A month in the hospital can turn your financial life upside down even when you have good health insurance. The medical bills are the obvious concern, but your mortgage, utilities, insurance premiums, credit cards, property taxes, subscriptions, and other obligations do not stop simply because you are hospitalized. For Medicare beneficiaries, a 30-day inpatient stay can also create high costs, although it remains within the first 60 days of a Medicare Part A benefit period. Just as important, someone may need a legitimate way to manage everyday financial responsibilities if you are too sick to handle them yourself. Planning for finances during a long hospital stay can keep a health crisis from creating a second crisis at home.
