Hospice

Definition. Medical, nursing, social and spiritual care focused on comfort rather than cure, for a person who is terminally ill. Medicare covers it under Part A when a hospice doctor and your regular doctor (if you have one) certify a life expectancy of six months or less if the illness runs its normal course.

What it means

• Electing hospice: you sign a statement choosing comfort care instead of Medicare-covered treatment to cure your terminal illness. Medicare still covers care for other health problems.
• What's covered: doctor and nursing services, equipment and supplies, drugs for pain and symptoms, aide and homemaker services, therapy, social work, dietary counseling, grief support for you and your family, short-term inpatient care and respite care. You may pay a small copay for drugs and a small share of respite care.
• Where: usually at home, or in a facility where you live. Medicare doesn't pay room and board in a nursing home or assisted living facility.
• Time: two 90-day benefit periods, then unlimited 60-day periods, as long as a doctor recertifies. You can stop hospice at any time.

If you have a Medicare Advantage plan, Original Medicare pays for hospice care related to your terminal illness; you stay in your plan for other care.

In Oregon

Oregon's Death with Dignity Act is a separate legal option for terminally ill adults. Hospice and the Act can overlap: OHA reports that 92% of people who died under the Act in 2025 were enrolled in hospice. Federal law (42 U.S.C. 14402) bars Medicare from paying for the medication itself, and some hospices and health systems don't take part. See Death with Dignity and Medicare.