How Long Does Medicare Pay For A Nursing Home? 
Nursing home care is typically covered by a Long-Term Care insurance policy . Medicare can cover some nursing home expenses , but only under specific conditions . The facility providing the nursing home care to Medicare beneficiaries must be a Medicare certified skilled nursing home and you must have a qualifying hospital stay -LRB- at least a 3-day hospital stay -RRB- before going into the nursing care facility . Medigap plans can provide some coverage too if Medicare approves the claim for nursing home care -LRB- Medigap plans only provide benefits if Medicare does too -RRB- . You can also refer to Medicare.gov to see specifically what nursing home care expenses are covered . A Long-Term Care insurance policy is recommended because it can protect you from draining all your savings to pay for the expensive costs of nursing home care . According to longtermcare.gov , the average cost of care in a nursing home facility is approximately $ 6,235 per month in a semi-private room -LRB- that 's $ 74,820 per year -RRB- , $ 6,965 per month for a private room -LRB- that 's $ 83,580 per year -RRB- , and $ 3,293 per month for care in an assisted living facility -LRB- that 's $ 39,516 -RRB- . In short , the cost of care is more than what most people make in a year and they would drain their assets paying for the care . How many people could afford to write that size check ? So why take on the risk yourself when you can shift the risk to a third party -LRB- the insurance company -RRB- and let them take care of the expenses . Please let me know if I can be of further assistance . Thanks very much . 