Click here to subscribe today or Login.
An open letter to the members of the U.S. Congress:
Three years ago my wife sustained a severe brain injury.
While out for her morning walk, she was struck by an inattentive driver. As the car veered off the road it hit a tree, spun around and struck my wife in the head as she walked on the sidewalk. Her brain injury and her physical condition require her to be a patient in a skilled-nursing facility.
Because my wife and I were hard working middle-class people, who planned for the future, she does not qualify for any medical assistance.
Also, please note, we received very little compensation from the driver who hit her. That driver only was insured for the state’s minimum coverage. Also, the driver has no assets. Thus, no recourse on the driver was possible.
My wife is presently in a highly qualified nursing facility and receives wonderful care. However, this care is expensive. A hundred percent of after tax pension, 100 percent of her after tax Social Security, and a large amount of our savings go to pay the thousands of dollars per month for her medical care.
The only saving grace, at this time, is that much of these costs are deductible on federal income taxes. This tax deduction and subsequent refund goes directly for her care. If the medical deduction is eliminated, as called for in the current Republican tax bill, it will create a tremendous hardship for my family and others in a similar situation.
I respectfully ask you to vote no on the tax bill in its present form. Please save our medical deductions.
It’s a life or death situation.
Gary Zavacki
Exeter