I live in Hollywood; I love movies. I've worked on CMS policy for twenty years; I love CMS policy.
Here's a potential glitch where the two coincide.
One of the top-rate films of the last couple months is TUNER, which covers romance, classical music, and ruthless dangerous criminals in one package. Plus it's set in NYC and contains several scenes in the modern underground 600-seat Zankel Hall (2003). Starring Leo Woodall, Havana Rose Liu, and Dustin Hoffman. 95% at Rotten Tomatoes.
Dustin Hoffman is a crotchety old guy who got p*ssed off at Medicare and "stopped paying his premiums." Due to which, he owes $36,000 to the neighborhood hospital. (The plot requires Hoffman to have a big debt that young Woodall must respond to.)
Glitch?
Medicare Part A doesn't have any premiums, and it pays a huge proportion of hospital costs, so it would be very hard to develop $36,000 in Part A deductibles or copays.
Medicare Part B does have premiums (circa $200/month), and if you stop paying your premiums, your Part B stops and all your doctor bills accumulate. But those are doctor bills, they wouldn't be a $36,000 hospital fee.
So, not paying your Part B premium out of crotchety-ness wouldn't give you that $36,000 hospital debt.
An Angle?
Possibly he had $36000 of Part B hospital outpatient services (PET scans, knee surgeries) at the hospital. Or an overnight observation (Part B) not considered an inpatient admission (Part A).
Or, see my recent experience where a $400 Medicare MRI started as a $15,000 charge (!) to me and Medicare from the hospital. Just two of those MRI's - if charged at uninsured person rates rather than published Medicare rates - would put you into the $36,000 range.
