Has the Affordable Care Act reduced coverage for elderly over a certain age?

I had a very active neighbor, 82, who fell and hit his head on the concrete. He ended up with a brain bleed. He was told that since he was over 76, he could only be given comfort care, so they did nothing to stop the bleed. Two weeks later he died. So very, very sad for a very active man, who should not have died. His wife is now going down hill, physically and mentally, since his death. To think it could have been avoided, makes me sick!

And I do believe we will see more and more and more of this kind of lack of treatment for elderly. And tremendous expense out-of-pocket. Please do not sign any form for care without careful review!

Blannie: Thank you for the suggestion. We actually spoke to all the nurses that assisted my Mom while she was hospitalized and asked them who they would say would be a good general practioner, much to our chagrin they told us that since they have instituted "hospitalists" which are the doctors that see you when hospitalized so your own doctor doesn't have to..... they no longer see these general practioners, because they can no longer come into the hospital to see their own patients!!! They did tell us which "Hospitalists" from which HMO were the best to use while in hospital but we need the doctor you can run see for a cold or earache and that is willing to listen to the gerontologist Mom see's.

I do love you idea about using the PPO book. I wish California did not have HMO's they are a pain in the bo hind! They mess us up even when we do not belong to them!

BREN34748 - I believe that that is what you were told, but I don't believe that that story is true, not in the details.

My father had cancer and an aortic aneurysm. The aneurysm needed to be fixed first, and that surgery could have killed him. My father chose no treatment, rather than risk the aneurysm.

The doctor may have decided that your neighbor was too frail for surgery. I won't believe that the reason was his age, or that that was the only reason.

I know that there are NO laws that would allow such discrimination. It's possible some arrogant doctor might have decided that, but that's the fault of one doctor, not the ACA.

It's awkward, because I won't believe it without proof, and this is an anonymous website, so you can't really give me proof. We'll have to agree to disagree.

I agree with Jinx, there may have been more to it than what you were actually told. Perhaps he had some type of DNR order and the family decided to let him go and maybe the wife is too distraught to remember that??? My brother in law was very young (40's) but he had an illness that was taking a toll on him, he developed pneumonia and was hospitalized and I do not know all the details but my sister deferred to his mother and sister's wishes and they told the doctor to let him go.

If anyone knows anything about what BREN was referring to and knows it to be enacted in our healthcare system now, I would really like to know about it.

From the Wall Street Journal (owned by Rupert Murdoch, a Conservative with a Capital "C") October 28, 2013: The headline of the article is, "Those Over 65 Need Not Fear the Affordable Care Act". The subhead is: ALICIA MUNNELL: The Affordable Care Act will have no impact on those 65 and over as they have Medicare. For people younger than 65, it will allow those who no longer have employer-provided coverage to buy affordable health care to tide them over until they, too, are eligible for Medicare.

Alicia Munnell is the director of the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, where she also serves as the Peter F. Drucker Professor of Management Sciences at the Carroll School of Management.

From AARP's Factsheet about the ACA:The law strengthens Medicare by including more preventive benefits, lowering the price of prescription drugs in the Part D doughnut hole, and fighting waste and fraud.
Medicare is strengthened

Your guaranteed benefits are protected. You earned your Medicare over a lifetime of work. The health care law protects your guaranteed benefits so you can always get the care you need when you need it.

You get more from your Medicare

The health care law lowers prescription drug costs. If you have Medicare Part D, and you reach the coverage gap or “doughnut hole” in 2013, you will get more than a 50 percent discount on brand-name prescription drugs and more than a 20 percent discount on generic drugs while you are in the coverage gap. The discounts will continue to grow until 2020, when the gap will be a thing of the past.
More preventive care is covered. Medicare now covers yearly wellness visits and more preventive care. This includes cancer, cholesterol and diabetes screenings, immunizations, diet counseling and more.
The health care law fights fraud, scams and waste that take money from the Medicare program. The law strengthens Medicare by adding more resources to catch those who fraudulently bill Medicare.

Updated August 2013

I just turned 65 last week and went early in the month to a dermatologist and discovered a melanoma on my arm. I am in aarp medicare advantage and find it great. this is the 1st illness I have ever had, on no meds, eat healthy, but melanoma is heridatary, did not luck out here! dermatologist was $35, hospital yesterday was $250. I had an agressive melanoma cancer so they did inject nuclear dye into it to check the sentinal lymph nodes. they operated both the removal (by a plastic surgeon) of the melanoma and another surgeon found 1 sentinal node showed the cancer and removedd that. I am blessed it only go that far. someone earlier stated that the advantage plans replace regular medicare-this is not true, it does all the paperwork, for medicare. itis still the same, medicare pays it part and my advantage supplemental(which is free) pays the rest. My mother has been on this type of plan for as long as they have existed. 2 yrs ago, (she is now 95), she discovered a large golf size lump in her breast and it was cancer. they had to remove her left breast and all she paid for everything was $1,000. she is also very healthy, and this is still cheaper than paying for one of their other supplemental plans. No One over 60 should go to a dr or hospital without another person who can help make decisions.

to add to my above reply, I am sure I will get billed for some other hospital or dr expenses, but still do not think it will be much.

BREN34748, I agree with Jinx. I think you are being honest, but that what you were told was not the entire picture. The survival rate for brain bleeds is not good, from everything I have read. There are factors that make it less likely to be treatable, such as age and the amount of the bleeding and where the bleeding is. The doctors have to look at all information available to them and decide on the best course of action. I am sincerely sorry that your active friend died from hitting his head on concrete, but it is by no means certain that death could have been avoided through treatment. And certainly no insurance that sets an age cap. The ACA is not in effect yet, and won't set age caps on procedures when it is in effect.

The sad truth is, we do not have the means to prevent all deaths, especially from severe blows to the head.

Medicare Advantage is standard Medicare with the HMO supplemental plan, and they become your primary, being the go-between for Medicare. Medicare with a Supplement Plan means Medicare is the primary insurance with the supplemental plan covering a lot of what Medicare doesn't. If you do not have a lot of health problems, a Medicare Advantage plan works well for most - the premiums are low, and it has fairly low co-pays (but there are co-pays for just about everything you need, which can add up), whereas a Medicare w/Supplement plan is more expensive per month BUT the out of pocket costs are a lot less. My mother was paying over $5,000 out of pocket each year with the HMO plan, and when she switched to Supplemental coverage (Plan F) she didn't pay any co-pays, skilled nursing was 100% covered for 100 days, and hospitalization was covered almost 100% also. My mother had a LOT of medical issues, prescriptions, dr. appointments, so it really paid to switch her over. Whatever you do, don't make that decision based on the cost of the premiums alone...it's the out of pocket expenses that will get you.

I misspoke- Medicare Advantage is Medicare's HMO plan...not supplemental. Fingers typing faster than I can think!