Medicare Part A, explained

What Part A pays for

Part A is often called hospital insurance. It helps with the cost of being admitted as an inpatient: at a hospital, at a critical access hospital, or at a skilled nursing facility for a period of daily skilled care. It also helps pay for hospice care and for some home health care. Doctor visits, outpatient tests and most care you get without being admitted fall under Part B instead.

Most people pay no premium

If you or your spouse worked and paid Medicare taxes for long enough, generally at least 10 years, Part A comes with no monthly premium. People who do not meet that work history can still buy it. In 2026 the monthly price is either $311 or $565, depending on how long you or your spouse paid Medicare taxes, and anyone buying Part A must also enroll in Part B.

Benefit periods: how Part A counts a stay

Part A does not use a calendar-year deductible. It uses benefit periods, which begin when you are admitted as an inpatient. You owe the deductible each time a new benefit period starts, and Medicare does not limit how many you can have in a year, so the deductible can come due more than once in the same year. One deductible covers a hospital stay and a skilled nursing stay that follows it in the same benefit period.

What a hospital stay costs in 2026

Skilled nursing care has a condition attached: Original Medicare covers it only after a qualifying hospital stay, meaning you were admitted as an inpatient for at least 3 days in a row. Nights spent under observation or in the emergency room before you are admitted do not count toward those 3 days, so it is worth asking the hospital staff how you are being classified.

Original Medicare has no yearly cap on these costs. A Medigap policy can pay much of this share, and Medicare Advantage plans set their own amounts along with a yearly out-of-pocket limit. See what Medigap is and how Medicare Advantage works.

If you have to buy Part A

Someone who must pay for Part A and does not sign up when first eligible may owe a higher premium: 10% more, for twice the number of years they waited. Waiting two years, for example, means paying the higher amount for four. Our guide to late enrollment penalties covers the ways to avoid it.

Common questions

Last reviewed October 2026. Medicare rules, dates and dollar amounts can change each year; Medicare.gov has the official details.