Obamacare not so compassionate

Not quite the whole story...

The clot-buster drugs given to stroke patients in the early hours of a stroke are quite effective but not recommended for those of advanced age due to the increased risks associated with treating the elderly.
Some physicians will go off-protocol and give them anyway but the insurance companies run the show now so no off-protcol medications are given.

Rob

 

Why is this elderly person on a private insurance plan and not on Medicare?

My mom is 94 and had a stroke 2 years ago. She's on Eliquis, a blood thinner, which is (mostly) paid for by Medicare part D.

 

When giving tPA (tissue plasminogen activator), there are many things to consider, age being but one factor. There are quite a few other very important comorbidities that can exclude a patient.

The first study I Googled regarding tPA and the elderly was from 2010: here's the conclusions:

In the NINDS trial, 44 subjects older than 80 years were randomized, and their 3-month functional outcomes were not significantly improved with IV tPA. Of 25 randomized to IV tPA, 4 experienced symptomatic intracranial hemorrhages within 36 hours of treatment. Compared with younger patients, older patients were 2.87 times more likely to experience a symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage within 36 hours of IV tPA (95% confidence interval, 1.04-7.93). Of 227 Cardiovascular Health Study participants hospitalized for ischemic stroke between 1995 and 2002, seven, whose mean age was 84 years, were treated with IV tPA (3.1%; 95% confidence interval 1.2-6.2). Two had symptomatic intracranial hemorrhages, 3 failed to improve, and 2 of the 7 had good outcomes.
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At 92 years old sometimes the best option for doctors and the patient is to not cause harm by aggressively intervening - things can get quite ugly.

Rob

 

Nonsense and my wife is a pharmD and says this is bogus, she works with this daily.

 

You really want to see "ugly"? .Watch a paralyzed, but breathing and thinking , human being survive for years as the result of a stroke. Believe me, they would rather be dead.

If you could ask them, they'd take the 2 of 7 odds any day of the week.