):
You're welcome.
Speaker 1 (19:44):
You're listening to Senior Care Live on the Senior Care
Broadcasting Network. Have a question, visit Seniorcare Live dot com.
Stick around. We'll have more with Steve coming up now.
A recent Internet search for nursing homes in Kansas City
(20:05):
provided thirty two million results. It's daunting to think that
there are over three hundred and fifty senior care communities
to choose from in the Kansas City metro and on average,
you'll spend fifty to one hundred hours trying to find
a place for your loved one. If this sounds overwhelming,
that's because it is. I invite you to reach out
to Senior Care Consulting. We've been serving family since two
(20:28):
thousand and two. With our premium service, we do most
of the work for you. You'll spend just a few hours
of your time finding the best place available, and you
can trust us to be objective because we don't receive
reimbursement from any provider.
Speaker 2 (20:44):
We work for you.
Speaker 1 (20:45):
To learn more, call Senior Care Consulting at nine three
nine four five twenty eight hundred nine nine four five
twenty eight hundred, a placement service with integrity at Seniorcareconsulting
dot com.
Speaker 2 (21:07):
Welcome back. You're listening to Senior Care Live on the
Senior Care Broadcasting Network. For podcasts of the program, visit
Seniorcare Live dot com or wherever you get your podcast.
How about that? All right, would just like to say
thanks again to author Gerald Lynn. He wrote a very
(21:28):
compelling it's going to raise some eyebrows. It also provides
a heck of a lot of information on how to
address some of these things. But the book is called
Surviving the US Healthcare System. He was a pharmaceutical rep
and he was always about the best interest of the patient,
not trying to get the most doctors to use whatever
(21:50):
medication it was. And he was very successful because he
put the person first. And that's anyone doing that that
you're a winner in my book, right right, So, but
he also was the caregiver for his own mother and
another friend, and he saw firsthand all like he kind
of described it as the cracks in the healthcare system
(22:12):
and the gaps and all of the things where people
kind of fall through or bad things happen or negative
things happen because of this and that and the other.
So so it's it's a it's a really amazing book.
I would highly recommend that you get your own copy
of that, Surviving the US Healthcare System by author Gerald
(22:33):
Lynn G. E R A L D L Y N
N and uh. And you could get that on Amazon,
Barnes and Noble, or directly on his website, author Gerald
Lynn dot com. And again, this book is it's not
like a novel where you read it like, oh yeah,
(22:54):
that was pretty interesting. It's really designed as more of
a workbook where you can refer back to different chapters
for different things. And along with pointing out some of
the issues, he also lets you know, I think even
as important, maybe more importantly, how to address those issues
and and and deal with some of these some of
these things. So again, Gerald, it just thanks so much
(23:17):
for being on the program. That was that was incredible,
very very interesting. All right, So now that we are
I mean, here we are right, Thanksgiving is less than
a week away, which is I mean, I can't even
believe I'm saying that I have no clue where the
time is going. My wife says almost every day she's like,
(23:39):
oh my gosh, the time is going so fast. And
it always takes me back to something my grandma told me.
I was a young college kid, wet behind the ears.
I thought summers lasted a really long time, because they
did back then, and I would go to go to
college in the mornings that i'd stop by her house
and she'd make me lunch and we'd hang out for
a while, and then i'd go to work at an
(24:01):
afternoon job. And I always used to remember Grandma saying,
oh my goodness, honey, the time is just going by
so fast. And I believed her one hundred percent. I
believed her, but I just couldn't relate to it, because
you know, I'm twenty years old, I don't know anything,
I don't have a lot of life experience, and it
didn't it was it didn't feel like it was going
(24:21):
by fast for me. But now I'm in full agreement
with my grandmother, and every time I think about that,
I look up and I say, Grandma, you are so right.
It's just unbelievable. And I didn't doubt her. I just
couldn't relate to it. So now I can relate fully.
But anyway, so as we're as we have a lot
(24:44):
of families who may be in town this weekend for
in early Thanksgiving. Lots and lots of families will have
Thanksgiving on Thanksgiving Day on that Thursday, like my family does,
but a lot of families live from out of town.
They may have to to two different Thanksgivings, maybe both
sides of the family, et cetera, or maybe maybe that
(25:05):
that particular day. Just as it works, a lot of
people have Thanksgiving over this weekend or maybe on one
of the other days of the week coming up, and
maybe next weekend, the weekend after Thanksgiving. So I just
want to talk about some of this stuff. So for
the next week week and a half, we have families
(25:26):
traveling back to Kansas City and they're all gathering together
like most of us do. Not all of us do
this stuff. Most people gather up at least with friends,
but we always gather with family and it's very traditional
Thanksgiving meal, and we talk about what we're thankful for.
We say a prayer of thanks before our meal and
(25:49):
the whole thing. Right, So, and this year we have
a lot to be thankful for. I survived brain surgery
and the whole thing. So this has been a hell
of a year. Let me let me just say that.
But anyway, so families will gather and maybe they haven't
seen mom or dad, or or grandma or grandpa or
(26:11):
another loved one, aunt, uncle, et cetera. Maybe they haven't
seen them for a long time, maybe a year, maybe
even a couple of years. Maybe maybe you talk to
your mom on the phone or you or you know,
you FaceTime Dad and and you say, well, yeah, I
think their their memory might be just slipping a little bit.
But uh but yeah it's still doing pretty good. And
then you get back home and then you're around them
(26:33):
for an extended period of time and you're like, oh, oh, oh,
my goodness, I think we have I think we have
an issue here, we have a we have a problem.
And one story I'll never forget. One of my earliest,
one of my first clients, early early she may she
may have been my second or third client, long time ago.
(26:56):
She had that aha moment unfortunately. So she lived in Denver.
Mom lived here in the Kansas City metro area over
in Praix Village and super sweet lady. And she said,
every year around the holidays, I would fly home Thanksgiving
and Christmas, and every time we would we would do
(27:17):
a lot of baking, lots of baking. And she said
that they were making cookies and she said okay, and
she she got the one cup scoop and she said, okay, Mom,
we need a cup of sugar. She hands it to
her mom. She turns around and she's doing all, you know,
doing what she was doing, and then the sugar wasn't coming.
(27:41):
So she turns around and looks at her mom, and
her mom is just standing there with the cup, looking
at the cup, and she didn't know what to do
with it. And she said it took me a second.
And then she said I was just like, oh my goodness.
(28:04):
And she didn't say that out loud, but she thought it.
And she's like, oh my gosh, my mom doesn't know
what to do with the cup. We have baked for decades,
in decades, and she said, okay, Mom, I need a
cup of sugar. And so she went over. She kind
of showed her how to get a cup of sugar.
She go, oh, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, okay, all right,
how I'll get you a cup of sugar. But she
(28:27):
she for she wasn't sure what to do with it,
and she said, my my blood just ran cold. I'm like,
I mean, I knew she was slipping a little bit,
but I that blew blew my mind, and I thought this.
And she lived alone in this house, in this big house,
and she had already been taken advantage of financially by
(28:49):
some shyster saying you need a new roof, gave him,
you know, half the money for a roof. Of course,
never saw the guy again. Right, So she's slipping there
a little bit because she never would have done that
or you know, before then, and she couldn't remember it.
So you see where all this is going. So families
gather and they have these aha moments, these oh my
(29:13):
goodness moments, and so families talk and they get together
and they talk about it, and they said, you know,
we need to we need to bring in a home
care provider to be with mom, or we need to
take shifts and check on mom, or maybe we need
to move mom to assisted living where there's twenty four
hour supervision and assistance and that kind of a thing.
(29:34):
So or maybe we might even need long term care
because we have some other medical issues on top of
the cognitive issues. So families talk, they make plans, and
they're like, you know what, it's we just realized this.
This is this newly realized issue. So we're not in
a crisis, it's not an emergency, but we need to
deal with this, we need to address it. So after
(29:56):
the holidays, after the holidays, let's get through the holidays,
and after the first of the year, let's go out
and let's look at some places. If you need it
assisted living or long term care, if you need a
care community, let's go out look at some places and
get on the list, or maybe go ahead and get
mom or dad or our loved one moved in. And
(30:18):
so that happens. That happens a lot. So over the
next couple of weeks, I'm going to be addressing issues
and things that you need to know around that newly
realized oh my goodness moment and help you out with that.
So the number one question that I have been asked
since the year two thousand and two, that's a long
(30:40):
time ago. Right, It's the most frequently asked question that
I've had, and it's not even close by a mile.
And that question is, Steve, when should we move? When
should we consider moving from home to a senior care community?
And so what I'm going to do, you know, coming
(31:02):
up next is that I am going to discuss, you know,
some of the things that should trigger that conversation, because, frankly,
I mean, sometimes it's pretty obvious moms had five falls
in the last week and a half, and now that
that's becoming you know, a major situation, right or moms
forgetting to take her medications or something something's happened and
(31:25):
we need to move right away. It's very very clear,
but usually it falls into that gray area and it's
not so clear at all. So coming up next, I'll
discuss what should trigger the conversation of considering moving from
your home to a senior care community.
Speaker 1 (31:43):
You're listening to Senior Care Live on the Senior Care
Broadcasting Network. To contact Steve or a guest of his show,
this is Seniorcare Live dot com.
Speaker 4 (31:52):
We'll have more coming up.
Speaker 2 (32:01):
I'm Steve Keeker, President of Senior Care Consulting. For those
of you working in the business of senior care. I
have an amazing opportunity for you. If you have ever
thought about owning your own business, this is for you.
If you're a nursing home administrator, assisted living executive director,
sales and marketing representative, director of nursing or director of
(32:22):
social services. This is what we do. We help our
clients find the right senior care community. We're not another
run of the mill, free referral service. We're very different.
We offer a placement service with integrity. We're currently offering
special incentives for the first five franchise owners. I call
it the Founder's Club. Take advantage of this amazing incentive
(32:44):
and opportunity. For more information about owning your own senior
care consulting franchise, call eight three three seven two two
three seven two six eight three three seven two two
three seven two six or visit Senior Care Canting dot com.
(33:11):
Welcome back. You're listening to Senior Care Live on the
Senior Care Broadcasting Network. Have a question, visit seniorcare Live
dot com. All right, So back to the most frequently
asked question that I've had over the last twenty what
is that?
Speaker 3 (33:26):
What?
Speaker 2 (33:26):
Twenty three years Steve when do we move. We don't
want to move too soon, we don't want to wait
too long. What does that look like? We just we
want to get it right. So I always say that
you know that. Again, Sometimes it's very obvious. Usually it's
not so obvious. So the following things should trigger the
conversation of considering moving from your home to a senior
(33:48):
care community. Number one, when we have a safety issue.
This is this is by far and away number one,
when it's no longer safe to live at home. And
a lot of the examples I'm just going to fly
through some of this, but a lot of these examples
are related to having dementia some sort of a cognitive impairment.
(34:08):
You can have early dementia, it can be you know,
right in the middle, or advanced, different forms of dementia, Alzheimer's,
lots of different forms of dementia, but any type of
cognitive impairment. So leaving the stovetop burners on obviously a
major major safety issue. And if that is an issue,
first of all, it's oh, oh no, we've never had
(34:32):
any problem with that. Well, it's not a problem until
the day that it is a problem. So I would
be proactive with that, and if you believe that it's
dangerous to have your loved one operating a stove or
the oven, then unplug it or turn the gas off
or flip the braker if it's electric, so you can
(34:53):
do it's pretty easy. Easy to disable that, okay, and
then you can help provide food. And there are lots
of services and meals on wheels, all kinds of stuff.
But just just disable it and take that one off
the plate, off the table. There another one wandering away
and can't find your way back home. This is very
common with individuals with dementia and off Oftentimes, unfortunately, if
(35:20):
they're away from their house either walking away, they they
may get confused not be able to make their way
back home. What I think is maybe even worse is
driving away. Should be driving in the first place, but
now you know you're driving out of Kansas City and
the next thing you know, you're in Tulsa or oh
Maha or Denver or Chicago. You know you're not even
the same state. And we have these silver alerts out.
(35:41):
Every time I see a silver alert on social media,
every time, I just automatically boom, I repost it because
you never know if someone might see that and then
be able to help this person. Malnutrition and dehydration. Boy,
this is pretty common. This is pretty common. You got
to check in on your loved one and see if
(36:02):
this is an issue. Not eating properly, definitely, not drinking properly,
leads to all kinds of problems. Unsanitary living conditions due
to the inability to keep things up, frequent injuries at home,
frequent falls, frequent hospitalizations. This one flies under the radar,
but it is a major safety issue. Not taking your
(36:24):
medications properly, maybe not taking them on time, maybe not
taking them at all. That's a major major safety issue.
And then of course you have the elder financial abuse,
and that one makes my blood boil and I don't
understand it. But these things fall into that category of
when it's no longer safe to live at home, that
(36:45):
should definitely trigger the conversation of considering moving from home
to a senior care community. Number two. I would call
this a one A or a very close number two.
When the caregivers health and well being are in decline.
(37:07):
Perfect example, you have an eighty year old spouse caring
for an eighty year old spouse, and the caregiver spouse
is just being crushed from the stress of being the caregiver.
So your health and your well being. We're talking about
your mental health, emotional health, spiritual health, and of course
(37:28):
your physical health. So as caregivers, we place our own
needs kind of on the back burner, right. We skip
doctors offices, appointments, dentists appointments. We don't keep up on
our optometrist appointments. We skip social events like getting together
with the ladies for book club, getting together with the
guys for you know, donuts and coffee on Friday mornings.
(37:51):
So we skip socializing, we stop going to church, all
of these things. We just kind of withdraw, and the
stress just keeps piling on and piling on and piling on.
If you see this, you gotta step in. Here's why
(38:14):
stress is such a powerful force. I don't I can't
tell you how many times I've seen to where the
caregiver's spouse dies before the person they're taken care of
because they're crushed with the stress. They have a stroke,
they have a heart attack. They put their their own
(38:36):
needs on the back burner, and maybe all of a sudden,
the doctors didn't catch a cancer that all of a sudden,
is now this huge problem when they could have maybe
caught it a couple of years ago and treated it right.
There are all kinds of examples, but I've seen the
caregiver's spouse pass away before the person they're caring for.
(38:56):
You can't let that happen. This is avoidable, but you
have to step in and take action. Don't ignore it.
Don't ignore it. Number three, when the cost of in
home care becomes too expensive. Now. I am a huge,
huge fan and proponent of home care services. I refer
(39:20):
to home care companies all the time. But if your
need for in home assistance rises to the level of
twenty four hours so they're around the clock. You know,
this used to cost fifteen to twenty thousand dollars a month.
Now it's a solid twenty five to thirty thousand dollars
(39:41):
a month. And I don't care how much money you have.
That's a lot of money if you can afford it
at fantastic, But maybe you pay for that for a
little while and then you're like, wait a minute, I
think we could be better stewards of the money and
maybe move to assisted living for six to eight thousand
dollars a month and get twenty four hour care. It's
(40:02):
not in your own home, it's not the same, but
maybe it's a more cost effective way to get that care. Okay,
So it could just be that in home care and
home support is just it's a financial issue. And then, last,
but not least, when the care that you provide is
just not enough, why not consider changing your role from
(40:22):
the caregiver to the care manager, meaning, let's go out,
let's find a great place that can provide the hands
on care twenty four to seven, and then you can
go back to your original role as the loving husband,
the loving wife, the loving son or daughter, in my case,
the loving grandson and manage their care, speak for them,
(40:45):
make sure that they're getting all the care that they
need and that they deserve. And if you need help
with that search and selection process, okay, even through the holidays.
I've been talking about this all the time. No one
has enough time to get this done. Well, we've done
the research for you. We can get you through that
whole process. Put you in a position to make an
(41:07):
informed decision, make decisions you're comfortable with the find the
right place and the best place first, and get it right.
The first time, and we can help you do that
in just literally a few hours of your time. That's
resonating with you. Give us a call right now is
the time that we need to be doing that. Nine three,
nine four five twenty eight hundred or visit online at
(41:28):
Seniorcare Consulting dot com. It would be our honor to
serve you and your family. All right, I'm Steve Keeker,
and I wish you grace in peace. May God bless
you and your family on this day and always join
me next week right here on Senior Care Life.
Speaker 5 (41:51):
Does your business serve the elderly and their caregivers in
our area? There are hundreds of thousands of people either
receiving or providing senior care and they need to know
about you. A unique and successful radio program called Senior
Care Live is the perfect opportunity to let your target
audience know about your amazing products and services. Senior Care
(42:12):
Live is currently adding a limited number of partner sponsors,
and if you're aligned with their mission, they want to
talk to you. They're interested in partnering with hospital organizations,
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law practices, financial advisors, insurance companies, real estate brokers, home
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(42:36):
Senior Care Live has a limited number of partner sponsor opportunities,
so call now at nine one three nine four five
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Speaker 2 (42:51):
Quid pro quo a Latin phrase that means an exchange
of goods or services where one transfer is contingent upon
the other. Here's an example. I'll recommend your senior care
community if you'll pay me a huge kickback from my referral.
The free referral services have a vested interest in you
choosing one of their business partners. That's how they make
(43:14):
their money. Does this paid recommendation sound objective or credible,
of course not. I'm Steve Keeker with Senior Care Consulting.
I'm so proud to say we have never received a
single penny from any provider ever. We offer replacement service
with integrity for help finding the right senior care community,
without conflict of interest, and without the quid pro quo
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called nine one three nine four five twenty eight hundred nine, one, three,
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