Do I need a Medicare supplement still for my Mom who is under hospice care or is straight Medicare ok?

Now is not the time to jump plans and the future is uncertain. Medicare covers the Hospice care, but there's no way of knowing what else she may need. Plan F includes skilled nursing care, and I wouldn't give that up right now if I were in her shoes.

To be blunt, I think it depends on what the chances are that Mom could recover enough to get off of Hospice care. As long as she is on hospice and presumably close to death, she will not be having anything but comfort procedures and medicines, and that is all covered. Paying for unlikely possibilities might not be the best use of the money at this point.

It is a hard call.

It is hard to figure out, I know any Medicare plan requires at least a 3 day qualified hospital stay for skilled nursing... Planning on keeping her out of hospitals as that is what she wants, no tests unnecessary Dr visits just palliative care. Maybe there is a less pricey plan available?

Abbey - I would speak with one of the nurses @ the hospice office. Not the one(s) who come to the house to provide care. If hospice just got started, they (the hospice MD) may actually take her off or wean her off many of her medications. Hospice means comfort care only and if some of her med's are viewed as "curing" prescriptions, they will likely be cancelled anyways.

When you call hospice have a list of all the meds's mom is on now and what the costs are. Ask if there is an real need for the Part F you signed up for. Be sure to reinforce that mom will likely NOT be applying for Medicaid as she has too many assets which likely won't be spent down in her lifetime (as hospice means 6 months expected). $ 318 a month seems really high but if she needs some fancy expensive cancer pain meds, it could be worth it.

Now about the hospitalization you mentioned….if they go onto hospice then there will be no hospitalization, ER runs or any other visits to providers from here on out which could provide for any services that promote "cure". They may go into an in-unit hospice facility within or adjacent to a hospital but really they don't get to go and do hospital stays as that is about "curing" and not within compliance for hospice. Medicare rules on hospice are very specific on all this. It's important that you understand all this.

It's not easy, my mom is in a Nh now for a couple of years, and went onto hospice in June due to a shattered hip. She is totally bedfast and really (this isn't pretty) her body is slowly starting to shut down. She still has swallow ability and loves having a sandwich but I can see that this function (swallow, chew) isn't going to last much longer. Her hospice plan is that all her care is only comfort care, no hospital runs, no major attempts to do anything but provide for her basic needs and care to make her end of life without pain and comfortable. She will die @ the NH unless she gets a major infection and becomes contagious (like MRSA); only then would she leave her NH to go to the in-unit hospice facility. Hospice is a truly wonderful benefit of Medicare but can requires a whole change of mindset for family.

Igloo ... Thanks for your really detailed answers, sorry to hear about your Moms condition. I totally agree with your hospice plan for your Mom, I want my Mom to be able to stay in her asst living until she passes hopefully peacefully. No more ER trips she wants to be DNR.
I will speak to the hospice re. Insurance, as far as I can see the F plan supplement seems a bit over the top considering she will most likely not be using other services.