It’s a difficult journey to currently take and John Jeppesen provides a close look as a legally blind veteran.

I am a legally blind veteran. I now live in the North Carolina State Veterans Home in Salisbury. I have both Medicare, Medicaid and a monthly Aid in Assistance payment from the Veterans Administration. I do not have any funds to pay for my stay so the combination of the three are to pay the fees, which are considerable. All the facilities prior to my move to my current residence were privately owned by the Saber Corporation based in Cincinnati, Ohio. The company claimed I owe serval thousands more, but I do not have any more than what I get, not a penny more.

That said, qualifying for Medicaid was an onerous task. My power of attorney (POA) had to gather all my financial records. It took many tedious and painstaking hours. Medicaid requires absolutely everything from any place my money was stored, e.g. checking, savings, any properties and more. I have no idea how many forms he had to complete. Then he submitted them. And then we waited…and waited…and waited. All the while I was racking up a $300 per day fee at the facility where I was staying pending Medicaid approval.

There is a brewing controversy about Medicare and Medicaid fraud so the government has made it very, very difficult to get approved to stop the fraudsters. The safeguards held up my approval to the point that my POA had to personally sit down with the Iredell County Medicaid officer to explain my specific case.

Many Republicans debatably claim undocumented aliens are fraudulently receiving Medicare/Medicaid benefits. That data is reported on a state-by-state basis. Some states have issued reports and others have not. HIPPA privacy laws also limit reporting data.

Digging a little deeper, here is what we found.

There’s a longstanding federal law, undocumented immigrants (illegal aliens) are ineligible for federally funded Medicare and full-scope Medicaid benefits. But, there are very limited federal and state-funded benefits. They are very specific and are usually for medical emergencies.

Paragon Research estimates nearly $1.2 trillion in improper federal Medicaid payments — a 25 percent improper payment rate — over the past decade. It should be noted that this estimate is largely due to provider not individual fraud.

Paragon also said: “In addition, Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill further addresses the rampant Medicaid waste, fraud and abuse in a myriad of ways, including more frequent eligibility reviews of able-bodied, working-age ACA expansion enrollees, requiring states to reduce the improper payment rates, no longer paying health plans for individuals enrolled in multiple states, and making sure taxpayers are not paying for Medicaid coverage for the deceased.”

The Medicaid gauntlet for me is back. The administration where I live has determined that I am “too high functioning” to stay in a skilled nursing environment and would be more suited for an assisted living facility. OK, but I have not heard if my Medicaid plan will pay the higher fees for assisted living. It feels like the Sword of Damacles is hanging over my head.

Bottom line: The baby boom generation is booming again as we look for affordable skilled nursing or assisted living facilities. Caregivers, legal guardians, mentally competent and especially veterans like me must do their homework…or else.

Veteran John Jeppesen lives in Rowan County.