Going nuts trying to find a definition for "prouty". It is used in the Medicare Manual in a list of descriptions of different types of Medicare beneficiaries. There are two uses: "prouty wife" and "primary prouty wife". Forget asking Medicare, I deal with these people every day and you might as well ask a fire hydrant. The OED and every other dictionary I can access, both on line and hard copy, has no entry for "prouty". Boy, has this one got my curiosity up! What kind of wife is a "prouty" wife???? Anybody???

syringe

looks to me like it simply means "over the age of 72".

http://info.dhhs.state.nc.us/olm/manuals/dma/abd/man/MA2250-07.htm reads, in part:

"R. Prouty (Special Age 72) Benefits
Definition - Special benefits paid by SSA to persons age 72 or over who have not worked under the Social Security system. The payments are minimal. Persons now receiving SSI are ineligible for these benefits. Some long term care recipients elect to have Prouty instead of SSI as they can receive a larger benefit."

hope this helps a bit

Looks like what might be refered to is the Prouty amendment to a Social Security act of 1966. To qualify for Prouty benefits you seem to have to have turned 72 by 1972 if male and by 1970 if female. I couldn't get any firm information on this but I googled "prouty" "prouty benefits" and "prouty-amendment" and got some stuff. Cf. http://www.ssa.gov/policy/reference/glossary/term/S/specialage72benefit.htm

Wow, thanks! It comes from a peraon's name, so that's why it hasn't made it into any "real" dictionary. This was driving me nuts! Muchas gracias and arigato.

syringe

Wow, thanks. Since it comes from a person's name, it hasn't made it into the dictionary yet, and judging from it's arcane etiology, probably never will. This has been bothering me for the ten years I've been in the medical business. Whiew!

syringe