Posted by MedEd at MHI
A: If you are on Original Medicare, you’ll want to understand how a benefit period impacts an inpatient hospital stay. A benefit period starts the day you are admitted and it ends when you have been discharged from the facility with no readmissions for 60 days. If you are readmitted within 60 days, you remain in the same benefit period. If you are readmitted after 60 days, you enter a new benefit period.
This is extremely important for those who decide to rely on Original Medicare alone rather than enrolling in a Medicare Supplement. With no health insurance to go along with Medicare, Part A inpatient hospitalization has a deductible associated with each benefit period you experience. It’s $1,316 per benefit period. It is not an issue for those years you don’t have a hospital admission. It’s a $1,316 issue if you have a hospital admission. And it can be much worse for the years you are admitted in multiple benefit periods.
That’s just one of the reasons it’s so important to look into additional health insurance to go along with your Medicare.