Posted on April 13th, 2010
Medicare is a federal health insurance program that began in 1965. Many people were as skeptical of this new government intervention then as now. Yet Medicare has provided health care coverage for millions of Americans allowing them to obtain the medical treatment that they would not have been able to afford otherwise.
Medicare is administered by The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), and states are not involved in the administration of the program at all. Rules governing Medicare are uniform across the U.S.; payment rates vary from one region to another due to what is calculated as “reasonable and customary” fees.
Eligibility and enrollment in Medicare are handled by the Social Security Administration.
Those eligible Medicare are:
- people age 65 or older
- people under age 65 with certain disabilities
- people of any age with End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD)
A packet of enrollment materials is sent to an eligible person prior to their 65th birthday. The “Initial Enrollment Period” (IEP) is a generous 7 months long:
- two months prior to the month of the person’s 65th birthday
- the month of the person’s 65th birthday
- two months after the person’s 65th birthday
If a person does not enroll during their IEP, a penalty may be assessed for the months they could have been enrolled but were not.
A good resource to learn more about Medicare A, B, C and D, and supplemental insurance plans is Health Care Choices, a publication of the Minnesota Board on Aging Senior LinkAge Line. You may access a copy online at www.mnaging.org or at www.MinnesotaHelp.info. Other Medicare resources are www.Medicare.gov and the Medicare & You handbook.
Get to know about Medicare eligibility and benefits – for yourself and your aging loved ones. If you need assistance understanding what you’ve read, call the Senior LinkAge Line at 1-800-333-2433.
Read on for more in-depth information about each part of Medicare.
- Medicare Part A
- Medicare Part B
- Medicare Part C
- Medicare Part D
