State:: Alaska

Occupation:: Retired

In Oct. 2010 my husband (age 84) fell and severely injured his shoulder and he was admitted to hospital for surgery. It was a complicated surgery lasting several hours. He did not recover well from the anesthetic and was in a serious condition for 4 days in the hospital and had weeks of rehab. When we received a bill from the hospital for $37,900, I called to see if Medicare had paid the bill and after calls to everyone involved, the hospital said that he had been admitted as an outpatient for “extended recovery” so Medicare would not pay. We have Blue Cross, Blue Shield Federal employee insurance and they paid the majority of the bill but the hospital sent us a bill for $4,790. We do not have the funds to pay that on our fixed income of Social Security and a small annuity from BLM where we both worked. I protested that he was NOT an outpatient but was in the hospital for four agonizing days!!