Covers hospital-related treatments such as:
- Inpatient hospital care (overnight or prolonged care received in a hospital)
- Skilled nursing facility care (short-term rehab)
- Hospice care (terminal illness care)
- Home health care (basic in-home care)
Rest assured – most people do NOT have to buy Part A. Remember the Medicare taxes you’ve had deducted from your paychecks? You’ve already paid for this portion of Medicare.
Hospital coverage is included under Part A, but patients must meet a deductible [$1,484 in 2021] for each benefit period. A benefit period begins the day you’re admitted as an inpatient to a hospital or skilled nursing facility and ends when you have not received inpatient care for 60 consecutive days.
A benefit period can last as long as you continue to receive continuous or sporadic inpatient care so long as there is not a consecutive 60 day period without care.
Part A covers an unlimited number of benefit periods with up to 90 days of care in each one. After 90 days, you may qualify for lifetime reserve days. This is a set of 60 extra hospital days covered by Part A that can be used in any benefit period throughout your lifetime, but each day may only be used once.
Part A Penalty
You may receive a late penalty premium of 10% for twice the number of years that you qualified for Medicare Part A but did not enroll. Many people are automatically enrolled in Part A. Contact Alex if you’re unsure about automatic enrollment or how to sign up during your initial enrollment period.