Medicare’s new rules may hopefully have some properties that will help to improve elder care benefits. The intended benefits are to help those that are seriously ill and to better care at the end of life. These are both categories that seniors routinely fall under.
There’s no doubt that Medicare has been incomplete when it comes to senior care. Millions of elderly Americans rely on Medicaid to help them in addition to Medicare, and oftentimes, that’s still not enough. One of the first things that needs to be addressed is the shortage of caregivers. Most of the burden has been falling on family members, and these people are often underprepared to do so effectively. It takes a big toll on people, emotionally and financially. For the most part, Medicare has been unable to provide for offsetting the costs of assisting with daily living. It’s been pretty much restricted to nursing homes, but on a restricted and short term basis.
The good news is that starting next year, Medicare’s coverage will become more comprehensive. They will begin paying [physicians to have end of life conversations with patients and their families, for example, even if no procedure is conducted. Here, options for finding high quality care can be discussed and explored. Having a medical doctor begin this conversation is likely to be much more reassuring and help people to take senior care more seriously. It will also help people to be better prepared for the future so the strains of needing care do not come as a sudden shock. The new rules should also increase the ease of accessing hospice or palliative care.
These things are definitely important parts of providing the best care to the elderly and other Medicare recipients, but there are other important features to come out of this. One of these is that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is planning on improving its research process. They plan on having a star ratings system for home health agencies in order to ensure that families have a better idea of what kind of service they are paying for. This is in addition to the star ratings that are now being given to nursing homes. Again, a lot of families are going into this blind, and they end up paying for a service that is not very good. Doing your own research helps, but many people do not do this.
These changes are designed to help you plan your elderly loved one’s care better. Once the new regulations are implemented, it might be a few months before things catch on and start working efficiently, but the good news is that changes are being made. There’s been a need for change for years now, and it’s good to know that things are headed in the right direction. Hopefully, it will be enough to help meet the needs of our elderly loved ones in a safe and loving way. For now, the most important thing you can do is to prepare your family and start having those conversations as soon as possible.
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