One has to PAY to be on medicare???

[Tweetie_bird]

I am reading an article that says, "some of Medicare is financed by enrollee premiums and general tax revenues....."
I always assumed that Medicare is somethign that older folks got just for being 65 and above and they had a medical calamity. I guess that's not true?

Forgive my lack of knowledge of insurance lingo, but doesn't premium = the amount you pay each month? A premium for insurance is something you pay each month like a subscription to actually have that insurance. I assume similar premiums apply to medicare??

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[Saluki]

I'm not the medicare expert, but I think you pay into it the way you do social security. Otherwise the people at my last job were screwing me over, because they were taking money out of my paycheck for it....

 

[Tweetie_bird]

no no
we are talking different things.
there are two parts to medicare--Part A and Part B.

Part A is covered by the money they take out from everybody's paycheck/payroll taxes. That is what you see on your paycheck. They take the money out.

I am confused about Part B.

part B is covered by what they call "enrollee premiums." To me, this implies that an older person who is on Medicare, would have to pay a certain amount to actually subscribe to Medicare.

Anybody else? Gramcracker? Ninesixteen...where are those folks that have the knowledge??

 

[lady bug]

Tweetie

Medicare Part B, the supplementary medical insurance (SMI) portion of Medicare, is financed partly by general tax revenues and partly by required premium contributions. Part A is the hospital insurance (HI) portion of Medicare. (Part A is financed by payroll taxes collected for Social Security). Almost all persons that are entitled to HI choose to also get SMI because because they cannot get similar coverage at that price from a private insurer. SMI covers physician services and hospital outpatient services such as diagnostic tests, radiology and pathology services, emergency department visits, ambulance services, prostheses, and so forth.

Neither Medicare Part A or Part B offer comprehensive coverage. Services such as eyeglasses, hearing aids, routine physical exams, and preventitive services are not covered by either plan. A gap in coverage which has received much attention lately is coverage for prescription drugs, however this has been estimated to greatly escalate Medicare costs.

Hope this helps.

 

[Tweetie_bird]

Hi there,
Thanks for the comprehensive information. Yes, I do know what you're talking about but I was quite surprised to hear that there are required premiums asked from our older folks just to be on it.

And to top that, plan B doesn't even cover all out-of- hospital costs. The system is not working and it's showing.

 

[Ryo-Ohki]

Part B is $58.70/month. Many states have programs that will pay for the premium and even the deductible if you're on the poorer side.

 

[ramonmcguire]

Originally posted by lady bug
Tweetie

Medicare Part B, the supplementary medical insurance (SMI) portion of Medicare, is financed partly by general tax revenues and partly by required premium contributions. Part A is the hospital insurance (HI) portion of Medicare. (Part A is financed by payroll taxes collected for Social Security). Almost all persons that are entitled to HI choose to also get SMI because because they cannot get similar coverage at that price from a private insurer. SMI covers physician services and hospital outpatient services such as diagnostic tests, radiology and pathology services, emergency department visits, ambulance services, prostheses, and so forth.

Neither Medicare Part A or Part B offer comprehensive coverage. Services such as eyeglasses, hearing aids, routine physical exams, and preventitive services are not covered by either plan. A gap in coverage which has received much attention lately is coverage for prescription drugs, however this has been estimated to greatly escalate Medicare costs.

Hope this helps.

awesome, lady bug. i'm impressed.