Nursing home surprise: Medicare Advantage plans covering less time than Medicare covers

Patricia Maynard was in a nursing home recovering from a hip replacement in December when her Medicare Advantage plan notified her it was ending coverage. Her doctors disagreed with the decision. “If I stayed, I would have to pay,” Maynard said. “Or I could go home and not worry about a bill.” But going home was impractical: “I couldn’t walk because of the pain,” she said. She appealed the plan’s decision. (Aisha Hameed / KHN)

After 11 days in a St. Paul, Minnesota, skilled nursing facility recuperating from a fall, Paula Christopherson, 97, was told by her insurer that she should return home.   

Rather than feeling relieved, though, Christopherson and her daughter were worried because her medical team said she wasn’t well enough to leave.