Does Medicare Pay for Hospital Beds and Sheets?

Medicare covers hospital bed sheets when you use them in a hospital or skilled nursing facility as an inpatient. When a hospital bed is used at home, Medicare will cover the bed itself but not the sheets.

Does Medicare Pay for Hospital Beds and Bed Sheets?

When you’re a hospital inpatient, Medicare covers your hospital bed sheets and your bed.

An inpatient stay at a hospital or skilled nursing facility is covered by your Medicare Part A benefits, which include coverage for the following:

1. A semi-private room
2. Meals
3. General nursing care
4. Drugs administered by a doctor or nurse as part of your inpatient treatment
5. Other hospital services and supplies

The hospital bed, including the sheets, blankets and pillows you use, are included as part of the coverage for the room.

When you are admitted to a hospital as an inpatient, you are required to pay a deductible of $1,632 in 2024 before your Part A benefits kick in. It’s important to note that the Part A deductible is not an annual deductible. You’re required to pay this entire deductible amount every time you experience a Part A benefit period.

A benefit period starts on the day you’re admitted for inpatient hospital or skilled nursing facility care, and it ends once you have not been an inpatient for 60 consecutive days. Each time you begin a new benefit period, you are responsible for another deductible, even within the same calendar year. 

You don’t owe any Part A coinsurance for the first 60 days of your inpatient hospital stay, but you will have to pay a daily coinsurance charge starting on day 61. 

Medicare Covers Hospital Beds for At-Home Care

Medicare Part B covers hospital beds for use in the home as Medicare durable medical equipment (DME). 

You may be given the option of buying or renting the hospital bed at Medicare’s expense. Medicare will typically cover the cost of mattress covers to prevent bedsores. However, you will have to supply your own bed sheets, blankets and pillows at your own expense. 

Medicare Part B requires an annual deductible of $240 in 2024. Once that deductible is met, beneficiaries are typically responsible for a coinsurance payment of 20% of the remaining cost of covered services or items. 

Medicare will only cover a hospital bed for at-home use if it is prescribed by a doctor who is enrolled in Medicare and if the bed comes from a supplier who is also enrolled in Medicare. If either the doctor or supplier are enrolled in Medicare but do not accept Medicare assignment, they reserve the right to charge up to 15% more than the Medicare-approved amount. 

What Are Typical Hospital Bed Sheet Sizes?

Hospital beds are typically 36 inches wide by 80 inches long and 9 Inches high (36"x80"x9"), which is the size of a twin bed in width but longer in length, so a special type of hospital size bed sheets is usually required.

A twin XL sheet typically fits on hospital beds. Twin XL sheets may also be called “extended twin” or “extra-long twin.”

Medicare Part B May Cover Some Hospital Bed Accessories 

Additional accessories that may be used with a hospital bed include:

• Trapeze bars, which assist the user in switching positions
• Rails, which can be either manual or electronic
• IV poles that are freestanding or attach to the bed
• Bed trays
• Bedpans
• Call cords for calling for assistance
• Bed rail pads to add some cushion to the metal rails

These accessories may or may not be covered by Medicare, depending on why you need them and whether you’re using them at home or while a hospital inpatient.

Do Private Medicare Plans Cover Hospital Beds?

There are two types of private Medicare insurance plans that may be able to help with the cost of a hospital bed. 

• Medicare Advantage plans (or Medicare Part C) are required by law to cover all of the same basic services and items that Medicare Part A and Part B cover, so all of the above coverage details will remain in effect.
  
  Many Medicare Advantage plans may then offer some additional coverage for things that Part A and Part B don’t cover, and some Medicare Advantage plans may provide more coverage of hospital beds or have different deductibles or coinsurance requirements than Parts A and B.
  
  
• Medicare Supplement Insurance (Medigap) plans help pay for some of the deductibles, copayments and coinsurance found in Medicare Part A and Part B. These plans can pick up the cost of some of the Medicare cost-sharing requirements for both inpatient and outpatient hospital beds.
  
  You can compare Medicare Supplement plans online for free, with no obligation to enroll.

It’s important to note that Medicare Advantage plans and Medicare Supplement plans are very different, and you cannot have both types of plans at the same time.