Medical bills pinch elderly

Thomas Goldsmith, Staff Writer Raleigh News & Observer Costs not covered by Medicare can eat up their income, assets and even the house Jake Smith, a man who's good for what he owes, sold his paid-off home of 33 years recently to settle about $15,000 in medical debt that wasn't covered by Medicare. Smith, 80, a retired truck driver who volunteered for the Navy at age 17, is among the more than one in 10 older Americans whose only medical insurance is basic Medicare. The federal program pays a portion of doctor and hospital bills, but leaves the rest to patients. .... Jake Smith's wife, Christine, died of cancer last year. Selling the home they shared -- and moving to senior housing downtown -- was the only way he could catch up on the bills from doctors and Duke Hospital for her past care. ... Older people in North Carolina are increasingly faced with high out-of-pocket health-care costs even though they are covered by Medicare, the federal health-care insurance for seniors. State health-insurance counselors say the number of questions they receive about coverage under basic Medicare has more than doubled -- to more than 1,200 a month -- during the past three years.