Medicare does cover labor and delivery, but most pregnant people don’t qualify for Medicare in the first place. Unlike Medicaid, which covers pregnancy for millions of lower-income Americans, Medicare is limited to people 65 and older, those with qualifying disabilities, or those with end-stage renal disease (ESRD). If you fall into one of those groups and become pregnant, your hospital stay, delivery, and related medical services are covered under Medicare Part A.
Who Actually Qualifies for Medicare During Pregnancy
Medicare wasn’t designed as a maternity insurance program. The vast majority of people giving birth are under 65, which means the only way to have Medicare during pregnancy is through a qualifying disability or kidney failure. To qualify through disability, you need to have received Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits for at least 24 months. For ESRD, you qualify regardless of age if your kidneys no longer work and you need regular dialysis or have had a kidney transplant, provided you or a spouse or parent has worked enough under Social Security.
If you’re searching this question because you’re pregnant and wondering what insurance options exist, Medicaid is the far more common path. Medicaid covers nearly half of all births in the United States and has income-based eligibility that expands significantly for pregnant women. Many states now extend Medicaid coverage to 12 months after delivery rather than the previous 60-day cutoff. California, Florida, Kentucky, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Michigan, Louisiana, Virginia, New Jersey, and Illinois are among states that have adopted this longer postpartum coverage window.
What Medicare Part A Covers for Delivery
If you do have Medicare, Part A covers your inpatient hospital stay for labor and delivery. That includes your room, nursing care, medications administered during your stay, and any medically necessary procedures. If a cesarean section is required, the surgery and all related hospital services are covered under Part A as well.
Medicare Part B, which handles outpatient and physician services, covers the prenatal visits leading up to delivery and the doctor or midwife fees associated with the birth itself. Part B also covers lab work, ultrasounds, and other diagnostic tests ordered during pregnancy. Together, Parts A and B provide a fairly comprehensive framework for pregnancy care, though there are meaningful out-of-pocket costs to plan for.
Out-of-Pocket Costs to Expect
Medicare is not free at the point of care. For 2025, the Part A inpatient hospital deductible is $1,676 per benefit period. That means you pay $1,676 before Medicare begins covering your hospital stay for delivery. Most deliveries, including uncomplicated cesarean sections, involve stays well under 60 days, so the deductible is typically your only Part A cost. For context, if a hospital stay were to extend beyond 60 days (extremely rare for childbirth), daily coinsurance of $419 kicks in for days 61 through 90.
On the Part B side, you’re responsible for the standard monthly premium and a 20% coinsurance on physician services after meeting your annual deductible. This applies to your OB-GYN visits, the delivering physician’s fees, and any outpatient tests. These costs can add up across nine months of prenatal care, so budgeting ahead is important. A Medicare Supplement (Medigap) plan can help cover some or all of these gaps if you’re able to purchase one.
Prenatal and Postpartum Coverage
Medicare Part B covers standard prenatal care: routine checkups, blood tests, glucose screening, ultrasounds, and other monitoring your provider orders. High-risk pregnancies that require additional specialist visits or testing are also covered when deemed medically necessary.
After delivery, Medicare covers your postpartum follow-up visits. The postpartum period matters more than many people realize. One in three pregnancy-related deaths occur between one week and one year after childbirth, according to a report from the HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation. Recovery from delivery, monitoring for complications like blood clots or infection, and screening for postpartum depression all fall within this window. Medicare will cover medically necessary postpartum care, though the scope of what’s included depends on what your provider orders and whether it meets Medicare’s medical necessity criteria.
Medicare vs. Medicaid for Pregnancy
The confusion between Medicare and Medicaid during pregnancy is extremely common, and the distinction matters. Medicaid is the program specifically designed to help with pregnancy coverage for people who meet income requirements. Eligibility thresholds for pregnant women are higher than standard Medicaid in most states, often covering individuals with household incomes up to 138% to 200% of the federal poverty level or more, depending on the state.
It’s also possible to have both Medicare and Medicaid simultaneously, a status known as “dual eligible.” If you qualify for both, Medicaid can help cover the costs that Medicare doesn’t, including Part A deductibles and Part B coinsurance. This can significantly reduce your financial burden during pregnancy. Your state Medicaid office can help determine whether you qualify based on income and disability status.
If you currently have Medicare through disability and are pregnant, checking whether you also qualify for Medicaid in your state is one of the most effective steps you can take to minimize what you pay out of pocket for prenatal care, delivery, and the postpartum period that follows.