Through the cracks with Medicare


My recent personal experiences
Just got off the phone with my mother. She went to pick up my stepfather today.

My stepfather's exact medical condition isn't important, but this is the second time in a decade that he has had to go to a rehab facility for physical, speech, and occupational therapy. You may not know what occupational therapy is, it teaches the patient to eat, dress, groom, and do the ordinary everyday things it takes to get through ordinary life.

Anyway, he has just finished the 21 days of intense rehab that Medicare pays for, and that included a few days in a hospital that wasn't really equipped for therapy.

Last time under the old rules, he was eligible for 60 days of intense rehab in addition to his hospital stays.

Arguably his medical condition is worse now.

What is worse is that their insurance changed to comply with the new law. My parents lost benefits that they had paid for, and there is no way to replace those benefits.

Dad's condition isn't directly life-threatening. He makes just a smidge too much in retirement to qualify for coverage under the state's medical plan. He's in-between, too sick to be left alone, not sick enough to be critical, no real hope of recovery, and no real way to pay for long term care using his retirement benefits.

Since long term care and rehab facilities have been insulated from market demands, there's a shortage of facilities and there aren't any lower cost alternatives. What's more, the changes in the Medicare regs mean that private insurance companies are no longer liable for long term care.

In other words, "good intentions" took benefits away from people like my step-father.

If you are not critically ill and dying fast, you are screwed under the existing system.

Government is not your friend.

— NeoWayland

Posted: Thu - May 25, 2006 at 06:06 PM  Tag


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