Part A of Original Medicare is very good at containing costs associated with a hospitalization. Part B can be a wildcard of cost containment. There are situations where the 20 percent coinsurance of Part B is much larger than a lengthy hospitalization.
Part A Hospitalization Costs
Let’s look at the costs of an unexpected hospitalization under Original Medicare. Perhaps you felt ill and an ambulance took you to the emergency room. You would meet the Part B deductible of $283 immediately. You undergo surgery and need two pints of blood at $600. You are in the hospital for two weeks.
The Medicare Part A hospital deductible is $1,736 (2026) for the first 60-days in the hospital. You are in the hospital for two weeks. Then you are discharged to a skilled nursing facility to recuperate. Medicare Part A picks up the first 20-days of the nursing facility. Your stay is 40 days. You have to pay $217 per day for days 21 through 40, for a total of $4,340. Your approximate hospitalization costs for surgery, hospital, and skilled nursing facility are $6,959.
Part A has fixed costs that help you contain the costs of a hospitalization. Part B, outpatient coverage, is a wildcard of expenses. After a modest Part B deductible of $283 (2026), you go into 20 percent coinsurance for health care services.
Part B Wildcard of 20% Coinsurance
In the 21st century, we are more likely to receive life-saving health care in an outpatient setting. Consider if you have an illness that requires weekly infusions at a doctor’s offices or outpatient facility.
Each infusion costs $10,000. You have ten infusions, one each week. At 20 percent coinsurance your Part B patient responsibility is $20,000. When we add the Part B deductible, your total costs for the infusion therapy are $20,283. This cost is more than double the two-week hospital and 40-day nursing facility stay.
Medicare Supplement Coverage
Fortunately, Medicare Advantage and Medicare Supplement plans help contain the Part coinsurance wildcard costs.
All standardized Medicare Supplement plans will cover all or most of the Part B coinsurance. Generally, Plan A is the least expensive, but it can be close to Plan G in monthly premiums. However, considering we know the fixed costs of Part A hospitalization, having a Plan A Medicare Supplement plan can be cheap insurance for Part B if you can’t locate a Medicare Advantage plan to your liking.
YouTube video on the Part B wildcard of costs.
