Chris
Richmeier lives for tomorrow – August, to be exact. That's when his
Medicare coverage will begin and his struggles paying for medical care
will end.
Mr. Richmeier, who's 44 and lives in Denton,
suffered a traumatic brain injury in an auto accident in 2005 and soon
qualified for Social Security disability benefits.
But
like 1.5 million other Americans with severe disabilities, he has to
wait two years to get help from Medicare for doctor visits, hospital
stays and medications.
"It's devastated us," said his
wife, Christine. "We never had to ask anyone for help. Now our kids get
clothes from resale shops. We get meat once a month from our church."
A coalition of 34 consumer groups, led by the Medicare Rights Center,
has called the waiting period "cruel and arbitrary" and has begun to
lobby Congress to end it.