Does Medicare Pay For Visiting Angels? Coverage, Cost, And Services

Visiting Angels is a home healthcare agency that offers various services, including personal care, respite care, and hospice care.

Medicare typically only covers short-term or intermittent care. In general, Medicare does not cover home health services that provide long-term care.

Medicare may cover some home health services if people are homebound and a doctor prescribes the services as medically necessary.

This article explains Medicare’s coverage of Visiting Angels, the home health services Medicare may cover, and who may be eligible for coverage.

Visiting Angels provides healthcare services within a person’s home. These services may include personal care, respite care, and end-of-life care. There is a network of Visiting Angels agencies throughout the United States.

Visiting Angels is an independent, Medicare-approved home healthcare agency, although Medicare does not cover all the services Visiting Angels offers.

Medicare does not cover specific home care agencies such as Visiting Angels, but it may cover some of the services Visiting Angels provides.

Medicare Part A and/or Part B may cover certain part-time or intermittent home health services if people are homebound. Medicare’s definition of “homebound” involves the following criteria:

Medicare may cover home health services if people are homebound and a doctor or other healthcare professional certifies that they need part-time or intermittent skilled care.

To be eligible, people must be under the care of a healthcare professional who carries out an in-person visit 3 months before home healthcare begins or within a month of the home healthcare benefits starting. A Medicare-certified home health agency needs to provide the home health service.

Home health services that Medicare may cover include:

Medicaid may also cover home health aide care if people are also getting other home healthcare, such as that listed above. Home health aide care may include personal care, such as:

Medicare does not cover the following home health services:

People qualify for home health services if they require part-time or intermittent skilled nursing care. Medicare rules define intermittent care as care for up to 8 hours per day for up to 28 hours per week. If they require short-term care, people may be able to get up to 35 hours per week.

There is a limit of 21 days of care, but Medicare may extend this limit if a doctor can give a good indication of when people will stop needing daily skilled nursing care.

There is no cost for covered home healthcare services. For Medicare-covered medical equipment, people will pay 20% of the Medicare-approved costs after paying the Part B deductible. In 2024, the Part B deductible is $240.

A person can ask Visiting Angels how much Medicare will cover. The agency will also need to tell people verbally and in writing which services or items Medicare will not cover and how much people will need to pay.

The costs of Visiting Angels may vary depending on the services people require. People can contact their local Visiting Angels office to find out how much services may cost.

Other options for covering the costs of Visiting Angels may include:

Medicare may cover the cost of home health services such as Visiting Angels if people meet certain criteria.

A doctor must order home healthcare services, otherwise Medicare will not cover them. Medicare will not cover 24-hour, long term, or personal care.

If people are homebound, Medicare may cover the costs of short-term or intermittent medically necessary home care. This may include physical or occupational therapy, part-time nursing care, or hospice care.

People can contact their local Visiting Angels office to find out if Medicare will cover the services they require.