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. NC's statewide median is $6,496/month for assisted living, per the 2025 CareScout Cost of Care Survey (formerly the Genworth Cost of Care Survey). No metro-specific or memory-care figure is published. Read the full explanation →
