Dropping medicare supplement when you are on hospice? (medical, hospital, doctor)

[4khansen]

If you or your spouse are on Medicare with a supplement and one of you becomes ill enough to qualify for hospice can the hospice patient cancel their supplement since hospice is basically 100% coverage under original medicare and seems pointless once you or your spouse is on the hospice coverage. An inquiring mind wants to know.

[BOBNCHI]

Yes, but.......

From the Medicare Hospice Info pdf page:

What your hospice benefit won’t cover
When you start hospice care, you’ve decided that you no longer want care
to cure your terminal illness and related conditions, and/or your doctor
has determined that efforts to cure your illness aren’t working. Medicare
won’t cover any of these once your hospice benefit starts:
â–  Treatment intended to cure your terminal illness and/or related
conditions. Talk with your doctor if you’re thinking about getting
treatment to cure your illness. You always have the right to stop
hospice care at any time.
■ Prescription drugs that aren’t for your terminal illness or related
conditions.
■ Care from any provider that wasn’t set up by the hospice medical
team. You must get hospice care from the hospice provider you
chose. All care that you get for your terminal illness and related
conditions must be given by or arranged by the hospice team. You
can’t get the same type of hospice care from a different hospice,
unless you change your hospice provider. However, you can still see
your regular doctor, nurse practitioner, or physician’s assistant, if
you’ve chosen him or her to be the attending medical professional.
■ Room and board. Medicare doesn’t cover room and board.
However, if the hospice team determines that you need short-term
inpatient or respite care services that they arrange, Medicare
will cover your stay in the facility. You may have to pay a small
copayment for the respite stay.
â–  Care you get as a hospital outpatient (like in an emergency
room), care you get as a hospital inpatient, or ambulance
transportation, unless it’s either arranged by your hospice team or
is unrelated to your terminal illness and related conditions.
Note: Contact your hospice team before you get any of these services, or
you might have to pay the entire cost.

So, be very careful!

[Ariadne22]

Generally, hospice care doesn't continue for an extended period. If the patient dies in hospice within a short period of time, which is usually the case, the premiums for those one or two months shouldn't be that onerous.

Further, as posted above, there may be medical expenses not covered under the hospice umbrella.

Know that, if one's condition does not continue to deteriorate but, instead, plateaus - which does happen - Medicare will not pay for hospice after a certain period. In which case, if the Medigap has been dropped, there is no supplemental coverage for an SNF or other care. The 20% copay is all on you.

I've read accounts of people admitted to hospice but their condition over time doesn't qualify to continue hospice.

Given the seriousness of the situation, I would never drop a Medigap upon entering hospice. Far too much uncertainty and risk for a very minimal potential savings.