Quick answer: The Medicare Part A deductible in 2026 is $1,736 per benefit period — not per calendar year. This means you could potentially owe it more than once in a single year if you’re hospitalized, discharged, and readmitted after 60 days. A Medicare Supplement plan can cover this cost entirely.
Most people know Medicare helps pay for hospital stays — but far fewer realize that Medicare Part A comes with a significant deductible that applies every time you’re admitted to the hospital, not just once a year. For 2026, that deductible is $1,736, and the way it works can genuinely surprise people who assumed they were well-covered. Here’s what you need to know before a hospital stay catches you off guard.
Medicare Part A is your hospital insurance. It covers inpatient hospital stays, skilled nursing facility care, hospice care, and some home health services. Before Medicare Part A starts paying, however, you must first pay the $1,736 deductible — and this deductible applies per benefit period, not per calendar year.
Once you’ve paid that deductible, Medicare Part A covers your inpatient hospital costs for the first 60 days of your stay at 100% (of Medicare-approved amounts). After day 60, daily coinsurance kicks in — and after day 90, you begin drawing from a limited lifetime reserve of days.
This is the part that surprises most people. A Medicare benefit period begins the day you’re admitted to the hospital as an inpatient and ends when you’ve been out of the hospital (or skilled nursing facility) for 60 consecutive days. Once a benefit period ends and a new one begins, the $1,736 deductible resets — meaning you could owe it again.
For example: if you’re hospitalized in January, discharged, and then readmitted in April (more than 60 days later), you’d owe the full $1,736 deductible again for the second admission. There is no limit to how many benefit periods you can have in a single year, which means in a worst-case scenario, you could owe this deductible multiple times in 12 months.
Worth knowing: The Part A deductible is not an annual deductible like most people are used to from employer health insurance. It resets with every new benefit period, not every January 1. This is one of the most misunderstood aspects of Original Medicare.
Once you’ve paid the $1,736 deductible, here’s what Medicare Part A covers for an inpatient hospital stay in 2026:
| Days in Hospital | What You Pay (2026) |
|---|---|
| Days 1–60 | $0 per day (after $1,736 deductible) |
| Days 61–90 | $433 per day coinsurance |
| Days 91–150 (Lifetime Reserve) | $866 per day coinsurance |
| Beyond 150 Days | 100% — you pay all costs |
This is where a Medicare Supplement plan makes an enormous difference. Most Medigap plans cover the Part A deductible entirely — meaning you’d pay $0 out of pocket for your hospital admission, regardless of how many benefit periods you experience in a year.
Medicare Supplement Plan G — the most popular Supplement plan for new Medicare enrollees in 2026 — covers the Part A deductible in full, along with the Part A coinsurance for days 61–90 and beyond, skilled nursing facility coinsurance, and even an additional 365 days of hospital coverage after your Medicare lifetime reserve days are exhausted. For anyone with a history of hospitalizations or chronic health conditions, this coverage can represent tens of thousands of dollars in protection.
Medicare Advantage plans (Part C) handle hospital costs differently. Instead of the Part A benefit period structure, most Advantage plans have their own per-day hospital copays — for example, $250–$350 per day for the first few days of an inpatient stay — and an annual out-of-pocket maximum that caps your total exposure for the year. For some people, this structure works well; for others, particularly those with complex or ongoing health needs, the unpredictable daily copays can add up quickly.
The right choice between a Supplement plan and a Medicare Advantage plan depends on your individual health history and financial situation. Also see: Medicare Part B | Part D Drug Plans | New to Medicare in Florida
Medicare Part A also covers skilled nursing facility (SNF) care — but only under specific conditions, and with its own cost-sharing structure. To qualify, you must have had a qualifying 3-day inpatient hospital stay, be admitted to a Medicare-certified SNF within 30 days of that stay, and require skilled care (not just custodial care). Coverage in a SNF in 2026 looks like this:
A Medicare Supplement Plan G covers the SNF coinsurance for days 21–100 as well — another significant protection that many people don’t realize they’re missing until they need it.
A local NISONA advisor can compare Supplement plan options in your area, explain exactly what each plan covers, and help you find the right protection at the right price — at no cost to you.
Nisona serves the insurance needs of the Treasure and Space Coast.