Why Medicare?

When it comes to Medicare, a lot of seniors are very confused.  One of the common questions is I have my own insurance why do I have to pay more premiums than what I am paying now? Especially with those who are enrolled in Covered CA, they don’t understand why they need Medicare since Medicare is not covered as much as Covered CA or employee insurance plan. They will feel that they are being forced into Medicare.

In general, if you or your spouse worked in United States 10 years or more and your Medicare taxes were withheld in your paycheck, or even you were a self-employment and paid your self-employment taxes, then you are eligible for Medicare once you turn 65 and you will get part A with free of charges.  Even you have your employee coverage you still eligible for part A with no charge for whom have enough working credits.

For new immigrants who over 65 they won’t be eligible for Medicare, until they have been lived in US for 5 consecutive years with legal status.  They could purchase Medicare such as US citizens or legal residents who don’t have or not enough work history for a cost.  If you have less than 30 quarters of working history then your part A cost for 2021 will be $471, and for someone who has 30-39 quarters will be $259.  Senior still can avoid part A cost if they are working enough for at least 10 years in US and paid Medicare taxes.

You have an option to reject Medicare Part B since it occurs premium, as of this year part B premium is $148.50 per month, this could be subject to a late enrollment penalty.  Unless you are covered under yours or your spouse’s employer’s health plan and the company had 20 or more employees.

Per Kelly Montgomery, she stated: perhaps this policy was initially instituted to make it easier for seniors to enroll in Medicare once they reached the age of 65 but was never discontinued when private coverage became more commonplace. Private coverage wasn’t as common in the past as it currently is, so many elderly individuals were without health coverage prior to the introduction of Medicare. This presented an issue when they inevitably needed health care.

Despite of why they set up that way, but we have to follow the rule and the rule has been there since President Lyndon B. Johnson signed Medicare into law in 1965.  We’ll have more about Medicare to cover on our next article.