My grandfather has been in the hospital for the last couple of weeks. He had a heart attack and they discovered his heart was pumping very weakly. They said he'd need a triple bypass, and soon. But he wasn't strong enough to be ready for surgery, so he stayed for a week and some change while they tried to get him strong enough for the procedure. He was doing well enough for them to move him out of the ICU after a few days, and spent the rest of the time in a normal room. After almost two weeks of tests, consultations, room and board, and the various other costs related to an extended hospital stay, Medicare began to pester the hospital as to when they would be able to perform the surgery. The hospital kept saying, "We can't know yet." So today, the hospital, after finding out that medicare wouldn't cover anything else, since it wasn't leading up to a particular surgery, discharged my grandfather - who until today was still on an IV and had a catheter in. He's not in good enough shape for the retirement apartment he lives in to take him back, so our family had to put him into a nursing home, until he is strong enough to go back to his apartment to eventually pay the consequence for not receiving the bypass.
So I remain confused as to exactly what insurance insures. He had a heart attack, needs a bypass, isn't strong enough to return home, and needs medical assistance for basic human functions... and medicare decided he didn't need to be in the hospital anymore.
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Write your congress peeps. Seriously do it right now, you can just sent this post. Send it via email and snail mail also make a phone call. That's fucked up and your representatives need to hear about it. Then email the consumerist.com to see if they have contact info for higher ups in the Medicare system.
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