Category: Medicare
-
Medicare beneficiaries pay $217 a day for covered skilled nursing care after day 20
A covered skilled-nursing stay can feel free during its first weeks and then produce a $217 daily bill almost overnight. In 2026, Medicare Part A charges no coinsurance for days 1 through 20 of a covered stay in a benefit period. Days 21 through 100 carry the $217 daily amount, making the coverage calendar a…
-
Extra Medicare pay for small rural hospitals expires December 31
Under current law, Medicare-Dependent Hospital payments and the temporary low-volume hospital adjustment expire December 31, 2026, unless Congress acts.
-
A Medicare rule finalized this week requires all rehab therapy to start within 36 hours
CMS finalized a revision requiring that all — not just some — therapies begin within 36 hours of admission to an inpatient rehabilitation facility.
-
The subsidy holding down standalone Medicare drug premiums ends after 2026
CMS is ending the Part D Premium Stabilization Demonstration after 2026. The 2027 national average monthly bid amount is $296.05, and plan premiums arrive in September.
-
Medicare will make hospices hand every family the list of drugs they refuse to cover
CMS’s FY2027 hospice final rule makes the election statement addendum mandatory for everyone electing hospice, not just those who ask for it.
-
Medicare’s 2027 Part B premium is not set yet, whatever the $209.50 figure suggests
Search for next year’s Medicare costs and the same number comes back from a dozen directions: $209.50 a month. It appears in blog posts, in benefits explainers, in at least one page whose headline flatly announces that the 2027 premiums have been released. They have not. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has published…
-
Medicare will flag its top-rated nursing homes on Care Compare in September and give them lighter inspections
A family choosing a nursing home rarely gets much time to do it. A hospital discharge planner hands over a list, a parent needs a bed within days, and a set of star ratings on a federal website ends up carrying most of the weight in a decision that will shape both a person’s care…
-
Medicare set the 2027 Part D base premium at $41.33 and will end a subsidy for standalone drug plans
On July 28, Medicare published one number that no beneficiary will ever see on a bill: $41.33. That is the base beneficiary premium for Part D drug coverage in 2027, and it is not a price. It is the statutory floor that every basic drug-plan premium is calculated from, and the figure the late-enrollment penalty…
-
Turning 65 Soon? Your Medicare Enrollment Window
Medicare’s Initial Enrollment Period runs seven months around your 65th birthday. Miss it and the late penalties follow you for life. Here’s the timeline.
-
Medigap Plans Compared: What the Letters Mean
Medigap plans are standardized by letter, so Plan G is Plan G everywhere and only the price changes. What each letter covers and why your buying window matters.
