Medicare Part A Limits: People on Medicare think the program will take care of everything during a hospital stay. But that’s not true, especially if you have to stay in the hospital for a long time. Even though Medicare Part A gives important help for inpatient care like your hospital room, nursing, and some supplies, there are big limits on how much it pays and for how long. If someone ends up in the hospital for more than 90 days, the bills can get really high in 2025.
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If you worked and paid Medicare taxes for 10 years or 40 quarters, you usually don’t pay a monthly premium for Medicare Part A. Still, that doesn’t mean your hospital stay is free. You still have to deal with deductibles, coinsurance, and benefit limits. These costs get even more serious after three months in the hospital.
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When you go into the hospital as an inpatient, your coverage starts what’s called a “benefit period.” This begins on the day you’re admitted. It ends if you’ve been out of the hospital or not getting skilled nursing care for 60 days in a row. If you go back after that, you start a new benefit period. In 2025, you have to pay $1,676 at the start of each benefit period before Medicare pays its part.
During the first 60 days of your stay, Medicare pays everything after that $1,676. But once you reach day 61, you have to start paying $419 every day. That adds up fast. Then after day 90, it gets even more costly. Medicare gives you 60 “lifetime reserve days” that you can use across your whole life when you’re in the hospital for more than 90 days. While you use those reserve days, you’ll owe $838 each day. This is a huge cost.
And once you use up all 60 of those lifetime reserve days, that’s it. Medicare stops covering your inpatient hospital costs completely. You then have to pay the full amount yourself every day you stay in the hospital. If you stayed for a month after using those reserve days, you could end up owing over $25,000. That’s a massive bill for most people.
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It’s Important to Plan Ahead
People often don’t expect to stay in a hospital for a long time, but accidents and serious sickness can happen to anyone. Many think Medicare covers everything, but that’s not true. It’s really important to know how many of your lifetime reserve days you’ve used. If you’ve already used them up in a past hospital stay, then next time you go past day 90, Medicare won’t help at all. That’s when the bills get scary.
Also, if your hospital stay leads to time in a skilled nursing facility, the rules change again. Medicare will pay everything for the first 20 days. But from day 21 to day 100, you need to pay $209.50 per day. And if you’re still there after 100 days, you have to pay the full cost by yourself.
Another thing to remember is that not all hospital services are covered under Part A. For example, if a doctor treats you or you get any outpatient care while in the hospital, those fall under Medicare Part B. In 2025, Part B has a $257 deductible each year. After that, it usually pays 80% of approved costs, and you have to pay the other 20%.
