For additional information on aspects of the Original Medicare Plan, please also see:
The Bare Basics
Let’s start with the very basics of Medicare. When you turn 65 years old, you become eligible for this government-sponsored health insurance. The coverage comes in three different parts — A, B, and Prescription. We’ll discuss these in depth throughout this section, providing additional information and explaining coverage details.
How do you sign up?
It doesn’t matter where you live, signing up for Medicare is the same in all states. If you’re already receiving benefits from Social Security (or the Railroad Retirement Board), you don’t have to do a thing. You’ll be eligible for all three parts of Medicare beginning the first day of the month you turn 65. For example, if your birthday is June 22, you will be eligible for coverage as of June 1. You should receive your Medicare card in the mail three months before that.
If you are not now receiving Social Security benefits, you will need to sign up for Medicare yourself as your 65th birthday approaches. You can sign up online at or via phone through the Social Security Office. You can sign up for retirement benefits at the same time, if you like.
If you are disabled, you may be eligible for Medicare, even if you are under age 65. If you already receive disability benefits under Social Security, you should be sent a Medicare card automatically. For questions about benefits for the disabled, refer to your local Social Security office. People with End Stage Renal Disease (permanent kidney failure which requires dialysis or transplant) are also eligible for Medicare before turning 65.
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What if I need help paying for my health insurance?
There is help available for anyone who has limited income or savings. In fact nearly one in three people on Medicare qualify for some extra help. For more information, please see Help for People with Limited Income and Resources.
Home Health Care
Some situations or conditions require care in your own home or in an assisted-living home. An extended convalescence, for example, might mean that you need help dressing, bathing, or cooking meals. Medicare terms these services “custodial care” and does not cover them.
Medicare does pay for a short stay in a nursing home, if required, say, to allow the patient to recover from surgery. This coverage is only available in an offical skilled nursing facility (SNF) and only as long as necessary to observe and evaluate your recovery from the hospitalization. Physical therapy is one example of skilled care; changing a sterile dressing is another.
In-home care is one key area for which you might want to seek additional insurance. Another is long-term care—in other words, on-going assistance, when needed, either in your own home or in an assisted living facility. (For more details, please also see Long-term Care.)
What is telehealth?
Advances in technology now allow health care professionals to do a certain amount of their work long distance, if necessary. A patient in a remote location (such as a town in northern Alaska) can consult a professional on the phone. Doctors can sometimes make a diagnosis based on viewing test results (CT scans, X-rays, etc.) on a computer and prescribe treatment. As technology advances, this is one area that is likely to improve.
Medicare currently provides telehealth (or “telemedicine”) coverage only in certain rural areas. If such a service is important to you, be sure to check that your insurance covers it.
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