Medicare

Medicare is a governmental program which provides medical insurance coverage for retired persons overage 65 or for others who meet certain medicalconditions, such as having a disability. Medicare was signed into legislation in 1965 as anamendment to the Social Security program and is administered by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) under the Department of Human Services.

Medicare provides medical insurance coverage for over43 million Americans, many of whom would have nomedical insurance. While not perfect, the Medicare program offers these millions of people relatively lowcost basic insurance, but not much in the way ofpreventative care. For instance, Medicare does not payfor an annual physical, vision care or dental care.
Medicare is paid for through payroll tax deductions(FICA) equal to 2.9% of wages; the employee pays half and the employer pays half.

There are four "parts" to Medicare:

Part A -- hospitalcoverage,
Part B -- medical insurance,
Part C -- supplemental coverage
Part D -- prescriptioninsurance.

Parts C and D are at an added cost and arenot required. Neither Part A nor B pays 100% of medical costs; there is usually a premium, co-pay anda deductible. Some low-income people quality for Medicaid, which assists in paying part of or all ofthe out-of-pocket costs.

Because more people are retiring and become eligible for Medicare at a faster rate than people are paying into the system, it has been predicted that the systemwill run out of money by 2018. Health care costs have risen dramatically, which adds to the financial woesof Medicare and the system has bee plagued by fraud over the years. No one seems to have a viable solution to save this system that saves many people throughout the country.

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