Short answer
Medicare does not pay for assisted living, memory care, or long-term custodial care anywhere in the country. It covers limited skilled nursing facility stays after a qualifying hospital admission, intermittent skilled home health, and hospice.
What Medicare covers
- Skilled nursing facility care after a qualifying inpatient hospital stay, for a limited period, when skilled care is needed daily. This is rehabilitation, not long-term placement.
- Home health that is intermittent and skilled — nursing visits, physical, occupational or speech therapy. Not a caregiver who stays with your parent.
- Hospice — the hospice team, medications related to the terminal diagnosis, and equipment. Not room and board in a facility.
The observation status trap. A Medicare skilled nursing benefit requires a
qualifying inpatient hospital admission. Time spent under “observation status”
does not count, even if your parent slept two nights in a hospital bed. Ask the hospital directly
whether your parent is admitted as an inpatient or under observation, and ask in writing.
What senior care costs. Wisconsin's 2024 CareScout state medians were $73,800/yr for assisted living and $120,815-$135,050/yr for a nursing home room; no metro-specific or memory-care figure is published anywhere. Read the full explanation →
