Identification

• Generally, Medicare is available to U.S. citizens or permanent residents 65 years of age or older, provided they have paid into the Medicare system for at least ten years; this might be done through a job that automatically withholds Medicare, or, for the self-employed, through the filing of separate taxes. Some individuals under age 65 will qualify if they have certain disabilities such as kidney failure or Lou Gehrig's disease.
  
  

Types

• Eligibility to Medicare offers three kinds of benefits. Medicare Part A covers services received in a hospital, while Medicare Part B covers similar services received through outpatient or in-home care. Part D is the famous prescription drug benefit that helps seniors pay for the pharmaceuticals they rely on so heavily. Medicare Part C does not provide any additional coverage, but allows other types of coverage to be provided through private insurers.
  
  

Benefits

• The Medicare program charges seniors a regular premium and annual deductible, just like most insurance policies. It doesn't provide full coverage and usually exposes seniors to a copayment of 20 percent or more. Individual plans are regulated by the Medicare system, but designed and administered by private insurance companies. As a result, there can be wide variation between the benefits and costs of different Medicare programs.
  
  

Features

• The single largest recurring expense to most seniors is for medications. Medicare Part D lowers the cost of prescriptions for most qualifying seniors, who, on top of their deductible and premiums, only pay 25 percent of covered drugs on the first $2,510 annually. If their total out-of-pocket expenses reach $4,050 they become eligible for "Catastrophic Coverage" entitling them to pay the greater of either 5 percent or $2.25 for a generic or preferred drug and $5.60 for other drugs; this leaves a gap, however, called the "donut hole," for those whose costs exceed $2,501, but do not qualify for Catastrophic Coverage level.
  
  

Considerations

• Though there are many faults with the Medicare program, there is no doubt that it provides at least some support to the millions of seniors relying on the system to help meet the growing cost of their health care. In many cases, the annual income of the beneficiary will affect the premiums and copays, with very low-income beneficiaries having their costs waived or covered by Social Security, and those making above a certain threshold (about $80,000 per year for an individual) forced to pay somewhat higher premiums for their coverage.