Medicare Part A provides solid coverage for inpatient hospital care and services. Expenses such as meals, nursing services, semi-private rooms, medications, and other services provided at the medical facility. These facilities can include any of the following:
- Critical access hospitals
- Long-term care hospitals
- Acute care hospitals
- Inpatient rehabilitation facilities
- Mental health care
- Participation in a qualifying clinical research study
One of the things that Medicare Part A doesn’t provide coverage for is the cost of a private room, private nursing, or personal care items. In the instance that you need blood, the hospital will usually not bill you for it unless they need to purchase the blood. When this happens, you will only be responsible for the first three units you receive in a calendar year.
There are also benefits for home health care services when ordered by your doctor. Some of these include physical therapy, occupational therapy, medical social service, intermittent skilled nursing care, speech-language pathology services, and durable medical equipment. Any costs that are associated with 24-hour home care, homemaker services, or meals are not covered under Medicare Part A.
Typically, Part A will cover stays in a skilled nursing facility after an extended, qualifying stay longer than three days at a hospital’s inpatient wing. A doctor must also certify that you could not receive care at home and must have care provided at a skilled facility. While there, services that will be covered under Medicare could consist of the following:
- Meals
- Medical social services
- Semi-private room
- Rehabilitation services
- Dietary counseling
- Ambulance transportation to the medical provider.
