August 2, 2013: This Week Medicare Part D Average Premiums and the 3-Day Nursing Home Rule Were in the News

As the October 15 to December 7 Parts C and D annual enrollment period approaches, the Medicare news flow is picking up for 2014 consideration.  I will write about these news issues in detail in future blog posts but here is the three-sentence version of what happened in Medicare the week ending August 2, 2013 that could affect you (there's one sentence about what happened and two sentence to preliminarly explain its possible effect on us seniors):

• The United States Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that the Part D monthly premiums paid by about 70% of us seniors (see NOTE) will go up 3% on average in 2014 to around $31 a month. "On average" are the key words because what really happens is that insurers add new Part D policies each year that most seniors can't use and they give those new policies low prices, thereby lowering the average. But in the real world, based on last year, the most popular and useful policies went up in price by 10% or more here on the Cape (and even more around the country) so stay tuned for the real numbers around October 1.
• The Health and Human Services (HHS) secretariat's Inspector General said CMS should change its hospital admitted vs. observed policy as well as the admitted-3-days rule that affects a Medicare beneficiary's ability to get coverage in a skilled nursing facility.  I wrote about the admitted vs observed rule here; it can have a major effect on Medicare financing but very little effect on most of us seniors because almost all of us have a supplement. I will write more about the 3-day-rule when the dust settles but most important, until the politicians fix the problems, know which status you have -- admitted or observed -- when you go into a hospital.