Who is Eligible for Medicare

Not everyone is considered to be a suitable candidate to enjoy medicare benefits. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services runs a department known as the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and this very department is responsible for the management of Medicare. As of the reports compiled for the year 2008, there were about 44 million candidates who were served by this social insurance program. The costs incurred was about $432 billion. As of 2007, the number of people was 40 million, and the cost involved was $330 billion. Medicare came into force on July 30, 1965, and President Lyndon B. Johnson was the responsible person for its creation.

Who Can Avail the Benefits of Medicare?

The Medicare eligibility requirements are as follows:

• The person is considered to be a suitable candidate to fulfill the Medicare benefits eligibility, if he is 65 or older.
• A person who is not of the eligible age for Medicare benefits, can also use the benefits, provided he is suffering from some form of disability or Lou Gehrig's disease.
• Any one of any age, if suffering from a end-stage kidney disease, such as a case of permanent kidney failure, is also considered to fulfill Medicare eligibility norms. Here, the benefits are free to be used three months after the dialysis.
• Apart from the above criteria, it is mandatory for the applicant to be a US citizen or has resided legally in the country for at least 5 continuous years.
• In addition, the person also has to have an eligibility for Social Security benefits, wherein, there has been a payment into the system for a period of 10 years.

Medicare Facts

Medicare has two main parts, which work for hospital insurance (part A) and medical insurance (part B).

The first part deals with the expenses that is incurred in hospital stays. Now that may include staying in a semi-private room, the expense for meals, medical supplies, and testing facilities. This section of Medicare also pays for the expenses for procedures such as physical therapy, occupational and speech therapy, which may be conducted at home. However, these must be medically advised by doctors, and then only can they be covered under the health insurance. Nursing services, and used of equipment such as wheelchair, walkers, etc., are also counted under the benefits which Medicare part A provides.

Coming to part B, it was set up to take care of medical visits, hospital visits on an outpatient basis, costs incurred from care taken at home, and other services which are approved as medically necessary for the aged and elderly. Some of the common requirements which are covered under this plan include:

• Canes, walkers, wheelchairs, etc.
• Various tests
• Vaccinations
• Dialysis
• Outpatient procedures
• Blood transfusions
• Transportation (Ambulance)
• Chemotherapy
• Certain drugs that are required post organ transplants

It is important to know that Medicare is different from Medicaid. Although they are run by the same governing body, the latter is specially designed for financially weaker sections of the society, while the former requires some form of payment made to the Social Security.