What's the difference between Medicare Parts A, B, C and D?

Think of them as four pieces: • Part A covers you in the hospital: inpatient stays, skilled nursing care after a qualifying hospital stay, hospice and some care at home. • Part B covers you outside the hospital: doctor appointments, outpatient services, lab work, preventive care and equipment like walkers. • Part C, called Medicare Advantage, is a private plan that takes the place of A and B and frequently adds drug coverage and extra benefits. • Part D pays for prescriptions, either on its own or built into a Medicare Advantage plan.

More detail

Here's how it works on a real day. Say you fall and break your hip. The hospital stay is Part A. Your surgeon's bill is Part B, and so is the walker you take home. The pain pills you fill at your pharmacy afterward are Part D. If you have Medicare Advantage, one plan handles all of that.

A common surprise: spending the night in the hospital doesn't always mean Part A. If you're kept for observation without being formally admitted, you're an outpatient, even overnight. Ask the hospital each day whether you're an inpatient or an outpatient.

Another: Original Medicare doesn't cover some things people expect, like routine physical exams, eye exams and most dental care, or non-medical long-term care.

What to have ready: your Medicare card. It shows whether you have Part A (listed as HOSPITAL), Part B (listed as MEDICAL) or both, and the date each began.

If you'd like a simple walk-through of how your own coverage fits together, I'm here for that.