Medicare News

[mpb]

This was on the news Jan. 9.

http://www.nbcnews.com/video/nightly-news/54026469/#54026469

[El Saltos]

Doesn't play. What did it say?

[mpb]

Basically it says do not let the hospital admit you with the words, "Under Observation." Insist on "In-Patient" designation. Otherwise, you will be responsible for the hospital expenses. It might be wise to inform family members too.

[SunshineyDay]

click to the right of the sound horn. It worked for me.

[phxfunguy]

Doesn't play. What did it say?

Try opening it in another browser such as Chrome or Firefox. Or check the level of security on your settings.

It's about Medicare assigning some patients upon hospital admission to being "under observation" instead of being "admitted," thus rendering further rehab or other treatments uncoverable. The patient in the interview was in the hospital for 3 days with a broken leg from a fall and now Medicare refuses to pay for her expensive rehab ($28,000) because of these semantics.

[El Saltos]

Since we don't have Medicare here it's of no importance to me.

[Xena]

I am curious. If Medicare news is of no importance to a person why would he open and read a post titled "Medicare News" and then take the time to write a comment saying it is of no importance to him?

[Fred Habacht]

Because he wants all of us to know that he does not care......

[Wookie]

Also note, it is not Medicare specifically that determines the "two words" ... it is your doctor and hospital. If we ever are hospitalized in the States we will make sure to have a discussion with our admitting doctor about this ... my Mom got caught up in this several years ago and the hospital changed her status and re-submitted.

[Joco]

I am curious. If Medicare news is of no importance to a person why would he open and read a post titled "Medicare News" and then take the time to write a comment saying it is of no importance to him?

I started to look at the link but decided to read other posts first. My first thought was someone was playing the game again of Medicare paying for treatment in Mexico. That is why I decided to read the other posts first.

Medicare does not pay in Mexico, so yes, why would it interest us? If we are so sick or injured that we must go back the the U.S. for treatment I doubt we will be admitted "under observation."

[Xena]

Just off the top of my head I can think of several reasons why Medicare News might interest us:

People travel in the States and become ill or have an accident there.

Some people live part time here and part time NOB.

Some people may be thinking about returning to live NOB "someday" or even have a time frame.

Some people actually care about things that do not directly affect them but do affect relatives and friends so they read such things and pass on the info.

[Wookie]

Agreed, Xena.

[nana]

They probably put her in that category to get more money from the system. Or could it be that the administrators want to smear the way the government does business? Was this practice ever done before Obama’s arrival?

Something I don't understand though. She broke her leg and does not seem to be in a cast, walking around with a walker, which she could do at home just as well with a nurse to visit if necessary. I wonder who decided to have her stay in the hospital for a broken leg, knowing how much all of this cost?

I find this totally abusive on the part of the hospital. THEY should not get paid for such an abuse.

[Wookie]

Well, in my Mom's case ... this happened to her before Obama. Another thing that was very aggrevating with Medicare was that the doctor would only see Mom for one thing at a time. As we all know many times as we age we have more than one thing going on physically which was the case with her. One time when I went up to the States to accompany her to a doctor's visit, we wound up having to go 3 times in one week to the same g.p. because of this rule which was extremely hard on an 80 year old sick person. This was also before Obama.

[traderspoc]

great article thank you for posting

its shows one of your biggest expenses when you are older is doctors and hospital.

get private insurance is the answer

I opted out of Medicare I and my wife save over $2400 a year by opting out.

and buy private insurance here in Mexico

than you for posting this link,

it validates are decision to opt out of Medicare.

its about time Medicare makes sure the right diagnosis is made

also 28,000 expense in US equals about 5200 expense here in Mexico

and the physical therapist will come to your house.

[Joco]

You dropped Medicare Part B but you still have Medicare Part A which is hospitalization.

You are not charged for Medicare Part A. You cannot use any part of Medicare out of the U.S. anyway so having private insurance in Mexico makes sense. That same private insurance in the U.S. would probably be unaffordable.

[Mainecoons]

You never know. On one trip to the U.S., my spouse had a heart attack and needed serious, expensive treatment. A couple years later, we are there again and I had acute appendicitis with no warning and needed an operation. We both paid into Medicare for years and feel it is worth it to keep up coverage even as we get our routine medical care here with very good results.

Thanks to the OP for the information, this is good to know. I think all of us old folks need to recognize that the system is less and less able to carry us without changes. Unfortunately, the baby boom is going to descend on Medicare and there will simply not be enough money to go around. We both counted ourselves very lucky to have it when these medical emergencies happened while we were there.

I believe we are the luckiest retiree generation ever and should not take that for granted. Things are changing. All we can do is try and stay as healthy as possible and have a good back up plan in place.

[freshjuice23]

Yes! We are so far the "luckiest older generation", but future generations will better off regardless of what the naysayers say abouut the future of the USA, About taxes, Obahacare and what they else they complain about......Medicare will be here as will Obahacare Taxes spend correctly are the back bone of a great society...

Look at the roads in Mexico compared to the USA for an example.....UGH1

.

[Mainecoons]

Good luck with all that, history suggests otherwise. Medicare is only a few years from going into the red, just where will the money come from to cover that?

You might find this interesting reading.

http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2013/03/medicares-demographic-challenge-and-the-urgent-need-for-reform

The sheer number of beneficiaries is projected to grow from 50.7 million in 2012 to 81 million in 2030. This will create an unprecedented demand for technologically advancing medical services in the 21st century. Current taxpayers already pay almost nine out of every 10 dollars in total Medicare costs in any given year, and general revenues will account for an increasingly larger share of Medicare spending. In other words, current and future taxpayers are being saddled with enormous obligations.

While you might argue with the source about how this can be addressed, the demographic data are rock solid and from the government itself. This is only logical after watching the impact of the baby boom generation on everything from diapers to schools, to housing and now to retirement and medicare. In addition people continue to live longer which adds to the total costs.

The source document also reminds us that rather big changes are already in progress with Medicare, starting with a 716 million dollar funding cut and a bunch of new and more restrictive rules. While this may affect us personally, it is better in my opinion for the inevitable demographic problem to be addressed early than not at all.

As for "Obahacare" I would be careful about making any predictions of survival there. That is, if the postponements of it ever cease and it actually is fully implemented. The enrollments of young people needed to make it work financially are well below projections and in addition, the data show a marked drop in weekly enrollments when comparing December to January. It has yet to cover all the people who lost their existing insurance as a result of "Obahacare."

And let us know when you find some place where they spend taxes "correctly."

[gringal]

The real question is: why are medical costs in the United States the highest in the world, while the level of care received is rated around #28 in the same world? Why aren't they getting gold, silver or bronze in that department?

Throwing money at the problem isn't the answer, and allowing the system to go broke isn't, either.

I have no idea how the Affordable Care Act will be affecting this. The young, often underpaid, workers don't want to opt in because most of their budgets are stretched (and they think they'll never be sick). The old may be over-using the system. Add this to the laws being so restrictive that hospitals take away a patient's right to die naturally if he or she chooses to do so, and this results in huge bills for keeping the dying from doing so with dignity. This even happens when their wishes are in writing, with witnesses.

There are some fairly bright people working in the government who could be earning their keep if they got more serious about all this. So far, all they do is wring their hands and fight about it.

Caveat: No matter what you choose to do about Medicare Part B: for the sake of your family and friends, get SOMETHING to cover your illnesses. Don't be the kind of irresponsible person who counts on your friends and neighbors to set up fundraisers to pay for your care. If you can't afford top level private insurance, sign up with SP or IMSS. Not as nice as a private hospital, but better than nothing.

[geeser]

Seems we constantly hear about how Social Security is going to run out of money. How come we never hear about welfare running out of money? Since the first group "worked for" their money, but the second didn't, why would that be?.

[Joco]

Seems we constantly hear about how Social Security is going to run out of money. How come we never hear about welfare running out of money? Since the first group "worked for" their money, but the second didn't, why would that be?.

What do you mean by welfare? Social Security Supplemental Income is federal welfare and many working poor collect it instead of regular Social Security because they didn't pay in enough to get over the threshold so that they can afford to pay for Medicare Part B. Some states have welfare benefits but they are extremely low. Texas did pay $124 a month for a family of 4. It could be higher now like up to $130.

Clinton signed the legislation that ended permanent federal welfare. Welfare recipients must get a job or be in school and they are weened off it by lowering payments the more income they earn.

The majority of people who collect regular Social Security retirement benefits will collect more than they ever paid in and what they paid in was at the time being paid to the people already collecting retirement.

You never had your own account. We who are receiving SS benefits now are being paid those benefits by the people who are working and paying into SS.

I'm sure they will have a means test and those who are millionaires and do not need SS will not be paid SS. Before everyone jumps on that as unfair, we all paid for schools, roads, hospitals, unemployment insurance, etc., that we never used. Whether you use it or not is not the reason people are required to pay into it. I doubt people who are worth millions will care if they receive SS or that they paid into SS.