Does Medicare cover assisted living?
Medicare doesn't pay for assisted living — the room, board, and custodial help with daily activities are considered long-term care, which Medicare doesn't cover.
What flips the answer
- Covered when
It's a medical service you receive while living there (doctor visit, therapy, hospital care) — that's covered like anywhere else; the facility charges aren't.
- Covered when
You qualify for your state's Medicaid program, which may help pay for some assisted-living services (usually not room and board).
- Not covered when
You're asking about the facility's rent, meals, and custodial personal-care help — Medicare never covers those.
Assisted living is a housing-plus-support arrangement: rent, meals, and help with daily activities like bathing, dressing, medication reminders, and getting around. That bundle is custodial long-term care, and Original Medicare does not cover it — not the rent and not the personal-care help.
Medicare can still cover medical care you receive while you happen to live in an assisted living facility. A covered doctor visit, a hospital stay, physical therapy, or the shingles vaccine is covered the same way it would be anywhere else. What's excluded is the facility's room, board, and custodial services.
For paying the assisted-living bill itself, people generally rely on private pay, long-term care insurance, veterans' benefits, or — in some cases — state Medicaid programs, which may help with services (though usually not room and board) for those who qualify financially.
If you need short-term skilled care after a hospital stay, that's a different benefit: Medicare may cover a stay in a skilled nursing facility, which is not the same as assisted living.
That's the general answer. Yours is written in your actual policy.
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