Seniors Sue Medicare To Close Nursing Home Coverage Gap

C-HIT  By: Susan Jaffe | May 3, 2013

Roberta Baxter, a 78-year-old retired instructional assistant for the Killingly school system, dislocated her kneecap after a fall in her bathroom last September. Following treatment at a local hospital, she spent seven weeks at a nursing home for rehab so that she could walk again.

While she was recovering, she and her husband Bill received the first of several bills from the nursing home.  That’s when the couple learned Medicare wouldn’t cover the $16,000 cost because Roberta didn’t spend at least three consecutive days in the hospital as admitted patient, or inpatient, as Medicare requires.  Instead, the four days she spent in the hospital was for “observation care.”  Read more