Medicare reconsiders rule that leaves dying patients facing a stark choice

(By Michael Ollove, www.washingtonpost.com)

For more than 30 years, Medicare presented dying patients with a stark choice: They could continue treatments that might extend their lives or they could accept the medical and counseling services of hospice care meant to ease their way to death. They could not do both. Now, the federal government is experimenting with a change that would remove that either/or proposition. Beginning next year, people choosing to participate in a demonstration project will be able to receive Medicare hospice benefits while continuing treatment for the diseases that are killing them. Read more…

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