Long-term care hospitals provide specialized treatment for patients with multiple serious medical conditions who need extended hospitalization of 25 days or more. These facilities focus on patients who may improve with intensive care and eventually return home. Services typically include respiratory therapy, head trauma treatment, comprehensive rehabilitation, and pain management.
Under Original Medicare in 2026, your costs for long-term care hospital stays follow the same structure as regular hospital stays. For each benefit period, you pay a $1,736 deductible for days 1 through 60. Days 61 through 90 require a daily coinsurance payment of $434. After day 90, you can use lifetime reserve days with a daily coinsurance of $868, up to a maximum of 60 reserve days over your lifetime. Once lifetime reserve days are exhausted, you become responsible for all costs.
An important cost-saving provision applies when transferring between facilities. If you move from a regular hospital to a long-term care hospital within the same benefit period, you won’t pay the deductible twice.