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I was shocked that Medicare did not cover the cost of the room. $400 a day. How can people afford that?

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In my experience, Hospice was free. The facility a person uses while under Hospice is not. Often they are home. IF they are in a NH, or ALF, whatever, they still have to pay the cost of the facility.
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$400 a day? Yikes! What kind of facility was this?
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Jeanne, nursing homes in the Northeast typically cost 12k or so a month, at least. That's 400$ per day.
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Same here, Barb. My Mom's long-term-care was $12k per month.
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A hospice house. We are unable to bring him home because we also have our 94 year old mother in law with us and she is not handling this well.
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My mom was admitted to the hospital as an emergency and transferred to the hospice on another floor for 6 days until her passing (in NY). Medicare did cover it this so maybe it depends on where.
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In my case, where my husband was the patient, they accepted the full amount of his Social Security check, which was sent directly to the nursing home. They accepted it "Medicaid Pending," meaning that if the Social Security check did not go to them, they would use his Social Security. I think they also used his S.S. until Medicaid did kick in. I used this method because a nurse on our hospice team had done that for her mother. The nursing home staff showed me how to do it. Since my income was a little higher than my husband's, i was able to manage. Those were difficult days. Best wishes to you.
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I was so angry at nursing homes failures when Mom was in for rehab stints and the audacity to charge these prices when they let people lie there with soiled briefs getting bedsores and feeding them hot dogs in what were rated 5 star facilities by Medicare, that I took my Mom home for 7 months on hospice. The hospice part is paid by
Medicare but the room is not. The nursing home system in this country is broken. One can tell something is wrong when you would be better off booking a cruise ship cabin with a nurse to care for you.
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My Mum was moved to a hospice facility and Medicare covered it. Our healthcare system is broken!
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Hospice Care is not the same as nursing home care. And it also depends on if the hospice unit is located inside a hospital. If it is located inside a hospital, then Medicare parts A and B would cover the cost. But if it is a private facility, then regular Insurance rules don't apply. Private facilities are not obligated to accept any type of insurance. They can be strictly private pay.
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My dad was transferred by the VA Hospital in Houston to Houston Hospice. I was told that Medicare would pay for everything and I never even saw a bill. I don’t understand why it was that way and you are having to pay. Can someone explain? My heart goes out for you in this difficult time. I could not bring my father to my house because I have a son with autism and could not care for both in the same place.
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Just saw this message after having a nice talk with my sister in law about hospice care for her husband. They live in North Carolina and her husband received hospice care at home all paid for by Medicare. It makes me wonder: Does it make a difference where one lives? Rules are different in different states, I suppose.
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Katie22 - I'll have to remember the cruise idea! Sounds like a great alternative.
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@Katie22 this us exactly what happened with my mother! Thank goodness she was paralyzed from the waist down, so she couldn't feel the bedsore that was so bad you could see her bone :( they never took care of her, they didn't turn her, and we didn't understand the problem with the broken hospice system until it was too late.
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Like others have said, in-home hospice care is covered by Medicare 100% (including some meds, like heart meds). A facility stay is not. Medicare will cover 5-day respite care stay in a nursing home while someone is receiving in-home hospice care, but that is it.
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I guess my mother is getting a "bargain" at $210 a day nursing care, which is $6300 for a 31-day month (in the Cincinnati area). I understand they are even less in some of the Gulf/south central states. I grew up in the NYC area (NE NJ), so I'm certain they're a lot more expensive there, as BarbBrooklyn and others have mentioned. When my father had hospice care, this was in the nursing home, too, and I'm not aware of additional charges but my sister handles the paperwork. I wasn't even aware he was on hospice until I asked about the fancy blue mattress he was on.
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Hospice services are covered by Medicare, room and board is not. If a person qualifies for Medicaid, then Medicaid pays for room and board. Here, in Massachusetts, nursing homes cost over $500 per day.......for half of a room. The people who work in the nursing home where my mom resides work very hard to provide good care, but I don't understand why it costs so much per day. Helping my parents in their end of life journey has certainly been eye-opening.
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I'm in Cincinnati, my mom is in hospice at home, I believe it is a combination of Medicare and her other insurance. They assured me it is not Medicaid.
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Hospice is normally covered by Medicare and most private insurance..
I don't know how hospice houses work. Some hospices have a contract with a local hospital or nursing home when the patient recieves care at little or no cost. Without a hospice contract the NH costs for room and board remain the responsibility of the patient if the don't have LTC or Medicaid. It is quite complicated and varies from Sate to State and hospice to hospice so lots of questions need to be asked.
Hospice admits patients to their program with a certain disease that is likely to involve their death within six months. For the admitting disease all costs are covered but any treatments for co existing diseases remains the patient's responsibility either through their insurance or self pay. Hospice bills patients on a sliding scale depending on income.
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My two sisters and I were blessed to be able to honor our Daddy’s wishes and not place Mom in a rest home. With the help of a daytime caretaker, and each of us splitting up and spending the nights, she stayed in her home for 3 1/2 years after our Daddy passed. It wasn’t easy. She had dementia, which continued to worsen, barely ate (only pancakes and some chocolate candy), and rarely left the house except for Dr’s appointments. Hospice was called in for two months prior to her passing (which was covered by Medicare)...she had become bed ridden. She probably didn’t weigh 65 lbs when she passed from refusing to eat. Her kidneys failed. She continued to drink Sprite until the day she passed. Calories from wherever we could get them right?   We had previously met with an Elder Lawyer in fear of having to place her in a rest home. We were advised to purchase 1% of the home to keep anyone from taking it should she have to be placed in a facility. That can be done anytime prior to the owner being admitted to a rest home. We were then told that the rest home average was $6000 a month, and they would take all funds until Mom had a balance of $2000 or less. Then Medicare would pick up the expenses. However, Mom could never have more than $2000 to her name. I’m glad we were blessed and never had to place her in a home. We all three work and have our own families. It wasn’t easy but I’m glad we were a rare case that were able to honor Daddy’s wishes.
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I want to reassure everyone that not every skilled nursing facility (nursing home) or Assisted Living Facility lets their patients lie in their own waste and get bedsores. Before moving your loved one to a "home", be sure to check out their ratings on Medicare.gov. If they don't get at least a 4-star rating, don't send your family member there! They get "surveyed" every year, that means a several days long inspection by a team of nurses who nitpick every aspect of the facility, and you can find out the details of what is good and/or bad about a facility by checking them out on the Medicare site.

Medicare does not pay for AL or nursing home (LTC) EXCEPT if the patient is transferred over from a hospital INPATIENT stay (check Medicare for details) and even then they only pay for a certain number of days, not for months or years. Medicare is for hospitals, treatments, doctors, etc., NOT for long term care.

I am just amazed at how many people never think about something like this and then are shocked and surprised to find out how expensive it is, and how much the quality of care in a nursing home/assisted living can vary. Do your homework folks, before you need it. Please.
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Just went through this back in Sept.- Oct. Medicare doesn't pay for housing with two exceptions. The most common is the up to 5 day respite. The other is medical need. An example would be if pain management couldn't be done in the home. I was lucky, and kept hubby home for all but the 5 day break, and the last 36 hours of life. Also we are lucky enough to have a facility that is hospice only. Great care but only $200 a day, unlike nursing homes who charge a lot more. Of course even $200 a day would have been out of our budget, but at least it was there if I would have needed it for extra down time.
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I feel you pain and I agree that the healthcare system is beyond broken. I kept mom home, even through Hospice. Mom was on Medicaid, however, Medicare covered the cost of Hospice. They also said if I wanted to move her to like the House of John, I could and that would be covered as well.
It is beyond words how this system can't even pay for the cost of dying with dignity in some states. I will keep you and yours in my prayers.
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Wow.
Hospice is covered by my parent's insurance...about $4K/month (total rip-off though).
Already living in an AL facility. He didn't have to be moved anywhere...
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With my husband, he is in a Memory Care Unit and we pay $2500. a month...He is also on Hospice and that is billed to Medicare...I believe there are some prescriptions that might be self pay.....
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If there is a hospital admit for over 3 days then rehab is covered by Medicare I was told here in Tx. 20 days free then secondary picks up till , not sure, 100days?. My Dad is on hospice at home. Heart dx. Now he does not see his speciality dr's . Poking all time. Labs all time. He is non-compliant big time anyway. Rude to me, daughter 49 an caregiver an DPOA &MEDPOA, an my Mom. So its not worth all the anger an resentment so he said he just wants to die at home. Iv been caregiver 5 yrs with my own 2 sons an husband. So Hospice pays all meds except Insulin since it has nothing to do with heart. All equipment. Bath aid 3x awk. Nurse 3x awk. An a Dr on call all time. Now if we choose to go by Ambulance to hospital an any testing done, even Cat scan he is dischargedfr hospice until back home then readmit onto hospice. He was in hospital r days back beginning of Dec 2017 then to rehab. Medicare pd 20 days then secondary plan F, picked up. But I had axked facility Dr to discharge day 25 due to negligence an I had to call Ambulance cause they were not giving scheduled meds an thought he was either fixing to have or had had heart attack! I was pissed! Im in med field an could tell people there not taken care of. So went home an on hospice.
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In the case of my MIL it was covered. It was a hospital facility and she was there about 3 weeks. And the previous month at home and that was covered. Interesting to read the different accounts.
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Our Hospice is generally in our own homes and usually free to us.
This is one reason we keep our LO's home.
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It is my understanding that if one is hospitalized for 5 days, then medicare should cover the first 90 days in a care facility. Anyone want to comment on this? This is what I have been reading. AND this is provided the facility takes medicare/medicaid patients. Again, there are places that are totally private pay.
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inhospital hospice has to be contracted with Medicare for them to pay; make sure, dad's docs thought his had it till we got to that floor, only to be informed it wasn't, he would have to either be transferred to one that did or sent home
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