You have a total of 60 days in reserve that you can use throughout your life. For each day of a lifetime reserve, Medicare pays all but one day of covered costs. Beneficiaries receive 60 days of lifetime reserve beginning on day 91 of hospitalization. Once a person uses their 60-day lifetime reserve, they don't get more.
If you need additional care, consider seeking Home Care near Raeford NC.You can tell the hospital that you don't want to use your lifetime reserve days if you want to save them for a later stay. You can also choose to divide your 60-day lifetime reserve into more than one hospital stay. Some links on this page may take you to pages of Humana products or services that are not Medicare pages or to a different website. Medicare covers up to 100 days of SNF care per benefit period.
Learn what happens when your coverage runs out, how to qualify for a new benefit period, and alternative options for continuing care. If you receive hospital care for more than 90 days, Medicare Part A gives you an additional 60 days of coverage. These are called lifetime reserve days. They can only be used once in a lifetime. If you receive hospital care in a hospital or other intensive care facility for more than 90 days, Medicare Part A gives you an additional 60 days of coverage, called lifetime reserve days.
Medicare Part A (hospital insurance) covers medically necessary care you receive at an inpatient rehabilitation facility or unit (sometimes referred to as a “rehabilitation center,” IRF, intensive care rehabilitation center, or inpatient rehabilitation hospital). Medicare Part A covers inpatient hospital care, skilled nursing (SNF) care (for certain short-term conditions, it doesn't cover long-term care), palliative care, and some home health care (it doesn't cover exclusive care with custody). All Medicare supplement plans provide coverage for 61 days and beyond, but not all cover the Medicare Part A deductible. You can notify the hospital that you don't want to use your lifetime reserve days (either while you're in the hospital or up to 90 days after your discharge), but keep in mind that you'll have to pay the full cost of care during those days.
The 190-day limit doesn't apply to care you receive in a separate, Medicare-certified psychiatric unit within an intensive care or intensive care hospital. Part A only covers a maximum of 190 days of inpatient mental health care in a separate psychiatric hospital over the course of your life. For example, if you need to stay in the hospital twice for 120 days each time for different benefit periods, you can use 30 of your lifetime reserve days every time. Remember that you can once again be eligible for Medicare coverage for your SNF care, once you've been out of the hospital or SNF for 60 straight days.
If you need more than 100 days of SNF care in a benefit period, the benefit period is the period during which Medicare pays for the services of a hospital and a skilled nursing facility (SNF). You don't have to pay a deductible for inpatient rehabilitation care if Medicare already charged you a deductible for care you received in a previous hospitalization within the same benefit period. The Medicare benefit period begins the first day a person is admitted to a hospital and ends when the person has been at home for 60 days. After being out of the hospital for 60 straight days, they will be eligible for another 90 days of hospital coverage because they will be in a new benefit period.
Ask your provider if you are eligible for home treatment through the Medicare home health benefit, or if you could be treated safely as an outpatient. An outpatient is a patient who has not been formally admitted to the hospital as hospitalized patient.
