Medicare Part A – Hospital and other Institutional Coverage (Traditional Medicare)

Medicare Part A covers inpatient hospital care, care in skilled-nursing facilities, hospice, and home health care. The program has developed a variety of payment systems for these providers. Inpatient hospital spending is one of the largest areas of spending for the program overall. Medicare pays for a sizable share of all hospital care received in the U.S. (26 percent of total inpatient and outpatient hospital care in 2022), reflecting the Medicare populations’ age and relatively high prevalence of serious health conditions.