US Health Policy Changes May Benefit Older Patients

Many side effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, such as staffing shortages in long-term care and hospice facilities, have disproportionately impacted older Americans, according to a report on three recent developments in healthcare for seniors published in the New York Times.

Medicare may decline to pay for a patient’s rehabilitation in a nursing home after being discharged from the hospital because the patient was “on observation.” For nursing home coverage eligibility, the program requires three consecutive days as an inpatient. However, in January 2022, the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed that if hospitals reclassify Medicare beneficiaries as observation patients, the beneficiaries have a constitutional right to appeal.

In addition, most US states limit Medicare beneficiaries’ assets to $2,000, or $3,000 for couples. California has announced plans to abolish these limits, first increasing the asset ceiling to $130,000 for individuals and an additional $65,000 for each family member and later, in July 2024, discarding the limits altogether. The governor of New York has also proposed eliminating Medicare’s asset limits in the state as of January 1, 2023, and Arizona did away with the requirement (excluding long-term care) in 2001.

Finally, the Social Security Administration has announced it will reopen 1,200 local offices and restore in-person service to the public in early April, according to an agency spokesperson. While some services, including applications for survivors’ benefits and Supplemental Security Income, require an in-person visit, Social Security offices have remained closed since March 2020.

Source: The New York Times, February 28, 2022.