Medicare Madness -- How Americans Can Lose Benefits in a Hospital | Joel S. Hirschhorn

[Tace]

Joel S. Hirschhorn -- World News Trust

March 13, 2014

Tuck away the many horror stories of the wrong limbs being amputated, things being left in surgery patients, terrible infections picked up in hospitals and totally wrong diagnoses. More relevant is a bureaucratic hospitalization horror that far too few Americans covered by Medicare are aware of.

Odds are that you do not know a key question to ask if you ever find yourself in a hospital for an overnight stay that could last from one or two days, or perhaps much more. What you and anyone accompanying you want to know is whether you are being classified as “under observation.” This means that legally you are not an inpatient. If the former, then you are likely to find yourself owing the hospital a large amount of money, because your Medicare or other health insurance will not provide the benefits associated with inpatient status. Many, many Americans nationwide that were classified as under observation have faced unexpected bills of many tens of thousands of dollars.

So pay very close attention to what you are about to read.

more

http://worldnewstrust.com/medicare-madness-how-americans-can-lose-benefits-in-a-hospital-joel-s-hirschhorn

[hollysmom]

1. when I had surgery for cancer, It did not happen until 6 PM

because my doctor wanted me to stay over night and the insurance swore it was out patient surgery. My doctor swears she never heard of that before, but in the middle of the night, they had to give me oxygen because my throat was closing up. Also my stitches ruptured and I had to get resown. Would have been fun happening at home. The insurance did pay, but for being in surgery for 4 hours for the removal of cancer parts and surrounding lymph nodes, odd to be an immediate outpatient.