Medicare Part A Covers Inpatient Hospital Services

Medicare Part A covers most of the costs for inpatient hospital care. You usually don’t pay a monthly premium for Medicare Part A (Hospital Insurance) coverage if you or your spouse paid Medicare taxes for a certain amount of time while working. This is sometimes called “premium-free Part A.” Most people get premium-free Part A.

Most Part A benefits are subject to an annual deductible and/or coinsurance. Part A coverage applies to:

Inpatient Hospital Stay – You Pay… (benefit period ends 60 days after release from care)
– Deductible: $1,600 per benefit period
– Coinsurance (days 1-60): $0 per day of each benefit period
– Coinsurance (days 61-90): $400 per day of each benefit period
– Coinsurance (60 lifetime reserve days): $800 per day after day 90 of each benefit period
Skilled Nursing Facility Stay – You Pay… (3-day inpatient hospital stay required first)
– Coinsurance (days 1-20): $0 per day of each benefit period
– Coinsurance (days 21-100): $200 per day of each benefit period
Hospice care
Some home health care

There are 5 different types of Medicare coverage — Part A, B, C, and D, as well as Medicare Supplement plans. Click on an option below to learn more about these types of Medicare coverage.