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1992.11.27 :  Medicare Inpatient Deductible

Contact:  Bob Hardy (202) 690-6145
November 27, 1992

     A notice published in today's Federal Register announces
that in 1993 Medicare beneficiaries will pay a one-time
deductible of $676 for each inpatient hospital stay in which they
are receiving services and supplies under Part A (Hospital
Insurance) of the Medicare program.
     This is the sole expense Medicare beneficiaries must pay for
covered services during the first 60 days of inpatient hospital
care.  Medicare will pay all other covered expenses.
     In the event that beneficiaries are hospitalized beyond 60
days they will be responsible for coinsurance payment of $169 a
day for the 61st to the 90th day for inpatient hospital care,
one-fourth of the hospital deductible.
     Each beneficiary is entitled to a lifetime reserve of 60
days for care needed beyond any 90-day period of inpatient
hospital care.  The 1993 coinsurance rate for reserve days is set
at $338, or one-half of the hospital deductible.
     Medicare will pay 100 percent of the covered charges for
therapeutic care in skilled nursing facilities for the first 20
days following at least three consecutive days of inpatient
hospital care.  Beneficiaries will be required to pay $84.50 per
day for the 21st through the 100th day, or one-eighth of the
inpatient hospital deductible.
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Editor's Note:  The Health Care Financing Administration, an
agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,
directs the Medicare programs for the elderly and disabled and
the federal portion of the Medicaid program for the poor.  In
dollar terms, HCFA's FY '93 budget of $230 billion is the 12th
largest governmental budget of any kind in the world, and helps
pay the medical bills of 35.5 million Medicare beneficiaries and
30.1 million Medicaid beneficiaries.