I recently added the plan F Medicare supplement for my Mom it is expensive $318 a month... she has since gone under hospice care for her chf do I still need the extra insurance or should I just go with straight Medicare? I could use the $318 we are spending on insurance toward extra help with her home care
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.
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.
It is a hard call.