MARIETTA, Ga. — An 88-year-old Marietta woman says she cannot get the medical care she needs because Medicare mistakenly believes she is dead.
Channel 2 consumer investigator Justin Gray has covered cases of people wrongly declared dead by the government before, but not like this.
The family said Medicare told them a nursing home coded the Cobb County woman as deceased in its system instead of discharged.
In other cases, people are mistakenly placed on Social Security’s master death file. That has not happened here.
Instead, it’s Yvonne Spain Light’s health coverage that has been canceled, and her health that’s being affected.
“I was floored,” Light said. “I thought, well, am I really dead and just don’t know it?”
Light is very much alive, sitting in her daughter’s Cobb County home. But as far as Medicare records show, she has been dead since March.
“Her supplemental insurance, they’re not paying anything. Her Medicare is not paying anything,” said her daughter, Leila Klann.
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The family discovered the problem after a hospital stay this month, when Light was supposed to transfer to a rehabilitation facility, but was denied admission because she no longer had Medicare coverage.
“She should be in a rehab center today, but they would not accept her,” Klann said.
Medicare later told the family the error happened in March, when Light was discharged from a three-week stay at another Marietta rehab facility.
“They mistakenly coded her as deceased instead of discharged, and that started a whole avalanche,” Klann said.
An “avalanche of chaos,” she called it.
A spokesperson for Empire Care Centers said in a statement:
“This matter was the result of a clerical error related to census reporting. At no time was the resident’s actual care, safety, or well-being affected. Once the discrepancy was identified, it was promptly corrected,, and the appropriate parties were notified.”
But Light is still dealing with the big impact of that simple mistake.
A procedure to install a medical device has been canceled, and a new rehab facility will not accept Light without insurance, even though her doctors said it is unsafe for her to remain at home.
“She’s not getting the health care she currently needs,” Klann said.
“I can fall any time without any notice,” Light added. “So, I feel kind of afraid to do anything.”
Empire Care Centers said it reviewed records and found no broader problems beyond this mistake.
This week, Medicare told the family it has corrected the error, but it could take up to a month for coverage to be restored.
The family is not waiting. They toured a self-pay assisted living facility and are preparing to move Light in, paying out of pocket until this is resolved.
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