Old and In The Way

Perlin believes some of this might be a hangover from the Reagan-Bush era, when "HCFA was given specific instructions not to do anything, so everything was dragging."

The heralded arrival of Richard Ladd as chairman of the Department of Health and Human Services hasn't helped.

"The question to Mr. Ladd should be, if these people can't get in a nursing home, where are they going to go?"

Perlin thinks the bean counters have taken over and forgotten about the real lives affected by income caps and eligibility requirements.

"So she's $31 under the cap. The other guy is $44. Another guy is $20 over the cap. Another guy might be $100 over the cap. The point is, if a person is over the cap, what are they supposed to do? We have to talk about people.

"If you're going to talk about 'human services,' then let's talk about people and let's talk about humanity. Let's not talk about damn money all the time. It's bullshit.