Medicare eligibility rules

Medicare is an important health insurance program run by the federal government that provides for both hospital care (Medicare Part A), medical care (Medicare Part B) and starting in 2006 Medicare Part D - prescription insurance. This health insurance program is available for all of the United States citizens or permanent residents that have been worked for at least 10 years in a company that has paid taxes to the Medicare system. A simple paycheck is all that one needs to determine, whether he is eligible for Medicare. This item should be listed on the paycheck separately or combined with social security taxes.

General requirements

The eligibility rule applies to a spouse, too. No matter if just one of the partners worked for ten or more years and paid the money to this health insurance program, both partners are covered. The only important requirement to start using the health insurance is to be older than 65 years or to be diagnosed with permanent disability or permanent kidney failure that requires dialysis or a kidney transplant.In a nutshell, there are two major requirements needed to qualify for Medicare health insurance program:A person must have paid taxes into the Medicare system for at least ten years.A person must be age 65 or older, unless if diagnosed with a permanent kidney failure or disability.Medicare eligibility rules

Medicare health insurance program provides federally-run insurance coverage for over 40 million people. To get a complete information about Medicare eligibility requirements, one should visit local Social Security Office during the initial enrollment window, which begins 3 months before person becomes 65 years old, and ends 3 months afterwards. People with permanent disability will be enrolled automatically as soon as they become eligible.

To get a rough idea about whether you’re are eligible or not, pay attention to the rest of the text where we’re going to discuss six important Medicare eligibility rules.

Rule number one states this program is available only to United States citizens. This means that a person has to be United States citizen at least five years to become eligible for the program.

Rule number two is the most important as it regards to the equal eligibility for applicant and the spouse. Both partners can be covered with health insurance if only one of them has been working for at least ten years.

Rule number three states that only people older than 65 may use Medicare. People below this age may also apply but only if they are disabled or suffer from severe kidney disease.

Rule number four states that people older than 65 that are already enrolled with Railroad Retirement Benefits or Social Security payments automatically become eligible for Medicare.

Rule number five concerns about eligibility for plan B saying that people older than 65 who are paying regular monthly premiums also qualify for plan B.

Rule number six claims that people don’t need to be retired in order to use Medicare. People who are eligible for retirement after the age of 65 may still use their partner’s Medicare insurance.