Even if some people marvel at my ability to compartmentalize my life and to appear well put-together despite my own difficulties and problems, the truth remains that being a person who is exceptionally sensitive to my surroundings and to whom every single incident or observation can spark deep reflection and feed the fires of my intellect and imagination means that no such compartments as I might wish to devise to protect myself from the repercussions and consequences of who I am are entirely airtight. The following musing is related to some of the experiences I have seen, and which have troubled me, in that there is a group of senior citizens who have fallen into a loophole that prevents them from gaining health insurance even as they feel obligated to get it.

Some explanation is necessary. As someone who is not by any means an expert in either immigration law or the workings of the federal government, I give the following observations based on my understanding, as best as I can express it. At least based from my own experience and understanding and that conveyed to me by others, those senior citizens who live in other countries are neither available for the senior benefits (like Medicare) either in the United States or the countries where they now reside or came from. If a senior citizen is an expatriate in Southeast Asia but still keeps a permanent address in the United States, as I understand it they would not be eligible for Medicare but would still be required to have health insurance. Likewise, if someone is an elderly expatriate from another country, they would be required to have health insurance as a legal resident of the United States but would not be eligible for Medicare here if they had not worked enough to gain enough “credits” to receive Medicare. Additionally, as I understand it the health insurance that could be obtained in foreign countries might not meet the ‘minimum standards’ of the Affordable Care Act to qualify as the mandated insurance while those who sought to retire in the United States from other countries would be unable to purchase commercially available individual insurance over the age of 65 as well. To put it rather mildly, this is a very difficult and undesirable situation to be in.

It is my characteristic solution to problems, one that I have sought since childhood, to make covenants to deal with the mutual concerns and difficulties that I have with other people. When I have a problem with others, or their conduct, and they have a problem with mine, it is my instinct to seek an open and honest and transparent discussion with the other parties involved that allows for a mutually beneficial and sustainable solution on all sides. This is not an easy solution to find, but it represents at least the sort of honorable ideal I have about solving such difficulties. It would appear that the best way to resolve this sort of problem would be to engage in either bilateral treaties or to utilize existing supranational institutions to deal with these concerns, to make sure that the elderly were able to receive proper care, or to craft our laws in such a way as to ensure that there are no cracks that punish senior citizens who are seeking to do what is right in seeking to enjoy a peaceful sunset to their long lives.

While for various personal reasons I would wish that families and institutions and local communities would be able to and have the resources and will to take care of their own elderly, as part of a way of showing honor and respect to those who came before us and who have lived their lives in service and who deserve to be looked out for and taken care of as their capabilities and energies are diminished, I am also a fairly grim realistic as well. Our governments, for a variety of reasons and motivations, have sought to take upon themselves the task of taking care of the elderly who were falling through the cracks. If it is necessary to amend one’s laws, or to make honorable treaties with other nations, to ensure that this task is fulfilled, it seems a straightforward matter to do so, if we have the fill to fulfill our obligations as best as we are able.