Who Pays for Palliative Care?

Most health insurance plans, including Medicare and Medicaid, cover all or parts of palliative care, if received while in the hospital, outpatient clinic, rehabilitation, or skilled nursing facility.  It's covered just like other medical or hospital services.  You may have a copay for palliative care, as you do for other covered services.  Some health insurances will cover palliative care services provided in the community, outside of the hospital.

In California, MediCal covers palliative care if certain criteria are met for people living with advanced: cancer, congestive heart failure (CHF), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and/or liver disease.

It is good to make sure you know what copays or fees you will be asked to pay. You can call your health insurance plan directly, or ask the palliative care team to help you.

Stanford is committed to making sure all of our patients have access to palliative care.  Please talk to your hospital team at Stanford to see if your insurance will cover palliative care services.

You can read more about health insurance coverage of palliative care services at Get Palliative Care.