Medicare is a governmental plan which provides healthcare insurance coverage for retired individuals over age 65 or for others who meet particular healthcare conditions, such as that has a disability.
Medicare was signed into legislation in 1965 as an official amendment to the Social Security program and it’s administered by Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) in the Department of Human Services.
Medicare provides healthcare insurance coverage for over 43 million Americans, numerous who would have no healthcare insurance. Although it is not perfect, the Medicare plan offers these millions of people fairly low price basic insurance, and not much in the way of preventative care. For example, Medicare doesn’t pay to have an annual physical, vision care or dental care.
Medicare is paid for via payroll tax deductions (FICA) equal to 2.9% of wages; the employee pays half and also the employer pays half.
There are four “parts” to Medicare: Part A is hospital coverage, Part B is healthcare insurance, Part C is supplemental coverage and Part D is prescription insurance coverage. Parts C and D are at an added cost and are not required. Neither Part A nor B pays 100% of healthcare costs; there is generally a premium, co-pay and a deductible. Some low-income people quality for Medicaid, which assists in paying part of or all of the out-of-pocket costs.
Because more individuals are retiring and be eligible for Medicare at a quicker rate than people are paying into the system, it is predicted that the system will run out of money by 2018. Medical care costs have risen dramatically, which adds towards the financial woes of Medicare and the system has been plagued by fraud in recent times.
No one seems to have a viable solution to save this system that saves many individuals throughout the country.
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