Medicare refers to the medical plan for Americans at age 65 and above. This medical plan is funded by the government and covers medical expenses like visits to the doctor, stays in the hospital, drugs, and treatments. The law was passed because of the rising need of a medical program for the country's senior citizens. Eventually, medical care was also improved to include people with various disabilities and end-stage, renal diseases.
Medicare can become very confusing to understand, so much so that even insurance agents themselves do not know the complete details on the program. It may cover one illness while not covering another, and not all doctors accept Medicare.
The basic idea of it is that all Americans are able to avail of Medicare when they have turned 65 years old, or the age of retirement. The person will need to enroll for about seven months following his or her 65th birthday. Afterwards, the person can enroll for Medicare for free.
After the person's enrollment period, anyone who wants to apply for Medicare will have to pay for enrollment fees and other penalties. The senior citizen will be given the option to apply for either Medicate Part A, or Medicare Part B. Part A only offers the basic coverage, while Part B also provides supplemental coverage. Seniors covered by other relatives may not enroll at all, or may enroll only for Part A, which costs less.
There are Medicare coverage that are administered by private companies, called Health Maintenance Organizations, that have been paid by the government for this purpose. Some HMOs offer better service than government facilities, while others are not as efficient and as effective. Because of this, there has been a debate on whether HMOs are actually good or bad.
It might be hard for a new senior citizen to make his way through the confusing jungle that is Medicare. The best way to figure it out is to ask a good insurance agent to help, or to go to various classes that may be available in different communities.
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