What Is Medicare?

Medicare is a federal insurance program made for people who are 65 years of age or older, certain younger people with disabilities or people with permanent kidney failure who require a dialysis or transplant.

Who Is Eligible For Medicare?

Although medicare caters to people that are 65 years or older medicare sometimes covers others. To be eligible for medicare the following must be true.

People 65 or older

• You must be a U.S. citizen or permanent legal resident who has lived in the U.S. for at least 5 years
• You are:
• Receiving Social Security or
• Railroad retirement benefits or
• Have worked long enough to be eligible for those benefits but are not collecting them
• You or your spouse is a government employee who has not paid into Social Security but has paid Medicare payroll taxes

People Under 65

• You have been entitled to Social Security disability benefits for at least 24 consecutive months
• You meet certain conditions and receive a disability pension from the Railroad Retirement Board
• You have Lou Gehrig’s disease
• You have permanent kidney failure requiring regular dialysis or a kidney transplant