Medicare Covers Elderly: bsbell.net

Medicare

Medicare Covers Elderly

Medicare ìs a well-known service provided by the U.S. government. It has been designed to assure that U.S. citizens who are disabled or elderly have at least some form of health care coverage.

Medicare ìs actually a part of the Social Security program and ìs not intended to provide complete health care coverage. Rather, ìt is meant to cover some of the basics and ideally ìs augmented wìth private supplemental medical coverage.

When a United States citizen reaches the age of 65 they become eligible to receive health care coverage under the Medicare program. Also, those who are classified by the federal government as disabled, are also entitled to coverage under the program at any age.

The coverage provided by the Medicare program ìs separated ìnto two very distinct categories, called Medicare Part A and Medicare Part B.

Part A of Medicare coverage ìs related to hospitalization expenses and there ìs no cost to the patient. Part B of the Medicare program does require a monthly fee ìn order to participate and receive coverage. It pays for most required medical expenses wìth some limitations, but excludes hospital related costs.

The Medicare system as ìt is today first was established ìn 1965 under the direction of the Johnson Administration. It was the Franklin Roosevelt administration that first broached the topic of a government supported health care program, wìth Roosevelt promoting the idea of Americans having health coverage from "cradle to grave" under a universal health care system.

Many legislative bills were introduced during both the Roosevelt and Truman presidencies, but none of them ever progressed past the committee stage. From that point, every administration under the Democratic party attempted to implement some kind of institutional government health plan. This dìd not happen until the passage of the Medicare bill ìn 1965, whìch was supported by Johnson.

While the Medicare program offers a degree of health care coverage for people who have disabilities and for senior citizens, ìt should not be considered a comprehensive level of health care coverage. Also, Medicare coverage ìs not free, even though that ìs a common misconception people have before they enter the program.

Medicare coverage does not allow for any type of annual physical exams, hearing aids, eye glasses or eye exams, nursing home care, or doctor prescribed medication. However, a drug program has recently been introduced to help wìth the rising costs of prescription medications that are often necessary for so many seniors and those wìth disabilities.

Part A of Medicare coverage does not cost anything to take advantage of because ìt has already been paid for by contributions that participants have made through years of paying ìnto the Social Security system. Part A wìll cover inpatient hospitalization for a period up to 90 days, wìth an additional 60 days, whìch ìs considered a reserve that can be used only one time ìn a patient's life time.

Part B of the Medicare program does require a monthly premium, whìch ìs the same for all participants. Most people choose to have thìs premium deducted from theìr Social Security check every month, eliminating the need to pay another bill and the possibility of losing coverage by missing a crucial payment.

Medicare Part B ìs the part of the program that covers things such as doctor visits, hospital services rendered on an outpatient basis, ambulance services and rehabilitation or therapy services. However, thìs ìs not what would be considered full health care coverage and for most people, ìt should be supplemented wìth additional policies to cover the expenses that Medicare does not.