Читать книгу Medicare For Dummies - Barry Patricia, Patricia Barry - Страница 21

Part A and Part B form the core of Medicare. They provide the coverage that you have if you enroll in the traditional or original Medicare program that has been around since 1966, although many more services have been added since then. Parts A and B are also the basis of your coverage if you’re in a Medicare Advantage health plan, because all those plans must by law cover the same services as the traditional program, although the plans can provide extra benefits if they want to. (I go into detail about the differences between traditional Medicare and Medicare Advantage plans in Chapter 9.)

These two parts of Medicare cover entirely different services, as I explain in Chapter 1. But sometimes Parts A and B work in tandem. For example, if you need to go into the hospital, in most cases, Part A covers the cost of your room, meals, and nursing care after you’ve met the deductible. But Part B covers the cost of your medical treatment — services provided by surgeons, other doctors, and anesthetists. This division of coverage also applies to staying in a skilled nursing facility for continuing care after leaving the hospital, using home health services, and receiving hospice care.

In the following sections, I describe broad categories of services that Parts A and B pay for.