Does Medicare cover dental and vision?
Original Medicare leaves most dental, vision and hearing care to you, with narrow exceptions tied to medical treatment. What each of Medicare's own pages actually says, where the exceptions are, and…
SECTION
Coverage
What Medicare covers and what it does not, service by service, with the rules behind each answer.
Does Medicare cover home health care?
Medicare covers home health services if you are homebound and need part time or intermittent skilled care. The visits are unlimited, the hours are capped, and you pay nothing for the covered services.
Does Medicare cover hospice?
Part A covers hospice for two 90 day benefit periods, then an unlimited number of 60 day periods. Who certifies it, what the benefit includes, what stops being covered, and how to leave and come back.
Does Medicare cover hospital stays?
Part A covers an inpatient hospital stay when a doctor orders the admission and the hospital takes Medicare. What it includes, what it leaves out, and the five kinds of facility that all count.
Does Medicare cover long-term care?
Medicare does not pay for long-term care, and its own page is headed Not Covered. What the government counts as long-term care, who it says pays for it instead, and the nine places it sends you to…
Does Medicare cover rehab?
Medicare files rehab under two unrelated benefits. One is recovering from surgery, illness or injury. The other is addiction treatment, covered by three parts at once, where the place you go decides…
Does Medicare cover telehealth?
Part B covers certain telehealth services, and through December 31, 2027 you can get them from anywhere in the United States including your home. Medicare also names two specific types inside…
Does Medicare cover the shingles vaccine?
Part D covers the shingles vaccine and you pay nothing for it. Part B covers a different set of shots. Both sides are called free, and the condition on each side attaches to a different thing.
Does Medicare cover therapy?
Part B covers a wide range of outpatient mental health care, and Medicare's own word for it is counseling or psychotherapy. Its covered list reaches past the appointment to a safety plan, a phone…
Does Medicare cover you overseas?
Medicare usually does not cover health care outside the United States, and it names three exceptions. All three turn on which hospital is closest, and two of them describe people who never left the…
How many days does Medicare cover in a nursing home?
Part A covers up to 100 days of skilled nursing facility care in each benefit period, after a qualifying inpatient hospital stay of at least three days. What starts the clock, what stops it, and…
Medicare observation status vs inpatient
Observation is an outpatient service, even overnight. The status decides which part of Medicare pays, and whether a skilled nursing stay afterwards is covered at all. Two differently named notices…
Medicare prior authorization for procedures
Original Medicare runs two prior authorization programs, not one. Eight categories of hospital outpatient service have needed it nationwide since 2020. A six state pilot started in 2026, and CMS…
What does Medicare Part B cover?
Part B pays for outpatient diagnosis and treatment, usually at 20 percent after the yearly deductible. In a hospital, a second copayment lands on top. Medicare caps that copayment in most cases, and…
What is the Medicare annual wellness visit?
Medicare's page says the yearly Wellness visit is not a routine physical exam. Four lines further down, on the same page, it names a routine physical exam as the thing that can make you pay the full…
What preventive services does Medicare cover?
Part B covers twenty four categories of preventive service, and you pay nothing for most of them when your provider accepts assignment. Medicare's own boilerplate names two ways a free service…