Staying at home allows seniors to take advantage of Medicare coverage to help pay for part-time in-home care. Part-time, in-home skilled nursing care and home health aide services are covered by Medicare if ordered by a doctor and you are considered homebound by Medicare. These services can be expensive, so being able to afford them is important. In addition, staying in their homes allows seniors to avoid the costs of hospitalization. Being hospitalized can be very expensive, especially since most hospitals charge high prices for their services. By staying in their homes instead, seniors have the option to receive all of their medical treatments on site from experienced doctors and nurses rather than wasting time in a hospital waiting room. This can make a big difference when it comes to keeping treatment affordable for them. Finally, staying in their homes means that seniors do not have to leave their community to find quality care if they need it. Most states have laws that require any provider who treats patients in person (such as doctors or nurses) to also accept patients over the phone or via email. These laws ensure that no one is excluded from care based on where they live or how they are treated by their physician. Some providers may have additional requirements such as accepting only certain forms of payment or seeing certain numbers of patients per day/week, but these are usually agreed upon during discussions between the patient and doctor.