Okay, I'm not for big government, but this is ridiculous. Medicare should step up to the plate and continue to fund the care of these individuals until they die. As it now stands, they are encouraging the idea that people should be done away with when they get too expensive to care for.
It's more than just "making a decision", where is Medicade going to get the funds? And what consequences does that have?
Except that is not how it works. I am sure things have changed some in the last couple of years, but both of my parents died in 2005, both were on hospice at the time of death, both had used up all the Medicare they were eligible for, had spent all their money and had to apply for Medicaid, which was approved for my dad posthumously. My mom never benefited from Medicaid.
Medicare only pays for up to 100 days of nursing home care. 100% for the first ten days, 80% after that. If their diagnosis is that they will not get better and rehab will not help, then Medicare is done. Medicare will pay for hospice. For my parents that meant that any medications or services related to their diagnosis would be paid for through hospice, thus by Medicare, which did save them some money.
My mom died within several months of going on hospice. My dad was on hospice for at least eighteen months - the extra attention really perked him up. He even lived five months longer than my mom; I expected him to die very soon after she did, but all the support he got from hospice (and our family) seemed to keep him going. He missed her terribly and passed away on the eve of their 65th wedding anniversary.
Hospice really helped us and I never, ever, got the impression that anyone there wanted him to hurry up and die.
I agree that this represents a problem for a lot of reasons. First, some overly profit minded hospice owners may take the dying part into their own hands, and some may throw these people out. I have had extensive experience with hospice, and all that I have worked with have been excellent. As with every other industry there are always a few that are unreputable.
I question why the patients are being admitted so early to hospice though. It is designed and administered as palliative care and support through the dying process. Hospice level care isn’t really necessary until a patient is within a few months of dying. Possibly the admission requirements should be more closely controlled.
My concern is that a line must be drawn between hospice care and nursing home care. Medicare does not pay for long term nursing care, because it is very expensive. It does allow for hospice care because it is supposed to be short term. How can the caps be raised without hospice being turned into medicare provided nursing home care for all? I want to be sure that those in need of hospice receive it without worry of their death becoming a cost cutting measure. I would also like for my country to stay out of bankruptcy.