Medicare helps pay for inpatient mental health services in either psychiatric hospitals (hospitals that only treat mental health patients) or in general hospitals. Your doctor will determine which hospital setting you need.

If you receive care in a psychiatric hospital, Medicare helps pay for up to 190 days of inpatient care in your lifetime. After you have reached that limit, Medicare may help pay for mental health care at a general hospital.

Your out-of-pocket costs are the same in a psychiatric hospital as they are in any hospital.

If you enter a psychiatric hospital within 60 days of being an inpatient at a different hospital, you are in the same benefit period and do not have to pay the deductible again. A benefit period begins the day you start getting inpatient care and ends when you’ve been out of the hospital or skilled nursing facility for 60 days in a row.

To find out more about Medicare’s coverage of inpatient hospital care, click on the link in the GO TO box.