Medicare for All 96” x 96” Cyanotype photograms of crushed prescription medication, printed on medical statements, mounted on foam core board 2021
Among a lifetime of possessions found in my parents' house after their passing was what seemed like a lifetime of prescription medication. My parents very much wanted to die at home, so we chose hospice care for both. Hospice shifts end-of-life focus from treatment of the illness to patient comfort. Expenses are entirely covered by Medicare. In addition to a raised toilet seat, wheeled-walker with a built-in seat to rest as you walk from the bathroom to the recliner, and medical-grade bed with rails, patients who choose hospice are prescribed all the pain-reliving medication they desire. When my parents died ten weeks apart, our family was suddenly without the structure their marriage of fifty years had provided. I turned to abstraction to process my grief, making cyanotype photograms from the prescription medications that outlived them.
Growing up, one of my greatest privileges was that, because of my father’s employer, we had essentially no healthcare costs. When they were retired, they had Medicare with some kind of very affordable secondary insurance. Once again, even after surgeries, procedures, week-long hospital visits, ambulance transports, medication, two nursing home visits, and an abundance of medical gear, my siblings and I were left with no medical expenses. Why isn’t this the case for everyone?
