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In reply to the discussion: Trump Is Humiliated and More Dangerous Than Ever, William Rivers Pitt [View all]DFW
(54,349 posts)Since he was pretty advanced by the time it showed (in the form of jaundice), he wasn't expected to last three months. Luckily, he was pain-free, but since he was jogging and beating guys 20 years younger at tennis less than a year before he died, it still came as quite a shock.
The pain-free part was important, as it left him lucid to the end. He was diagnosed in January of 2000, died in late November of that year. In July, while he was receiving a desperate effort at chemotherapy, there was a money-saving bill suggested in Congress to reduce the amount covered by Medicare for outpatient day visits from 95% to 85%. As someone who would be directly affected, he arranged, with some of the last of his waning strength, a conference call between Sen. Moynihan of NY, the Clinton White House and himself at home, telling Moynihan and Clinton's staff that if they pushed this bill though, it would just force people who would normally be out-patients to check in to the hospital overnight to get the higher coverage, and thus be a huge economic drain with no reason. Both Moynihan and the White House immediately realized he was right, and scrubbed the bill.
It didn't save him, of course, but I'll bet a couple of million Medicare outpatients benefited from his action.