How to Determine Your Medicare Eligibility

In these uncertain economic times, it can be frightening to think what the future might hold for you and your spouse as you approach retirement.

Once it was easy for people to save their money while they were working, and many people thought that they would be quite comfortable, even though they would be living on a fixed income. When the stock market and many banks crashed at the beginning of the recession, people realized that their savings and investments weren’t as safe as they thought, and many have started to realize that they will have to make other arrangements if they are going to remain healthy in their retirement years.

Medicare is a supplemental health care program run by the federal government, and determining your Medicare eligibility is something that you should start at least a year before retirement.

If you haven’t really been thinking much about whether or not you’re going to need Medicare to offset your health care costs once you enter retirement, you need to realize that just like many health insurance plans, you will need to prove that you are eligible for the coverage and that you meet all of the requirements for receiving the benefits.

Although they are few, there are health and citizenship conditions that can prevent you from getting the benefits that you need. This is why it is so important to get an early start on these determinations.

Another thing that some people don’t realize is that the ages that you retire and the length of time that you’ve been working in the United States can also affect your Medicare eligibility.

For the most part, those individuals that have reached the age of sixty five years or older, and have been working in a job that contributes to Social Security taxes for at least ten years, will be eligible for Part A coverage under Medicare at no additional cost.

There are of course instances where you will have to retire before you have reached the age of sixty five, and then it can become a little bit more difficult to figure out your Medicare eligibility.

Keep in mind that Social Security will inquire as to whether or not you have received disability benefits from Social Security or the Railroad Retirement Board for twenty four months prior to applying for Medicare.

Also, being diagnosed with end stage renal disease before your sixty fifth birthday might also make you eligible for benefits with no premiums.