Medicare Part A is hospital insurance and one part of Original Medicare. It helps cover inpatient hospital stays, short-term skilled nursing care, hospice, and certain home health services.

Services Part A Can Cover

Part A helps cover:

  • Inpatient care after a hospital formally admits you
  • Limited skilled nursing facility care when Medicare’s conditions are met
  • Hospice care for a terminal illness
  • Certain home health services
  • Inpatient care in some rehabilitation and long-term care hospitals. These hospitals provide hospital-level treatment, rather than the daily personal help offered in a nursing home.

Your status matters. Spending a night in a hospital does not necessarily mean you were admitted as an inpatient; you may be receiving outpatient observation services covered by Part B instead.

What Part A Does Not Fully Cover

Part A does not make every hospital-related expense free. In 2026, Original Medicare has a $1,736 Part A deductible for each inpatient hospital benefit period. Daily coinsurance can apply during longer hospital or skilled nursing facility stays.

Part A generally does not cover long-term help with daily tasks such as bathing and dressing, a private room when it is not medically necessary, private-duty nursing, or personal convenience items. Doctor services received while you are an inpatient are usually billed under Part B.

Check the Coverage Conditions

Each benefit has its own rules. Skilled nursing coverage, for example, requires skilled care and other eligibility conditions; it is not a general nursing-home benefit. Home health and hospice also require a qualified provider to confirm that you need the care and a Medicare-approved provider to deliver it.

Use Medicare's Part A coverage information and ask the facility whether your care will be billed as inpatient or outpatient and which part of Medicare will pay.

For example, two nights in a hospital could be billed as inpatient care or as outpatient observation. Ask the hospital to identify your status; the length of the stay alone does not decide it. That status can also affect eligibility for a later skilled nursing stay.

Medicare policy sources last checked: October 8, 2026.