
What is Medicare Part A?
Part A helps cover:
• Inpatient care in hospitals (such as critical access hospitals, inpatient rehabilitation facilities, and long-term care hospitals)
• Inpatient care in a skilled nursing facility (not custodial or long term care)
• Hospice care services
• Home health care services
• Inpatient care in a religious non-medical health care Institution
You usually don’t pay a monthly premium for Part A coverage if you or your spouse paid Medicare taxes while working. This is called “premium-free Part A.”
If you aren’t eligible for premium-free Part A, you may be able to buy Part A if you meet one of these conditions:
• You’re 65 or older, you’re entitled to (or enrolling in) Part B, and you meet the citizenship or residency requirements.
• You’re under 65, disabled, and your premium-free Part A coverage ended because you returned to work.
In most cases, if you choose to buy Part A, you must also have Part B and pay monthly premiums for both. If you have limited income and resources, your state may help you pay for Part A and/or Part B.
Services That Are Covered By Part A
Blood
Home Health Services
Hospice Care
Medicare covers some short-term inpatient stays for pain and symptom management that can’t be addressed in the home. These stays must be in a Medicare-approved facility, such as a hospice facility, hospital, or skilled nursing facility. Medicare also covers inpatient respite care which is care you get in a Medicare approved facility so that your usual caregiver can rest. You can stay up to 5 days each time you get respite care. Medicare will pay for covered services for health problems that aren’t related to your terminal illness. You can continue to get hospice care as long as the hospice medical director or hospice doctor recertifies that you are terminally ill.
Hospital Stays (Inpatient)
Includes semi-private room, meals, general nursing, drugs as part of your inpatient treatment, and other hospital services and supplies. Examples include inpatient care you get in acute care hospitals, critical access hospitals, inpatient rehabilitation facilities, long-term care hospitals, inpatient care as part of a qualifying clinical research study, and mental health care. This doesn’t include private-duty nursing, a television or telephone in your room (if there is a separate charge for these items), or personal care items like razors or slipper socks. It also doesn’t include a private room, unless medically necessary. If you have Part B, it covers the doctor and emergency room services you get while you are in a hospital.