People With Medicare

Medicare Hospice Benefits

What does Medicare cover?

• Doctor visits
• Nurses to care for you
• Medical equipment and supplies
• Drugs to make symptoms or pain better
• Hospice aides and homemakers
• Physical, speech, and occupational therapy to help you move, talk and do daily activities
• Social workers
• Advice on what to eat
• Grief and loss counseling for you and your family
• Short-term inpatient care if you need to go to the hospital for pain management or to treat a problem not related to your terminal illness
• Short-term respite care to give your caregivers a break
• Any other Medicare-covered services needed to manage your pain and other symptoms. Your hospice team must recommend these.

What will Medicare NOT cover?

Under hospice, Medicare will not cover the following:

• Treatment to cure your terminal illness.
• Prescription drugs to cure your illness. Medicare will cover drugs to make your symptoms or pain better.
• Care from another hospice provider that your hospice medical team did not name. But you can change your hospice provider if you like.
• Room and board in a skilled nursing facility. Medicare will cover short-term inpatient or respite services when your hospice team arranges them. You may pay a small copayment for respite care.

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