Is There Any Recourse for Hefty Observation Status Bills?
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Q. In the past, you answered questions about hospitalized people who were too sick to go home but not sick enough to be admitted. Many of them were in the hospital for a week, thinking it would be covered by Medicare. They were surprised when they received a huge bill from the hospital and an even larger bill from the nursing home for the rehabilitation care afterwards.
A similar situation happened to my aunt, who was hospitalized for a urinary tract infection. My uncle was told that Medicare isn’t paying for her stay because the hospital had her in “observation status” rather than “inpatient status” during the week, and that Medicare doesn’t pay for “observation status” in the hospital.
My uncle received a bill for $3,000 for the hospital stay and $8,000 for rehabilitation in the nursing home afterwards. This is far more than they can afford, being on a fixed income.
Is there any recourse for those in my uncle and aunt’s situation?
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Critter Corner: Are We Nearing the End of Medicare’s Three-Day Rule?
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I recently saw a tweet from Seema Verma, the Administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). She made it sound like an end is in sight for Medicare’s Three-Day Rule. Do you know if this is true?
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Certified Elder Law Attorney and Medicaid Asset Protection Expert, Evan H. Farr, CELA, has written four best-selling books in the field of elder law. For more information and to order, click here.
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