By Alice Waugh
The vast majority of people with a terminal medical condition want to die peacefully at home rather than in a hospital, but many seniors don’t know that Medicare will cover hospice care with no out-of-pocket expenses, a hospice representative said at a Council on Aging talk.
Erin Sanford, a patient transition representative from AseraCare Hospice, explained what hospice offers and how Medicare covers it while also dispelling some misconceptions at the November 16 session in Bemis Hall.
The word hospice is related to hospitality, or “providing a place of shelter for weary travelers,” Sanford said. The first hospice was founded in 1967 in London by Dame Cicely Saunders, who felt that end-of life care should provide pain relief, preserve the patient’s dignity, and help the patent and family with the psychological and spiritual pain of death. Medicare added a hospice benefit in 1983. Medicaid, MassHealth and most private insurance plans also have a hospice benefit.
