Join us every Tuesday evening at 8:30 pm on PCTV's Channel 28 and every Thursday evening at 9:30 pm on Channel 98 for this month's edition of "Legal Talk".
We are excited to be teaming up with the Tri-County Interagency Consortium to provide you with a Where To Turn Guide.
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ON PCTV IN NOVEMBER, 2007:
David Kaplan and Kathy Martin discuss new notice requirements for Medicare beneficiaries who are hospitalized. “An Important Message from Medicare about Your Rights” must be issued to all patients in the hospital who are Medicare beneficiaries. The patient, or his legally appointed representative, must read, sign and date the notice. The notice must be given to the patient within 2 days of admission. Then, two days before discharge, if the hospital stay is longer than 3 days, the notice must be given again.
If the patient is not ready to leave the hospital, he or she can “fight” the discharge by contacting the local Medicare Quality Improvement Organization (QIO) by noon following the day that he or she received the notice. This will “buy” the patient more days in the hospital for no additional cost. The hospital cannot charge the patient while the matter is being disputed.
Mr. Kaplan and Ms. Martin also discuss a little known Veterans’ Administration benefit known as Pension benefit or “Aid and Attendance.” This benefit, for qualified veterans, or surviving spouses of veterans, can pay additional income to help cover long term care costs. Only 4.6% of eligible veterans are actually receiving this benefit.