Observation Status

My friends, please read this article! It could save you and your family many thousands of dollars.

For years, there have been other misjudgments against Medicare patients that are only now becoming apparent. Let me clarify a particular problem which wishes not to be clarified: observation status.

You would think when seeking life-threatening medical care at a hospital, treatment begins in the emergency room followed by admission to an inpatient bed. But under the controversial designation “observation status” determined by Medicare bureaucrats, you are still considered an outpatient even with oxygen in your nose and an IV in your arm.

*snip*

If you are a Medicare patient in a hospital, make sure you know your status. Should you be observation, question the case manager whether there might be justification to make it inpatient. Discuss with your physician the need to minimize testing, and bring your own medications from home to be distributed by nursing.

This is important. A hospital stay under "observation" status could easily force a family into bankruptcy. I knew that our local hospital used this designation, but I had no idea why until today.

I'm sure the ACA will be utilizing many such tricks to get expenses down. I believe that prescription medications will be another cost-cutting target. Talk to your doctor about whittling down the number of prescription medications you take.  Most (not all) people can achieve this if they lose weight, exercise, and eat healthy foods. We should all try to make the transition now, before our insurance plans refuse to pay for all those medications. It won't be easy.

Make no mistake: the pencil-pushers managing the ACA will mandate that we ALL have skin in the game. Those that refuse could find themselves staring at the reaper.