Medicare is a federal health insurance program for people age 65 and older and also for some younger individuals with disability. This program, enacted in 1965, provides both inpatient and outpatient healthcare benefits.
Before Medicare, many individuals went without health coverage during their senior years, forcing them to spend their lifetime savings for medical care. Today our national health insurance program provides great benefits for over 50 million individuals.
People on Medicare get their hospital coverage from Medicare Part A and their outpatient medical coverage from Medicare Part B. Part A is free for most people at age 65 because we pay FICA taxes during our younger working years to prepay for these hospital benefits.
Part B, however, has a monthly premium of around $134/month in 2018. Some people pay more for their Medicare Part B if they are in higher income brackets.
Medicare also has a new Part D drug program that came into being in 2006. This voluntary drug coverage allows Medicare beneficiaries to get their prescriptions without having to pay a fortune for them.
Like most insurance, Medicare requires the covered individual to pay some cost-sharing such as deductibles and coinsurance. Beneficiaries can purchase Medigap plans to pay for some of those things for them.
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