Medicare

Medicare is a form of the social insurance program that is administered by the government of the United States. The program provides the health insurance covers to senior citizens of the American society aged 65 years and above. It also provides the covers to those people being under the age of 65 but physically disabled permanently or to someone having the congenital physical disability. It further provides the covers for other categories of the groups of people meeting other special criteria, such as the final stage renal disease programs. The Medicare has transformed the lives of many senior citizens that did not use to have the health cover before the formation of Medicare. Therefore, this insurance program is very beneficial to the people of the United States.

Medicare is financed from payroll deductions, as a rule. Every paycheck that is received makes its contribution in one or another way to the financial sustain of the Medicare program. The deduction is made on every paycheck. The first deduction made on the paycheck is the FICA, which is termed as a social security tax, and the other deduction is made for the medical purposes. There are a many ways with the help of which this is usually spelt out on the pays’ slip, though in the recent past this has been taken out from the social security item to make it clearer. The Medicare financing is handled by a process of certain percentage of the one’s income being deducted, and the deducted amount is directed to the Medicare kitty to help paying different costs related to it.

The persons eligible for the Medicare program are all those being aged 65 years and above. These persons must legally reside in the USA for at least 5 years. Those persons with disabilities being under the age of 65 years are eligible but if only they receive the social security disability insurance (SSDI) benefits. The persons with disabilities are eligible to receive the Medicare benefits as long as they are receiving the SSDI benefits failure, to which they lose the eligibility to get the benefits from the Medicare (Mark, 2008).

The Medicare offers the following benefits to beneficiaries through a number of services that it offers. Firstly, it has the hospital insurance program and covers the patients’ hospital costs, such as food, tests and semiprivate (Davis, 2009). The maximum stay in order for the one to benefit from this program according to the skilled nursing facility is 100 days. The cost incurred in the first 20 days will be fully paid by the Medicare while the remaining 80 days there will be the co-payment. Secondly, it offers the medical insurance, which aids in paying the certain products and services  not covered by the hospital insurance cover, especially on the outpatient basis. This cover is not a must if the one of the spouse or beneficiary is still earning (Hellinger, 1998). This program covers the nursing and physician services such as laboratory tests, diagnostic tests, e-rays, outpatient hospital procedures, chemotherapy, pneumonia vaccinations, renal dialysis, blood transfusion, as well as all other outpatient medical services offered by a doctor. Thirdly, it offers the Medicare advantage plans. This is done by private companies getting in the collaboration with the Medicare. The program offers the cover to other health related matters not covered in hospitals and by medical insurance programs.

There is a great difference between the premium paid Medicare and the services offered by this program. The premium ones are the payments that the enrollers of the program pay for them to be the beneficiaries in the program at the old age. On the other hand, the services proposed are the benefits that one gets from the Medicare insurance program, such as payments for the hospital bills, as well as for the medication fees (Victoria, 2009).

The Medicare is a program that has transformed the lives of senior citizens of the United Stated to a big extent. Their hospital bills are cared by the program. In addition, the cost of medication is also meet by the program. Therefore, this is a vital program; and all citizens should be encouraged to get enrolled into it as it offers a lot of benefits to the individuals being at the old age.