another really stupid question-Do all Americans have access to Medicare..regardless of whether they

[w8liftinglady]

paid into the system?I have too many google searches going on in my old computer..
Thanks.

[Jackpine Radical]

1. I believe not.

[frazzled]

2. All citizens 65 or older, yes

Medicare Eligibility and Enrollment for People 65 and Older

Any U.S. citizen who is 65 or older is eligible for Medicare. If you're already getting Social Security checks, enrollment into the program should be automatic. You'll get your Medicare card three months before your 65th birthday. The benefits kick in on the first day of the month of your 65th birthday.

If you're not getting Social Security payments already, you have to enroll in Medicare. The Social Security Administration (SSA) handles the enrollment process for Medicare. Call SSA at [phone], visit the web site (www.ssa.gov), or apply at your local Social Security office. Apply three months before your 65th birthday. That way, you can be sure that your benefits will start on time.

http://www.webmd.com/medicare/medicare-eligibility-and-enrollment

More info at the link.

[Lasher]

3. No.

Most people age 65 or older who are citizens or permanent residents of the United States are eligible for free Medicare hospital insurance (Part A). You are eligible at age 65 if:

•You receive or are eligible to receive Social Security benefits; or
•You receive or are eligible to receive railroad retirement benefits; or
•You or your spouse (living or deceased, including divorced spouses) worked long enough in a government job where Medicare taxes were paid; or
•You are the dependent parent of a fully insured deceased child.

If you do not meet these requirements, you may be able to get Medicare hospital insurance by paying a monthly premium. Usually, you can sign up for this hospital insurance only during designated enrollment periods.

NOTE: Even though the full retirement age is no longer 65, you should sign up for Medicare three months before your 65th birthday.

Before age 65, you are eligible for free Medicare hospital insurance if:

•You have been entitled to Social Security disability benefits for 24 months; or
•You receive a disability pension from the railroad retirement board and meet certain conditions; or
•If you receive Social Security disability benefits because you have Lou Gehrig’s disease (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis); or
•You worked long enough in a government job where Medicare taxes were paid and you meet the requirements of the Social Security disability program; or
•You are the child or widow(er) age 50 or older, including a divorced widow(er), of someone who has worked long enough in a government job where Medicare taxes were paid and you meet the requirements of the Social Security disability program.
•You have permanent kidney failure and you receive maintenance dialysis or a kidney transplant and:
◦You are eligible for or receive monthly benefits under Social Security or the railroad retirement system; or
◦You have worked long enough in a Medicare-­covered government job; or
◦You are the child or spouse (including a divorced spouse) of a worker (living or deceased) who has worked long enough under Social Security or in a Medicare-covered government job.

More here

[HereSince1628]

4. Here is a basic statement

Medicare is a Health Insurance Program for people age 65 or older, some disabled people under age 65, and people of all ages with End-Stage Renal Disease (permanent kidney failure treated with dialysis or a transplant).

[w8liftinglady]

5. the reason I ask..repubs in my area are overwhelmingly against univ health care

most are Medicare recipients.is there a similarity?

[mudplanet]

10. Universal Healthcare can take many forms, but for all practical purposes Medicare

IS universal health care for the disabled and the elderly. It is a government administered health insurance program paid for by deductions from Social Security benefit payments. The individual cost is determined by a set percentage of an individual's Social Security benefits.

The folks that are against universal health care generally don't have clue what it is, just as they are virulently anti-socialist but they've never read anything beyond a bircher pamphlet on the subject. When polls on public opinion about universal health care are given they indicate that Americans tend to be against "socialized medicine", "government control" of medical care, "universal health care", and "national health care" but when they are asked whether they are for the elements of universal health care (e.g., "Do you believe that all Americans should have access to good health care despite their ability to pay" they overwhelmingly answer yes.

The level of ignorance is appalling.

[KansDem]

6. Meet Ida May Fuller

Ida May Fuller was the first beneficiary of recurring monthly Social Security payments. Miss Fuller (known as Aunt Ida to her friends and family) was born on September 6, 1874 on a farm outside of Ludlow, Vermont. She attended school in Rutland, Vermont where one of her classmates was Calvin Coolidge. In 1905, after working as a school teacher, she became a legal secretary. One of the partners in the firm, John G. Sargent, would later become Attorney General in the Coolidge Administration.

Ida May never married and had no children. She lived alone most of her life, but spent eight years near the end of her life living with her niece, Hazel Perkins, and her family in Brattleboro, Vermont.

Miss Fuller filed her retirement claim on November 4, 1939, having worked under Social Security for a little short of three years. While running an errand she dropped by the Rutland Social Security office to ask about possible benefits. She would later observe: "It wasn't that I expected anything, mind you, but I knew I'd been paying for something called Social Security and I wanted to ask the people in Rutland about it."

Her claim was taken by Claims Clerk, Elizabeth Corcoran Burke, and transmitted to the Claims Division in Washington, D.C. for adjudication. The case was adjudicated and reviewed and sent to the Treasury Department for payment in January 1940. The claims were grouped in batches of 1,000 and a Certification List for each batch was sent to Treasury. Miss Fuller's claim was the first one on the first Certification List and so the first Social Security check, check number 00-000-001, was issued to Ida May Fuller in the amount of $22.54 and dated January 31, 1940.

http://www.ssa.gov/history/imf.html

[mudplanet]

7. There are no stupid questions regarding healthcare. If you are receiving SSI and are under 65

than you do not receive Medicare but Medicaid. Once you are over 65 they put you on Medicare.

In many states you can qualify for both Medicare and Medicaid depending on your income. Medicaid takes care of the deduction and prescriptions.

[Recursion]

8. Yes, but if you haven't paid in, the premium is $800 per month

https://questions.medicare.gov/app/answers/detail/a_id/2260/~/medicare-premiums-and-coinsurance-rates-for-2010

$450 for Part A and $350 for Part B; that leaves out the prescription drug plan, and has a $1000 deductible.

Most people pay about $100 per month for Part B; the remaining $700 per month per person comes out of the Medicare Trust Fund, which is slated to go bankrupt in 2029 (before HCR it was 2017).

This is my main concern with "medicare for all": it's going to be a lot more expensive than a lot of people think it will.

[groundloop]

9. Throwing Medicare in teabaggers faces is a great strategy

I was talking to our HR director at work, telling him how horrible my wife's insurance has treated her. He said something like "well, if we had government run healthcare it would be a lot worse". I asked him if he planned on enrolling in Medicare when he's eligible - "well, yeah, of course". I told him that my (and most Democrats) idea of universal healthcare would be if we could all enroll in Medicare if we chose to. Maybe my kids will have that option, but it looks like I'll be at the mercy of health insurance monopolies for the forseeable future.

[Vegetarianist]

11. "Generally, you are eligible for Medicare if you or your spouse worked for at least 10 years

in Medicare-covered employment and you are 65 years or older and a citizen or permanent resident of the United States. If you aren’t yet 65, you might also qualify for coverage if you have a disability or with End-Stage Renal disease (permanent kidney failure requiring dialysis or transplant)."


http://www.medicare.gov/MedicareEligibility/home.asp?dest=NAV|Home|GeneralEnrollment&version=default&browser=Firefox|3.6|Windows+Vista&language=English

[Bitwit1234]

12. You will automatically get A and pay for B. BUT

you do have to sign up for it.

[Recursion]

13. Negative. If you don't have enough eligible quarters of employment you pay for A too

Up to a full price of $461 per month for Part A if you have fewer than 30 eligible quarters.

https://questions.medicare.gov/app/answers/detail/a_id/2260/~/medicare-premiums-and-coinsurance-rates-for-2010