Medicare Stories

December 21, 2019

Thomas Bird

Tom Bird, 65, says that Medicare is extremely important to him. He has diabetes and it requires daily monitoring and medications, so he wants to make sure Medicare is not cut or privatized.

He also says the changes that the Affordable Care Act (ACA) brought to Medicare have made the program stronger. The ACA is shrinking the doughnut hole gap in his Medicare prescription drug coverage, and that helps enormously.

Tom started working in the family business as a young boy and began paying into Medicare when he was 15, fifty years ago. After a long career in the utility business, he had to retire early because the hard physical work performed in extreme weather took a toll on his body. During his career, he endured multiple surgeries.

“It would be a hardship on me financially to have to try and purchase health insurance at the mercy of insurance companies that want to either charge me more or refuse to issue a policy to me because of my preexisting conditions,” says Tom.

“While I was in the workforce I answered the call when there was an emergency to keep the public warm and to keep the lights on,” says Tom. “I climbed and stood on wooden poles 30 feet high and on 100-foot steel towers in hundred mile an hour winds, in freezing cold and sweltering temperatures over 100 degrees, with a leather belt and climbing hooks holding me fast.  I need Medicare to hold me fast now so I can monitor and keep myself healthy in my retirement.  Hands off my Medicare!”