Monday, October 01, 2012

Important changes to consider before casting your vote in November

Today an important bit of Obamacare legislation for hospitals went into effect regarding patients on Medicare. There will be a penalty to hospitals if Medicare patients are readmitted to a hospital due to complications from a previous admission within a 30 day period. Oh boy! Good thing this didn't go into effect last May when my husband underwent lung surgery or I know one hospital that would have been penalized through no fault of their own. The example given by the news was if a Medicare patient was admitted with pneumonia, treated and released and then in 29 days had to be readmitted again with recurring pneumonia, then that hospital would be penalized by receiving a cut in pay. This is how the elderly are going to be treated and we all know what the effect will be. To avoid penalties, hospitals will not admit us for a second admission even though we may be dying.

The second thing I want to tell you about, which is not being talked about is the rising cost of our Medicare premiums. These don't go into effect until November 6, 2012. Hmmm, I wonder why? The Medicare premiums will rise from their present monthly fee of $96.40 to:

$104.20 in 2012
$120.20 in 2013
$247.00 in 2014

How do you like them apples? Now go cast your vote.


Sent from my iPad

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

You are misinformed. Medicare premiums for 2013 and 2014 have not been set yet and the current premium is $99.90, if you make under $85,000. Please read Wall Street Journal-Total Return Blog dated 7-6-12 entitled "Medicare Premiums: The Rumors Return".
Also, under the Health Care Act existing Medicare coverage benefits won't be reduced or taken away. There is going to be an attempt to reduce waste and some hospitals will be penalized for readmitting patients within a month - 1% - on a $100,000 that's $1000. This is due to many patients who are not getting adequate follow-up care upon release, which ends them back in the hospital. This info comes from CBS Evening News/Scott Pelley - 10/1/12.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for your comment, but to be more factual, shouldn't you be quoting the Health Care Act (Obamacare) instead of of the CBS Evenibg News/ Scott Pelley?