june 2013

VOICEThe Senior

Published Locally Since 1980 June 2013

SCENIC DRIVEto History

HIDDEN TREASURES North Colorado





2 • June 2013 • The Senior Voice

By Ron Rutz, Attorney - Legal Correspondent

Q: In his Will, my uncle named me as the sole re-

cipient of his estate because he was estranged from his children. However, I ended up with noth-ing.

A: The Will has no author- ity over assets held in

joint tenancy or with beneficiary designations. Your uncle’s per-sonal banker set up your uncle’s bank accounts, CDs, and money market accounts with his children as the beneficiaries, not you. The banker claims that your uncle wanted it that way and that she always does beneficiaries naming the children, thus avoid-ing probate, ensuring that funds were immediately available to pay bills, which is the fastest and easiest way to settle things. She is wrong, but I don’t think she even asked about his Will. A financial advisor arranged to

put all the real property owned by a mutual client into joint tenancy even though the Will specifically left the property to only one child. But to his credit, your uncle said no to his financial advisor’s insis-tence on redoing his legal docu-ments by replacing the Will with a Living Trust. The failure to listen to what the client wants, the failure to coordi-nate the beneficiary designations and property ownership with the estate plan, and the insistence on only using living trusts instead of Wills, are three of the major prob-lems in holding together an es-tate plan when financial advisors, bankers, and insurance agents in-sist on doing things their way. In your case, the beneficiary designations made the Will mean-ingless. ________________Email questions to [email protected].

Estate PlanningEstate Planning STATE LEGISLATUREBy Randy Fischer - Colorado State Representative

As a life-long resident of Fort Col-lins, I can’t recall a more abrupt turn-around in a water year than 2013. The drought predictions that dominated this winter’s snow-pack reports finally gave way to abundant mountain snows and prairie rains. This verdant spring offers tre-mendous relief to agricultural pro-ducers and municipal water pro-viders alike. Yet concerns about the long-term future sustainability of Colorado’s water supplies per-sist. As chairman of the House Ag-riculture and Natural Resources Committee, I have a responsibility to put water issues at the top of my priority list. I am pleased to report that substantial progress was made in strengthening water conservation policies and promoting innovative water-sharing strategies during this legislative session. I am hon-ored that Governor Hickenlooper

traveled to Fort Collins to sign my bill, HB-1044, to authorize the use of graywater in Colorado. The deployment of graywa-ter reuse as a water conservation strategy has the potential to reduce residential water consumption substantially and will help Colora-do meet its future water demands. Two of my other water bills signed into law will enable ag-ricultural water owners to share their water on a temporary basis with municipalities while still maintaining ownership of the wa-ter in the hands of agricultural pro-ducers. I was pleased to work with a group of forward-thinking water experts to write and pass HB-1130 and HB-1248. I feel privileged to be at the forefront of Colorado’s future water supply policies. ________________Email Representative Fischer at [email protected]. ■

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Published Locally Since 1980Vol. 33, No. 7

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By Bill Lambdin Pioneers often talked of lost gold mines and hidden treasures. In Poudre Canyon, some said there was a mine found in the late 1800s by two prospectors who died suddenly without revealing the mine’s location. A young boy supposedly found it once by ac-cident but was scared away by a bear and couldn’t remember the location. Also in Poudre Canyon, some said a man named Sam Steel bur-ied $10,000 that was never found near his cabin along the Little South Fork of the Poudre River. On the banks of the Poudre Riv-er between Fort Collins and Gree-ley, two men headed for the gold fields supposedly found a cave containing Spanish gold pieces. Indians attacked and killed one man. The other returned years later but could not remember where the cave was. In 1891, a dam broke at Cham-bers Lake in Poudre Canyon and washed away old Poudre City lo-cated where Poudre Chapel now stands. The settlers escaped death, but all of their possessions were swept down river, perhaps includ-ing gold pieces some settlers may have had.

Before that flood, pioneer John Zimmerman built a gold-process-ing mill at Poudre City. The chim-ney of that old mill still stands about 75 yards west of Poudre Chapel, a few feet from the river. North of Fort Collins near the old Virginia Dale stagecoach sta-tion, robbers may have buried loot that has never been found. Settlers

named a hill there Robbers Roost, and historians know that outlaws hid out there. Most lost treasure stories can-

not be verified, but occasionally someone does find something. In 1883 north of Gunnison, a man found a stash of stolen money in what’s now called the Cement Creek Caves. Northeast of Alamosa near the old town of Crestone, a man found a human skull and gold. The loca-tion is now called Deadman Creek.

One of the most famous stories concerns the Reynolds Gang Trea-sure. In the 1860s, John Reynolds led a gang of Southern rebels who robbed stagecoaches in Colorado. Legend says the gang buried some of their loot in Handcart Gulch south of Georgetown and that it has never been found. If you’re lucky, you might stum-ble onto some old miner’s treasure someday. But I’m inclined to be-lieve that Mark Twain was right when he said a gold mine was a hole in the ground owned by a liar.________________COVER PICTURE: Young wolf pups taken by Fort Collins professional photographer Ray Rafiti. See his greeting cards and pictures at www.rayrafiti.com. ■

Between Fort Collins and Greeley, two trappers supposedly found a cave containing

Spanish gold pieces.

Part of the old gold processing mill in Poudre Canyon still stands. The Voice photo by Bill Lambdin.

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Some of the buildings at the Grand Encampment Museum.

By P.J. Hunt A scenic drive west of Laramie takes you to the beautiful Snowy Range Mountains and two fine museums in the little towns of Encampment and Saratoga. The Grand Encampment Mu-seum contains many histori-cal buildings, a covered wagon, buggies, indoor exhibits of wed-ding dresses, Indian artifacts, and many things from early settlers. Originally called Grand En-campment for a fur trappers’ ren-dezvous in 1851, the town name was shortened to Encampment in 1896 when copper was discov-ered. You’ll see ore buckets from a 16-mile tramway that brought ore from the famous Ferris-Haggerty Mine to a smelter in Encampment. Buffalo Bill Cody invested in a mine there. Events include a Woodchop-pers’ Jamboree, June 15-16; Cow-boy Gathering, July 19-21; Muz-zle guns competition, July 26-28; and Living History Day, July 27. The museum is open late May to mid October; call 307.327.5308. The Saratoga Museum is open late May to Labor Day. It has per-

haps the largest gem and mineral exhibit in Wyoming plus displays of a pioneer home interior, fossils, blacksmithing, and other things.

The museum’s Annual Cel-ebration with special exhibits and events is held July 6. For informa-tion, call 307.326.5511 or email [email protected].

Saratoga’s Wolf Hotel is on the National Register of Historic Places and is a good place for lunch or dinner. It was built in 1893 as an unusual, upscale stage stop that had a parlor for ladies’ teas and other amenities.

The Saratoga Inn has lodging and meals; and there are motels in town. Comedian Bob Hope was a member of The Old Baldy golf re-sort here.

To reach the area, drive west of Laramie on Highway 130 (Snowy Range Road) to Highway 230, then south to Encampment or north to Saratoga. Or you can take I-80 west of Laramie, then High-way 130 south. You can make the trip in one day, but it’s best to al-low two. ■

Scenic Drive to History

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By Lois Hall Early farming and ranching around Greeley were boom-and-bust operations subject to the whims of nature. In the late 1800s, one observer said, “Greenhorn settlers have pushed out into the arid plains...messed up the place, gone broke and vacated it to lie idle again until a new crop of suckers is ripe.” Dry-land farming was new to Eastern settlers accustomed to plenty of rainfall for crops. On the plains, they had to learn how to build irrigation ditches, measure flowing water and decide which crops were suited to desert condi-tions. After 1870, the Greeley set-tlers were the first to be successful. They built the first irrigation canal in the state that was long enough to

lift water out of the Poudre River to farms some distance away. But early dry-land farmers didn’t know about the extended dry weather cycles that occur on the plains. After several wet years, they stood by helplessly and watched their plowed fields blow away during the Dust Bowl of the 1930s. Ranchers were also surprised by nature. They enjoyed a beef bonanza for several years after Charles Goodnight brought the first herd of Texas cattle to Colo-rado and Wyoming in 1864. Profits were huge with free range land and good grass. This was the time when the big cattle empires were started, often by British investors who knew nothing about ranching in the West. Some sent their playboy

sons here to learn ranching. Others hired managers who found it easy to cheat owners far away in Eng-land or Scotland. Bad management and overgraz-ing the land caught up with them in the late 1880s when a cycle of droughts and winter blizzards hit the plains. Dead cattle lay every-where. It took some pioneers a long time to learn that things were dif-ferent in the West. ■

Early hunter with an antelope. J.H. Grabill Collection.

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By Bill Lambdin

What major healthcare chang-es can we expect as a result of the new healthcare laws now becom-ing effective? Northern Colorado healthcare executives recently discussed that at a Healthcare Summit sponsored

by the Fort Collins Chamber of Commerce. Yvonne Myers, director of Columbine Health Systems, said changes mandated by the gov-ernment and providers will force people to become more involved in their own health decisions and be more active as healthcare con-

sumers, not passive patients. She said we need to help ma-ture people stay socially active, not isolated, which in turn will keep them healthier. And all of us will have to be better informed about healthcare costs because we will have to be more involved than in the past. “Over 10,000 baby boomers are turning age 65 every day, and more Americans now turn age 100 than are born every year,” said Myers. “Such things mean we have to keep people healthier longer.” Kevin Unger, CEO of Poudre Valley Hospital, said our cur-rent healthcare system is about to bankrupt the nation. “We have to find ways to control costs without rationing care,” he said. One way to do that is to keep people out of hospitals as much as possible because hospital care is very expensive. Patients will also be seeing fewer doctors and in-stead seeing nurses, physician as-sistants, and other less expensive providers, said Unger. Dr. James Sprowell, Executive Director of Associates in Family Medicine, said doctors will have to be more cost conscious about treatments and tests they recom-mend. He also said, “The govern-ment cannot solve our healthcare problems; consumers will have to do it.” Jim Sampson, Benefits Execu-tive with Flood & Peterson insur-ance company, said most people are uninformed about what’s hap-pening with healthcare, and there is a great deal of confusion. That was confirmed by a recent Kaiser Family Foundation poll that showed 42% of Americans do not know the 2010 Afford-able Care Act is now law; 12% believe the law was repealed by Congress; 7% think the Supreme Court overturned it; and 23% are

unsure of the law’s status. Paul Roberts with Colorado Choice Health Plans said people don’t realize how much “costs are going to be tied to behav-ior.” People who cause their own health problems by smoking or other behaviors will have to pay more. Dr. William Wright with Colo-rado Permanente said, “Obam-acare is a good attempt to provide healthcare coverage for more people,” but it might prove to be too expensive for consumers and the government. ■

Yvonne Myers, Director of Columbine Health Systems.

Photo by Bill Lambdin.

Kevin Unger, CEO of Poudre Valley Hospital. Photo by Bill Lambdin.

Changes in Healthcare


Joe at a cabin he built in Estes. Estes Park History

Museum.

By P.J. Hunt Early Estes Park resident Joe Mills built the once famous Crags Lodge on the south end of town (on Prospect Mountain where the tramway was later built). The Crags Lodge was a dream he pursued much of his life. But just when he achieved it, tragedy struck. Joe was not as well known as his brother, Enos Mills; but he was an important resident of early northern Colorado. Born in 1880 at Fort Scott, Kansas, Joe spent his early child-hood listening to his mother and father talk about their time in Colorado during the gold rush. Their stories captured his imagi-nation. At age 16, he came to Estes Park and worked for an uncle who owned a tourist lodge be-low Longs Peak. Joe felt he was in paradise, and his dream from then on was to own a lodge in this place. He built a small cabin before attending Colorado Agricultural College (now CSU) in Fort Col-lins where he lettered in football, baseball and track. His athletic ability later got him a job as foot-ball coach at Fort Worth Univer-sity in Texas. It was there he met Ethel Steere, a beautiful young woman whom he married in 1909. Joe later became coach and athletic director at Baylor Univer-sity in Texas. He and Ethel were happy, but he longed to return to the mountains of Estes Park. In 1913 Joe and Ethel began building the Crags Lodge in Es-tes, and soon thereafter Joe took a coaching job at the University

of Colorado. Now he was close to his place of dreams. He was a strong advocate of healthful, outdoor activities and published numerous articles ex-tolling the virtues of living close to nature. He had a private reason for his beliefs—he had diabetes. Outdoor activities were special to him because he knew the time might come when he could not pursue them. Coaching jobs did not pay much in those days. Joe and Ethel scraped by for years, doing much of the work at the Crags them-selves. They had two children to raise, plus hundreds of lodge guests to please every summer. Ethel helped every step of the way. Strong and loyal, she did much to make the Crags one of

the finest lodges in Estes Park. In the mid-1920s, Joe wrote “A Mountain Boyhood,” a book that became quite popular. He dedi-cated it to Ethel. In 1924 he left the University of Colorado because the Crags was starting to be profitable. For several years, he and Ethel could afford to spend their winters at the luxurious Shirley-Savoy Ho-tel in Denver and summers in the sunny mountains of Estes.

Joe had finally achieved his dream. But it didn’t last. At age 55, he fell into a diabet-ic coma while driving his car in Denver. He crashed into a street-car and died a few weeks later. That was 1935. Ethel contin-ued to run the Crags for several years, but it was not the same without Joe. The heart had gone out of it for her. She sold the Crags in 1946 and was living in Denver at her death in 1969 at age 85. She lived for more than 30 years remembering the youthful dream she shared with a man who loved the moun-tains. ■

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COLORADO CROSSWORDS are created exclusively for The Voice by Tony Donovan, who lives in Loveland.

COLORADO CROSSWORDS By Tony Donovan

ACROSS1. CSU athlete3. Old North Church alert: “One if by land, sea”8. Letter afterthoughts (abbr.)11. Directions to get to downtown Denver from the north: from I 25 take Larimer or Lawrence13. Off road vehicle often14. Rube or Whoopi16. Prefix with slavery or war17. Not exactly intrepid19. Worked out21. Fauna partner22. Banned apple spray24. Descriptive of one adhering to a tight budget25. Cleveland hoopsters on a scoreboard27. Séance sound, maybe28. North Park community southwest of Gould30. Major U.S. migration route which took pioneers to the Northwest in the 19th century33. One of three iconic characters on a Rice Krispies box34. Corporal or sergeant35. Estes Park bugler38. Upscale hotel brand40. Athletes often have them following an injury41. Interested onlookers while a will is being read42. Starbucks worker45. Greenstreet and Pollack50. 00751. Upscale community near Aspen53. Dies .54. George Burns’ wife, et. Al.

55. Cable channel56. “ grass”57. Emergency responder, often (abbr.)

DOWN1. Broncos’ of Fame2. Next to the highest ranking for a # 34 across3. Prefix used with “graph” or “scope”4. Gets married5. Eyes or planets to a poet6. Mineral suffix7. Locale’ which grew up around Ft. Lan- caster on the South Platte8. Actor Sean of Mystic River9. Rose or Seeger10. Little Miss Muffet threat12. Bear type13. Fast-paced South American sport which involves wooden “catchers” called “cestas”15. Pirates drink18. USC arch rival20. Possible mountain resting spot of the ark21. He pitched the home opener for the Rockies in 201322. One fifth of a “dead man’s” hand23. English river or a Colorado mountain town24. Population corridor of Colorado26. Indian dwellings29. Cardinal or Rockie31. TV series which introduced Clint East- wood32. Nods of approval36. Tomlin or Pons37. Hit film of 2012 with ”THE”39. Watches kids40. Parson’s dwelling43. One or the other, on a test44. Some singled stranded molecules45. Lake46. Village People hit47. The presidential seal adorns one when the president speaks48. Latin: existence49. Western slope town on I 70 east of Rifle52. What went into smelters

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Risks After Hospital Stay Heart attack and heart failure patients are at high risk of serious problems and even death for sev-eral weeks after hospitalization and should get medical attention immediately if they feel bad, said researchers at Columbia Univer-sity Medical Center.Testosterone Supplements They’re “snake oil,” said re-searcher Dr. Kevin McVary at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine. They can cause male breast growth, prob-lems for the prostate, liver, and heart.Wrong Diagnosis That’s the mistake doctors make most and the one they are sued for most often, said a report in the online journal BMJ Qual-ity and Safety. Diagnostic errors account for 34% of disabilities and 40% of deaths, far more than other mistakes. “You can’t get the

treatment right if you don’t get the diagnosis right,” said Dr. Da-vid Newman-Toker at Johns Hop-kins University.Indoor Tanning Beds They should be banned for children under age 18 because they cause skin cancer, said the FDA’s advisory panel. But FDA administrators decided on a warn-ing instead of a ban, ignoring its experts’ recommendations.Hospital Infections About 1 in 20 patients get them, causing about 100,000 deaths a year, said an Associated Press report. Hospitals are trying numerous things to deal with this, including anti-microbial linens, machines that emit ultraviolet light, and other things.Statins Those used to lower cholester-ol are often prescribed unneces-sarily for people who are unlikely to have a heart attack, said a re-

port in JAMA Internal Medicine.Birth Control Pills Those with low estrogen cause chronic pelvic pain and pain dur-ing orgasm for many women, said researchers at NYU Langone Medical Center in New York City.Pregnant Women They should avoid migraine headache drugs Depacon, Depak-ote and others containing valpro-ate, which can lower a child’s IQ, said the FDA. Pregnant women should also avoid hair dyes, acryl-ic nails, cosmetics containing oils, and cutting cuticles during mani-cures, said researcher Dr. Mary Rosser at Yeshiva University in New York City.Vitamin D Mothers who are breast feed-ing should probably take a daily vitamin D supplement of 400 international units, said a report in the Journal of the American Medical Association—to support

infant bone growth. Stroke Victims If they arrive at the hospital in an ambulance, they will get quicker treatment with life-saving drugs that also greatly reduce dis-abilities later, said a report in the journal Circulation. Thyroid Disease Women with type 1 diabetes are more likely to get thyroid dis-ease than others, said researchers at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio. “People who have one autoim-mune disease (like diabetes) are at risk for another” (like thyroid dis-ease) said Dr. Lowell Schmeltz.■

Dangerous Drugs Ranbaxy in India is one of the biggest suppliers of generic drugs in the U.S.; and the company re-cently pleaded guilty to numerous criminal counts of selling tainted drugs, fraud, falsifying test re-sults, and other charges, accord-ing to Forbes magazine and other sources. Its drugs include the generic Lisinopril (brand name Prinivil); Fluoxetine (Prozac); Atorvastatin (Lipitor); and many others. Investigators call the case one of the most devastating exposes ever made about the conduct of a drug company. Ranbaxy has agreed to pay $500 million in fines, the most ever paid by a ge-neric drug company. But some investigators note that the case shows how danger-ous drugs made by foreign com-panies can be and how ineffective U.S. agencies are at protecting Americans against bad drugs. “The real story is how poorly

(the) government has responded to all of this,” said Vincent Fabia-no, a former Ranbaxy vice presi-dent. Even after the scandal, Ran-baxy is still allowed to sell drugs in the U.S. “The reality is that we sim-ply don’t know what we’re deal-ing with,” said Dr. Roger Bate, a pharmaceutical researcher. “No one has actually gone into these sites to expose what’s going on.” The Government Accountabil-ity Office says only 11 percent of foreign drug manufacturing plants are inspected by U.S. officials—even though over 80 percent of the pharmaceutical ingredients for all U.S. drugs comes from over-seas. Officials inspect U.S. drug plants unannounced, but they give foreign manufacturers weeks of advance notice. Such policies raise serious questions about pub-lic safety, say researchers. ■


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Prostate Cancer Most men don’t need PSA tests for prostate cancer, says the American College of Physicians in a report in the Annals of Inter-nal Medicine. “The data doesn’t support routine screening because the outcomes aren’t better,” said Cleveland Clinic researcher Dr. David Bronson, who is presi-dent of the American College of Physicians. “For the significant majority of men who have a rel-atively benign form of prostate cancer, that cancer isn’t likely to give them problems.” Less than 3 percent of men die from prostate cancer, though as many as 1 in 6 are diagnosed with it, he added. The diagnosis too often leads to unnecessary prostate surgery that can cause erectile dysfunction, urinary in-continence and other problems. The PSA test cannot deter-mine if cancer is present or if it

is aggressive enough for treat-ment. The test sometimes leads to a prostate biopsy, which can result in infection, said Bronson. Dr. Durado Brooks agrees. He is the director of prostate and colon cancers for the American Cancer Society. “If men want to be screened, that’s certainly within their right. But they need to know we don’t have studies that clearly demonstrate that (PSA) screening can alter the course of prostate cancer, and we don’t have evidence that screen-ing provides better outcomes,” he said. But cancer is a frightening word. When men hear they have it, they often choose treatment. Doctors should tell them that, unless the cancer is aggressive, they should take a wait-and-see approach, say researchers. “The treatment comes with significant risks,” said Bronson. ■

By Roni Caryn Rabin - Kaiser Health News Betsy Gabay saw a rotating cast of at least 14 doctors when she was hospitalized at New York Hospital Queens for almost four weeks last year for a flare-up of ulcerative colitis. But the person she credits with saving her life is a spry, per-sistent 75-year-old with a vested interest—her mother. Alarmed by her daughter’s rap-id deterioration and then by her abrupt discharge from the hospital, Gabay’s mother contacted a physi-cian friend who got her daughter admitted to Mount Sinai Medical Center in Manhattan. By then, Gabay, 50, had a blood clot in her lung and a serious bacte-rial infection (C. difficile). She also needed to have her diseased colon removed, according to the doctors at Mount Sinai. Had the problems been left unaddressed, any one of them might have killed her. Coordinated care is touted as the key to better and more cost-effective care, and it is being en-couraged with financial rewards and penalties under the 2010 fed-eral health care overhaul, as well as by private insurers. But experts say the communication failures that landed Gabay in a rehab cen-ter, rather than in surgery, remain disturbingly common. “Nobody is responsible for co-ordinating care,” said Dr. Lucian Leape, a Harvard health policy

analyst and a nationally recog-nized patient safety leader. “That’s the dirty little secret about health care.” Advocates for hospital patients and their families say confusion about who is managing a patient’s care—and lack of coordination among those caregivers—are en-demic, contributing to the estimat-ed 44,000 to 98,000 deaths from medical errors each year. A landmark report by the Insti-tute of Medicine in 1999 cited the fragmented health-care system and patients’ reliance on multiple pro-viders as a leading cause of medi-cal mistakes. Leape, who helped author that report, says there have been improvements since, but “we have not done enough.” Subsequent studies suggest the toll may be even higher than the Institute of Medicine estimated. A 2010 federal report projected that 15,000 Medicare patients every month suffered such serious harm in a hospital that it contributed to their deaths. ————————————Kaiser Health News is an editori-ally independent program of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foun-dation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan health policy research and com-munication organization not affili-ated with Kaiser Permanente. ■

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By Lois Hall If you want to get yourself or friend a good travel guide about Mesa Verde, the Grand Canyon, Monument Valley, and other at-tractions of the American South-west, you might consider Susan Neider’s “Color Country: Touring the Colorado Plateau.” It covers national parks, state parks, and major recreation areas in Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, and Arizona—with maps, infor-mation and beautiful photographs. I have been to many of the plac-es the author includes and find her information to be accurate and in-teresting. For instance, she quotes Willa Cather’s comments about an ancient cliff dwelling at Mesa Verde: “Such silence and stillness and repose—immortal repose. That

village sat looking down into the canyon with the calmness of eternity...I knew at once that I had come upon the city of some ex-tinct civilization.” And Abraham Fellows’ com-ments about his 1901 raft trip down the Gunnison River in the dangerous Black Canyon near Montrose, Colorado: “Our surroundings were of the wildest possible description...the walls of the canyon, towering half a mile above us, were seemingly vertical. Occasionally a rock would fall...exploding like a ton of dynamite when it struck the bottom, making us think our last day had come.” The book’s author is also a good writer who says of the Southwest: “I love this place. I love its

unearthly beauty, its fantastic shapes and intense colors of every imaginable hue...its overwhelm-ing immensity where sound is swallowed up by impenetrable silence...Here is release into un-bound enormity.” You don’t find that kind of his-tory and writing in most travel books. You also don’t find such

detailed maps that direct you to the best locations for scenic views and photographs. The author is the photographer, and her pictures alone make this a good coffee ta-ble book. It is 185 pages ($24.95) avail-able from Mountain Press, 800.234.5308, www.mountain-press.com. ■

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A Medicare Change? To reduce the federal deficit, President Obama said he will con-sider combining Medicare Part A and Part B coverage (hospital and doctor). But some analysts say that would be a bad idea and result in higher costs for Medicare participants. “There is a feeling that beneficiaries should be paying more for Medi-care, but they already pay a lot out of pocket,” said Diane Lifsey with

the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare. Researcher Tricia Neuman with the non-partisan Kaiser Family Foundation agrees. “Benefit re-de-sign proposals would provide real help to a small share of the Medi-care population but raise costs for the majority,” she said. Analysts say such a change might result in a single deductible of $550. ■

Health Law Undermined? An important part of the new healthcare law “is being undermined,” say officials with the American Cancer Society, American Heart As-sociation, and other groups. Patients’ out-of-pocket costs could be two or three times what they should be because federal officials plan to make exceptions to the new law for the benefit of some insurance companies and certain employ-ers—to give them time to adjust to the new law. Effective January 1, 2014, a patient’s insurance deductible, co-pay-ment, and co-insurance are supposed to be capped at $6,250. But the gov-ernment’s exceptions will allow caps to be $12,500 or possibly higher. “This is a very important consumer protection that is being under-mined,” said Stephen Finan with the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network. ■

By Michael Fitzsimmons - Good Samaritan Society Fred Rogers said in his book “The World According to Mister Rog-ers”: “The real issue in life is not how many blessings we have but what we do with our blessings. Some people have many blessings and hoard them. Some have few and give everything away.” That is the benefit of giving. You are important to those you meet, and to the people you may never dream of. Scripture has told us that to give is to receive. Medical researchers confirm the benefits of giving. Helping others improves our physical and emotional well being. As you think about your life and the future, you may be thinking about a legacy you would like to leave. For our residents at Good Sa-maritan Society-Greeley Communities, the most important mission is to give them the very best in care and love. We have done that for the past 75 years through donations we have received from people who have experienced the love and compassion we provide our residents. Donors who have remembered the Good Samaritan Society through charitable gifts in their estate plans have given joy in knowing that they are making a difference in the lives of others. ■

Giving


Laughter: Best Medicine

LettersLetters

On a busy street, a reporter was trying to push his way through a crowd to reach a car accident. He devised a plan and shouted, “Let me through, I’m the son of the victim!” The crowd parted, and many of them began laughing. Lying in front of the car was a donkey.

A woman told her friend, “My boyfriend and I were hiking when a big bear charged us. All I had was my little .22 pistol, which I knew wouldn’t stop the bear. But a single shot to my boyfriend’s knee worked, and I was able to get away.”

A wife said to her husband, “Have you ever seen a really crumpled $20 bill?” “No,” he said. She slowly unbuttoned the

top of her blouse, reached inside and pulled out a $20 bill as her husband watched with interest. Then she said, “Have you ever seen $50,000 all crumpled up?” “No.” “Look in the garage.”

A dyslexic man told his friend that he walked into a bra. A woman told her friend, “Every time I hear the dirty word ‘exercise,’ I wash my mouth out with chocolate.” “I spent half of my money on booze, women, and gambling. The other half I wasted.” W.C. Fields A woman told her friend, “I can’t make it to the gym today. And that’s five years in a row.”

A doctor called a woman and said, “Mrs. Smith, the test we did

on your husband last week got confused with another man’s test, and we’re unsure which belongs to your husband. Either way, the results are not good.” She said, “What do you mean not good?” “One test is positive for Alzheimer’s, and the other is positive for AIDS.” “Can’t you re-test?” she said. “Normally yes, but these are very expensive tests, and the insurance company will pay for only one a year.” “What am I supposed to do?” “The insurer suggests you drop your husband off somewhere downtown. If he finds his way home, don’t sleep with him.”

On St. Patrick’s Day, a young Irishman gave his girlfriend a synthetic diamond and asked her

to marry him. She showed the ring to her fat-her, who was a jeweler. He told her it wasn’t a real diamond. When she confronted her boyfriend, he said, “I know. That’s why I gave it to you on St. Partick’s Day. It’s a sham rock.” ■

Baby Doe Tabor Story I enjoyed the May issue, but I want to make a couple of com-ments about Baby Doe. When she moved to the Matchless Mine, it was owned by J. K. Mullen, who let her live in the shanty.

In his book “Amole Again,” Gene Amole included a col-umn from the Rocky Mountain News of March 8, 1984. Back when Amole was age 8 or 9, he was taken by his grandfather and father to visit Baby Doe at the Matchless Mine.

As a boy, the grandfather had delivered flowers to Baby Doe in her good years and spoke with her about the old times in Denver. She visited but never allowed them to come up to the cabin, keeping her rifle at hand. Two neighbors found her frozen body five years after the Amole visit.

Baby Doe’s wedding dress was once on display at the State His-torical Museum in Denver. Today very few artifacts of Colorado history are on display. The first time I visited the shanty at the Matchless it was very much the same as when she died except for the fact that some people had torn parts up looking for valuables. The Tabors, including Augus-ta, were an important aspect of Colorado history.

Ray Jenkins , Fort Collins

Larimer Chorale Award Chorus America, a national organization that provides ad-vocacy, research, and leadership development for choirs across the country, has honored the Larimer Chorale’s Singing for Seniors program with the 2013 Education

Outreach Award. The award recognizes the Cho-rale’s “important leadership in the choral field” and praises the Singing for Seniors outreach pro-gram for its “strong commitment to outreach and education to an under-served population, while still providing a model that can be successfully adapted by all kinds of choruses.” We will accept the award in Se-attle, Washington, June 13, during Chorus America’s annual confer-ence.Wendy White, Executive Director

The Larimer Chorale________________Readers can email The Voice at [email protected]. You can read current and past is-sues free online each month at www.theseniorvoice.net. ■

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High Drug CostsThe high cost of cancer drugs in the U.S.—but not in some other countries—keeps many Ameri-can cancer patients from getting them, said a report in the journal “Blood” by researchers at the University of Texas.

A drug for chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) costs over $100,000 a year. The survival rate for CML in the U.S. is a little over 50 percent. In Sweden the surviv-al rate is 80 percent; the drug is much cheaper in Sweden.

Eleven of 12 cancer drugs ap-proved by the FDA in 2012 also cost over $100,000 a year in the U.S., said researchers.

“In many cases, it makes sense to let the market govern the price; however when a product is direct-ly related to a patient’s survival over a period of years, it is critical to set a price that allows compa-nies to profit and ensures that pa-

tients can afford their treatment,” said Dr. Hagop Kantarjian at the university.”

Cancer care in much of Europe is nearly half the cost of what it is in the U.S. We spend about 18 percent of our Gross Domestic Product on it. Many European countries spend less than 10 per-cent.

For the study, 120 specialists in over 15 countries joined together to point out what high drug prices are doing.

“Patients with CML have a much better outlook today than ever before thanks to advances that have greatly improved sur-vival rates,” said Kantarjian. “But these patients now face dire finan-cial struggles as they try to main-tain their treatment regimen with the drastically inflating cost of care.” ■

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Macular Degenerationor other vision limiting condition?

Just because you have macular degeneration or other eye diseases like diabetic retinopathy doesn’t mean you must give up life’s pleasures like reading, watching your grandchildren across the room, or seeing signs at a distance.“People don’t know that there are doctors who are very experienced in low vision care,” says Dr. Robert Stamm, a low vision optometrist.“Our job is to figure out everything and anything possible to keep a person functioning visually,” says Dr. Stamm.

Carl Muller, a low vision patient (pictured above), says “I am so excited with these new glasses - I can’t wait to use them on an upcoming Alaska Trip.

“Thank you Dr. Stamm so much for helping me see again. Without you and these glasses

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I can even read the small bible size print.” Call for a low vision refraction and consultation with Dr. Stamm to see if you are a candidate for a low vision examination.

Cutting Medicare Costs Three of the main strategies Congress is considering to reduce Medicare spending could leave mil-lions of Medicare participants with no coverage, said researchers at the non-profit Rand Corporation. The strategies include: The “premium support” plan supported by Rep. Paul Ryan. It would give Medicare participants money to buy their own private in-surance plans instead of using the present Medicare system.

Raising the eligibility age to 67, which has been considered for years. Means testing Part A (hospital coverage) by making wealthy par-ticipants pay higher premiums. Each of these strategies would reduce Medicare spending. Pre-mium support would reduce it the most. But it is also the most like-ly to cause financial hardships for participants, said researchers. The other strategies would discourage Medicare enrollment. ■

Hospital Bills Many people do not know they can reduce high hospital bills by asking about patient assistance pro-grams that most non-profit hospi-tals are required to provide, accord-ing to ABC News. The savings can be large, as Las Vegas resident Joyce Huston dis-covered. Her hospital reduced her $25,000 bill to $7,000 after she learned about the hospital’s finan-cial assistance program and applied

for it. The American Hospital Associa-tion says hospitals are supposed to publicize such programs, but many do not. Patients usually have to ask, be persistent, and keep good notes on services they receive. You can also contact an indepen-dent medical cost advocate. That’s someone who understands hospital billing codes and, for a fee, can often find errors that reduce your bill. ■

What Privacy Rights? How much do data collectors know about you? A lot. What do they do with the information? Sell it. They know if you’re pregnant, divorced, trying to lose weight, rich or poor, what car you drive, occupation, if you’re buying a home, —the list goes on. And it’s pretty scary, said University of California researchers. The state department of motor vehicles sells information about you. So does the voter registration office and numerous other government agencies you might think are supposed to protect your privacy. Credit agencies are especially notorious for collecting and selling information, said researchers. Experian, for instance, knows the names of expectant parents, when their babies are born, your pay stub infor-mation—whatever a marketing company wants to pay for. “I can tell you with confidence that I can predict who you are with-out you telling me anything at all, just from your Facebook ‘likes,’” said researcher Michal Kosinski at Psychometrics Center at the Uni-versity of Cambridge in England. He says clicking “like” on Facebook can leave a highly personal record for data collectors, including your medical history, sexual pref-erences, drug use, religion, and much more. “The biggest problem for consumers is that they don’t know when they click to think three or four steps ahead about how that information could potentially be used,” said Lillie Coney with Electronic Privacy Information, a public interest research group in Washington, D.C. “Somebody will pay to use this data,” she added. “And unfortu-nately nobody is sending you notice that somebody is using the infor-mation.” ■


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