Medicare may pay for certain services Visiting Angels provides as long as people meet Medicare criteria for short-term, medically necessary home care.
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.
Glossary of Medicare terms
We may use a few terms in this article that can be helpful to understand when selecting the best insurance plan:
- Out-of-pocket costs: An out-of-pocket cost is the amount a person must pay for medical care when Medicare does not pay the total cost or offer coverage. These costs can include deductibles, coinsurance, copayments, and premiums.
- Deductible: This is an annual amount a person must spend out of pocket within a certain period before an insurer starts to fund their treatments.
- Coinsurance: This is the percentage of treatment costs that a person must self-fund. For Medicare Part B, this is 20%.
- Copayment: This is a fixed dollar amount a person with insurance pays when receiving certain treatments. For Medicare, this usually applies to prescription drugs.
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:
- Due to illness or injury, a person has difficulty leaving their home without the help of another person, walking aid, wheelchair, or special transportation.
- A person usually cannot leave their home due to the considerable effort it requires.
- A person’s condition means it is not advisable for them to leave their home.
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:
- injections
- intravenous or nutrition therapy
- wound care
- patient and caregiver education
- monitoring of severe illness or unstable health
- physical, occupational, or speech therapy
- medical social services
- durable medical equipment and supplies for home
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:
- bathing
- grooming
- changing bed linens
- walking
- feeding
Medicare does not cover the following home health services:
- 24-hour home care
- home meal delivery
- homemaker services, such as cleaning, shopping, or running errands, which do not relate to a person’s care plan
- personal care to assist with daily tasks such as bathing or dressing, if this is the only type of care people require
Medicare will not typically cover long-term, full-time skilled nursing care.
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:
- Medicaid
- Veterans Affairs benefits
- long-term care insurance
- local or state assistance programs — people can contact their local Department of Aging to find out more
Medicare resources
For more resources to help guide you through the complex world of medical insurance, visit our Medicare hub.
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.