Yes, Medicare covers comfort care through its hospice benefit under Part A. The benefit pays for nearly all hospice services with minimal out-of-pocket costs to the patient: no more than $5 per prescription for pain and symptom management drugs, and a small copayment for inpatient respite care. Most comfort care services, including nursing visits, medical equipment, and counseling, are covered at no cost to you.
How the Medicare Hospice Benefit Works
Medicare’s hospice benefit is specifically designed for comfort care. To qualify, your hospice doctor and your regular doctor (if you have one) must certify that you have a terminal illness with a life expectancy of six months or less. You also need to be enrolled in Medicare Part A. Once you elect hospice, the focus of your care shifts from curing your illness to managing pain, controlling symptoms, and supporting your quality of life.
An important trade-off comes with this election: when you choose hospice, you agree to stop receiving curative treatments for your terminal condition. Medicare will still cover treatment for other health problems unrelated to your terminal diagnosis, but the hospice benefit itself is built around comfort, not cure. You can change your mind and leave hospice at any time to resume curative treatment.
What Services Are Covered
The hospice benefit is broad. It covers doctor services, nursing care, medical equipment like hospital beds and wheelchairs, and medical supplies such as bandages and catheters. Prescription drugs for pain and symptom control are included, with a copay capped at $5 per prescription. Physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech therapy are covered when they’re part of your comfort care plan.
Beyond the medical basics, hospice also covers home health aide services, social work support, dietary counseling, and grief and loss counseling for both you and your family. Short-term inpatient care is available when symptoms can’t be managed at home, and respite care gives your primary caregiver a break. For respite care, you pay 5% of the Medicare-approved amount, but your share can’t exceed the inpatient hospital deductible.
Benefit Periods and Recertification
Hospice care is organized into benefit periods. You start with two 90-day periods, followed by an unlimited number of 60-day periods. There is no cap on how long you can receive hospice care as long as you continue to meet the eligibility criteria.
At the beginning of each new benefit period after the first, a hospice medical director or hospice doctor must recertify that you’re still terminally ill. You don’t need to re-elect hospice care each time; the recertification process is handled by the hospice team. Recent rule changes have also simplified the paperwork, eliminating the requirement that the recertification attestation be a separate document. It can now be part of a signed clinical note in your medical record.
What Hospice Doesn’t Cover
Room and board is the most significant gap. If you’re living in a nursing home or assisted living facility, Medicare’s hospice benefit does not pay for your room and board there. It covers the hospice services you receive in that setting, but the cost of housing and meals remains your responsibility (or may be covered by Medicaid if you qualify).
Any treatments aimed at curing your terminal illness are also excluded once you’ve elected hospice. If you want to pursue a new round of chemotherapy or another curative approach, you’d need to revoke your hospice election first. Care from providers not arranged through your hospice team for the terminal condition is generally not covered either.
Palliative Care Without Hospice
Comfort care and hospice are closely related, but they’re not identical. Palliative care focuses on symptom relief and quality of life, and it can be provided alongside curative treatment at any stage of a serious illness. You don’t need a six-month prognosis to receive it. Medicare Part B can cover palliative care services like pain management visits and symptom control when billed as standard outpatient medical care, though you’ll pay the usual Part B cost-sharing (typically 20% after your deductible).
The distinction matters because many people searching for “comfort care” coverage aren’t necessarily ready for hospice. If you or a loved one has a serious illness but is still pursuing treatment, palliative care through Part B is an option. It won’t be as comprehensive or low-cost as the hospice benefit, but it can address pain, nausea, breathing difficulties, and emotional distress while treatment continues.
Choosing a Medicare-Certified Hospice
For Medicare to pay, your hospice provider must be Medicare-certified. This means the organization meets specific federal requirements and has a valid Medicare provider agreement, even if it operates within a hospital or nursing home. Hospices that are part of larger facilities must be separately certified. You can search for certified hospice providers through Medicare’s online care compare tool or by calling 1-800-MEDICARE.
For fiscal year 2026, CMS is increasing hospice payment rates by 2.6%, adding an estimated $750 million in payments across the program. The per-patient cap for 2026 is $35,361.44. These numbers reflect what Medicare pays hospice providers, not what you pay out of pocket, but they signal continued federal investment in the benefit. Hospice providers that don’t submit required quality data will face a payment reduction instead, which creates an incentive for programs to maintain reporting standards.