Sent to rehab from hospital. Now may need long term care or home care 24/7. Help! Dad has Blue Cross Blue Shield Federal Employees and Medicare Part B. I was told upon admittance to rehab/nursing facility that he would be covered for 100 days if he continued to progress. Found out yesterday (45 days later) that is not true with Medicare Part B. Does anyone know if it is too late for him to obtain Medicare Part A? He worked for the federal govt for 30 years and this is what he has to show for it! No coverage. Also hospice care appears to only be covered by Part A as well. So if he ever needs that, it would be out of pocket too?
I am so sorry to hear about your father and your insurance woes. I would definitely make a point of speaking with a Medicare/Insurance expert as soon as possible, whether through Medicare, BCBS, or an Area Agency on Aging (AAA).
AAAs offer the State Health Insurance Program (SHIP), which provides free counseling on Medicare, Medicaid and other private plans. Your profile says you are located in Tampa. In Florida, the program is actually called SHINE (Serving Health Insurance Needs of Elders). Not only will they help you navigate your difficulties with coverage, but your AAA should also be able to help you and your father assess what options and help are available in terms of next steps for care.
You can find your local AAA here: https://www.agingcare.com/local/area-agency-on-aging
If your dad is coherent and able to speak, I wouldn't necessarily jump to thinking about hospice yet, but take comfort in the fact that end-of-life care is covered in some way by nearly all private insurance, Medicare and Medicaid. I would imagine that your father's Federal Employee BCBS would provide at least some level of coverage.
I hope this helps a little bit. Hang in there, cjbailey!
There are other posts here on swallowing difficult, dysphagia diets, and offer some good suggestion. You can use the search box in the upper right hand corner. Here are some starters though:
https://www.agingcare.com/search.aspx?searchterm=swallowing+difficulties+post+stroke
You could also browse this Medicare site before calling:
https://www.medicare.gov/sign-up-change-plans/get-parts-a-and-b/when-how-to-sign-up-for-part-a-and-part-b.html
I'm not familiar with Blue Cross Blue Shield Federal Employees as an apparent primary carrier, but wonder if you've checked with them to determine the extent of hospital coverage? In my experience BCBS is typically a secondary or Medigap carrier.
I also neglected to say he got a peg feeding tube, vitals are good, cognitive and able to carry on a conversation--mostly about what he would like to eat!!