What are Lifetime Reserve Days for Medicare Part A?
By: By the Globe Life Staff
May 15, 2025
What are Medicare Lifetime Reserve Days?
In Original Medicare (Part A and Part B), lifetime reserve days for Medicare Part A are additional days for hospital inpatient care. Medicare Part A is the hospitalization portion of Medicare benefits. When a person enrolled in Medicare is admitted to the hospital, there are limitations on when and how long Medicare will cover the hospital stay.
Medicare Part A covers your inpatient hospitalization if you meet both of the following criteria:
1
- The hospital you are admitted to accepts Medicare; and
- You are admitted as an inpatient according to a physician’s order stating you need inpatient hospital care for your illness or injury.
Medicare determines the amount you pay for an inpatient hospital stay based on benefit periods. At the beginning of each benefit period, you must first satisfy the Medicare Part A deductible. In 2025, the Medicare Part A deductible is $1,676.
After the deductible is met, you pay as follows:
1
- Days 1-60: $0
- Days 61-90: $419 coinsurance each day
- Days 91-150 (lifetime reserve days): $838 coinsurance each day up to 60 days over your lifetime
- Days 151+: you pay all costs
When does a new benefit period begin?
A benefit period begins the day you are admitted as an inpatient in a hospital or skilled nursing facility. The benefit period ends when you have not received inpatient hospital care (or skilled care in a skilled nursing facility) for 60 consecutive days.
2
There is no limit to the number of benefit periods you can have in a year. With each benefit period another Medicare deductible needs to be fulfilled.
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Medicare Supplement insurance is an effective way to help with the extra costs of hospitalization.
Lifetime Reserve Days
Lifetime reserve days are additional days that Medicare will pay benefits for when you are in a hospital for more than 90 days.
You have a limit of 60 reserve days to use during your lifetime. Once you have used up the benefit of inpatient hospital costs, any costs beyond that benefit period are not covered.
How do my lifetime reserve days work within a benefit period?
You can use these concurrently within the benefit period or save them for future use. For example, if you are an inpatient beyond 90 days, you can opt to use some or all of your lifetime reserve days. If you do not use them all, the remaining days can be used during another benefit period.
Help with Hospital Costs
Medicare Supplement insurance is an effective way to help with the extra costs of hospitalization. Depending on which Medicare Supplement insurance policy you buy, you can help cover part of or the full amount of Part A coinsurance and Part A deductible, thereby helping reduce your out-of-pocket spending for inpatient care.
Medicare Plans / Benefits
Basic Benefits |
A |
B |
C* |
D |
F1* |
G1 |
K2 |
L3 |
M |
N4 |
| Part A coinsurance and hospital coverage |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Part B coinsurance or copayment |
100% |
100% |
100% |
100% |
100% |
100% |
50% |
75% |
100% |
100% |
| First 3 pints of blood |
|
|
|
|
|
|
50% |
75% |
|
|
| Skilled nursing facility coinsurance |
- |
- |
|
|
|
|
50% |
75% |
|
|
| Part A deductible |
- |
|
|
|
|
|
50% |
75% |
50% |
|
| Part B Deductible |
- |
- |
|
- |
|
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
| Part B excess charges |
- |
- |
- |
- |
|
|
- |
- |
- |
- |
| Part B Excess Charges |
- |
- |
- |
100% |
100% |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
| Foreign travel emergency |
- |
- |
80% |
80% |
80% |
80% |
- |
- |
80% |
80% |
* Plan F and Plan C are not available to Medicare beneficiaries who became eligible for Medicare on or after January 1, 2020. If you became eligible for Medicare before 2020, you may still be able to enroll in Plan F or Plan C as long as they are available in your area.
1 Plans F and G offer high-deductible plans that each have an annual deductible of $2,870 in 2025. Once the annual deductible is met, the plan pays 100% of covered services for the rest of the year. The high-deductible Plan F is not available to new beneficiaries who became eligible for Medicare on or after January 1, 2020.
2 Plan K has an out-of-pocket yearly limit of $7,220 in 2025. After you pay the out-of-pocket yearly limit and yearly Part B deductible, it pays 100% of covered services for the rest of the calendar year.
3 Plan L has an out-of-pocket yearly limit of $3,610 in 2025. After you pay the out-of-pocket yearly limit and yearly Part B deductible, it pays 100% of covered services for the rest of the calendar year.
4 Plan N pays 100% of the Part B coinsurance, except for a copayment of up to $20 for some office visits and up to $50 copayment for emergency room visits that don’t result in an inpatient admission.
Speak with a
licensed insurance agent or broker who sells Medicare Supplement insurance to find a
Medicare Supplement insurance policy that will work for you and your future medical needs.
Sources:
1. Medicare, Inpatient Hospital Care, Accessed 2025
2. Medicare, Medicare & You 2025, Accessed 2025