Re:My grandmother died at home, just as she wanted. It cost ...
by Spooky23 on Thursday February 09, 2023 @11:59AM
(#34727053)
Typically not - you're looking at nursing home care. That means you'll pay $300+ a day for care that is awful at best and horrific more typically. Sometimes hospice patients have a better experience because the outside entity (the hospice) has eyes on the patient and (in)competence of the nursing home staff.
The tragedy of modern medical care if you're over 65 is that it's hard to die. Medicare only pays hospitals for results, so there are powerful incentives to limit hospital stays as much as possible - unless you're in an ICU or similar scenario, if you are hospitalized more than a week it's likely because someone fucked up, and Medicare will reimburse the hospital next to nothing as a result.
It's easy to get sick or become incapacitated, but people can and will "save" you and leave you in a situation where you are not well, but not dead. The options are 120 days of Medicare nursing home coverage, followed by a slow drain of all of your assets and ultimately Medicaid enrollment. Nursing home means you're effectively warehoused, and the more help you need, the less care you get as you become a cost center.
It's not just a matter of finances, it's a matter of humanity. The harsh reality is your disabled loved one will be treated like cattle unless someone who cares is directly engaged in caring for you. After the horror that my father went through after a suffering a stroke, and the pain caused to my mother after she took on full-time care, I did what most doctors do and have DNR care instructions on file with every hospital in a 50 mile radius.
The tragedy of modern medical care if you're over 65 is that it's hard to die. Medicare only pays hospitals for results, so there are powerful incentives to limit hospital stays as much as possible - unless you're in an ICU or similar scenario, if you are hospitalized more than a week it's likely because someone fucked up, and Medicare will reimburse the hospital next to nothing as a result.
It's easy to get sick or become incapacitated, but people can and will "save" you and leave you in a situation where you are not well, but not dead. The options are 120 days of Medicare nursing home coverage, followed by a slow drain of all of your assets and ultimately Medicaid enrollment. Nursing home means you're effectively warehoused, and the more help you need, the less care you get as you become a cost center.
It's not just a matter of finances, it's a matter of humanity. The harsh reality is your disabled loved one will be treated like cattle unless someone who cares is directly engaged in caring for you. After the horror that my father went through after a suffering a stroke, and the pain caused to my mother after she took on full-time care, I did what most doctors do and have DNR care instructions on file with every hospital in a 50 mile radius.