MEDICAL COSTS POSE A CONCERN FOR SENIORS

Thousands of senior citizens danced, played bingo and enjoyed Saturday's Senior Fun Fest in Cape Girardeau. They also had a lot on their minds about issues facing the nation.

Health care, especially the cost of medical care and insurance, topped the list of concerns for most.

More than 3,000 senior citizens from all over the region attended the event, offered free every other year.

June Walters of Sikeston said she's worried about the future of health care. How can people continue to afford the treatments they need, she wondered.

She is a cancer survivor facing a mountain of bills, forms and paperwork to pay for her treatment.

"Now, at home, I have 79 hospital bills, Medicare forms and medical bills. I just counted them the other day," Walters said.

"I don't know for sure what can be done," she admitted. "But something has to change.

"I'm also concerned that Medicare moves people out of the hospital before they are ready," said Walters. "And what about long-term care? How are we going to afford that when we are sick and elderly."

Her husband, Horace, says "someone's getting rich" in the medical arena perhaps doctors, perhaps pharmaceutical firms.

"You know those pharmaceutical firms get enormous tax breaks for manufacturing in Haiti and Puerto Rico, yet the drugs cost just as much as if they were manufactured here."

He said inflation and dropping interest rates also are of concern.

"Just a few years ago you could buy a car for $7,500. Now a car costs $23,000," he said. "Most senior citizens are on fixed incomes, and now the interest rate is down on CDs to 3 percent. That hurts.

"But I think the medical field is the one part for senior citizens that is hurting more than anything else.'

Mavis McElreath of Cape Girardeau is skeptical of Bill Clinton and the job he's doing as president.

"I think he talks with the crowd. Whatever the crowd wants to hear is what he says," she said. "He says he's going to do so much, too much I think. I think he just doesn't have the experience."

Virginia Moore of Cape Girardeau said she's exasperated by nearly every issue she hears about.

"Everything's a terrible mess and it changes every day," she said.

Working the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) booth, Frank Bertani of Cape Girardeau agreed that health care is a top issue for seniors.

Bertani said many senior citizens worry that if they become ill, medical bills will wipe out their savings.

But he's optimistic that the Clinton administration will do something to ease the problem.

"Certainly we do want to see a program passed to benefit everyone," he said. "I'm looking for something everyone can afford so no one is neglected and it is fair to everyone."

In fact, Bertani said he looks for good things from the president. "He's trying. He can't satisfy everyone, but he's got a plan. Now he's got to go ahead and try it."

Marjorie Haman of Cape Girardeau, also working at the AARP booth, said whenever AARP holds a meeting on a health care topic, a crowd shows up. "We'll have 100 people or more attend," she said.

"I think it's the uncertainty of what is going to happen. Many folks only have Medicare and they are living on a fixed income and can't really afford anything else."

She said as people age, their health deteriorates, causing more worry. "Long-term care, nursing homes, is also a big concern."

Mary Hull of Malden said, "We could have plenty of health care reform in my opinion. Bills are just outrageous. I know. I was just in the hospital.

"But can we afford $80 billion more a year in taxes?" asked F.L. Robinson of Dexter.

"I think we probably have the best health care system in the world," he said. "Let's not destroy it. Let's just find a way to pay for it. Socialized medicine does sound good, but when you look at Canada and England well if you get sick in Canada, you come to the United States. And, I'm not sure Hillary (Clinton) knows what she's doing."

Robinson believes he has a better idea for how to spend some tax dollars: "It wouldn't hurt to have a senior citizens bus to Florida every month so we could go fishing."