Medicare Part A is one of four components of the federal government’s health insurance program for older adults and other eligible people.
Medicare Part A pays for care at a hospital, skilled nursing facility, or nursing home, and for home health services.
Most people receive Part A for free because they’ve paid the Medicare payroll tax during their working years.
If you haven’t started collecting Social Security at age 65, you need to enroll in Medicare online, by phone, or at a Social Security office.
Medicare doesn’t cover all services, such as simple custodial care in a nursing home if the patient doesn’t need other types of care.
Medicare Part A helps pay for bills related to inpatient hospital stays, skilled nursing facility care, inpatient care in a skilled nursing facility, hospice care, and home health care. It covers expenses such as semi-private rooms at skilled nursing facilities, inpatient care, supplies, and drugs during a hospital stay, as well as physical and occupational therapy in your home if you are homebound. Doctor’s services, medication, and grief-and-loss counseling for terminally ill patients are also covered.
Medicare Part A is a social welfare program and therefore largely funded by tax dollars. In most cases, you and your employer each paid a 1.45% payroll tax on your wages throughout your working years. If you paid this tax, then your monthly premium is waived (although most people will still have to pay for copayments and coinsurance). But if you didn’t pay this tax, you are subject to paying the premium of up to $471 per month in 2021.
Although your premiums may be waived, people insured under Medicare still have to pay deductibles. Deductibles for inpatient hospital stays are $1,484, as of 2021, and covers the first 60 days of a hospital stay. On day 61, your copayment of $371 will begin and will be required until the 90th day in the hospital.
You may qualify for premium-free Part A if you are a younger person who is currently receiving long-term Social Security benefits due to a disability.
In general, you’re eligible for Medicare Part A if you:
If you have signed up for Social Security benefits prior to reaching age 65, then you will be automatically enrolled. If you have delayed collecting Social Security benefits, then you will need to actively enroll when you turn 65. You may be automatically enrolled into Medicare if one of the following conditions apply:
If you have not signed up for Social Security benefits by age 65, and you are eligible, then you should sign up for Medicare through Social Security during your initial enrollment period. This is a seven-month period which:
You can enroll online at ssa.gov, by phone, or by visiting a Social Security office.
In most cases, if you don't enroll in Part B when you first become eligible, you'll owe a late enrollment penalty each month for as long as you have Part B and could have a gap in your health insurance. you will permanently pay more for Medicare Part B if you don’t sign up in time.
