We had everything ready to go. Except apparently the hospice benefits. The patient's traumatic brain injury had declared itself with defined intentions. The day of reckoning was near. I recently wrote about barriers to palliative and hospice care when a nursing home couldn't (or wouldn't, I'm not sure) accept a patient because they weren't staffed with registered nurses to manage an NG.
You think that's disgraceful. How about a hospice benefits policy from an insurance company that says in order for hospice benefits to be paid at a rate greater than 50% of expenses, five days notice must be given of the intent to implement hospice benefits. I can't make this stuff up. That's what I was told.
Remember, if you're going to die, and you have certain policies, you have to notify them of your intent to enter hospice at least five days in advance or they will only pay half of your hospice expenses. That's the ultimate death tax, if you ask me. It's a good thing that was only their supplemental plan. This kind of policy is a disgrace to humanity. How do states allow such a thing?
