Medicare is a federal health insurance program available to Americans over 65. It provides health care at a reduced cost or for free. There is a range of Medicare plans available to Americans approaching 65, so experts recommend that seniors do their research and enroll in the seven months before their 65th birthday. Even people who aren’t anywhere close to 65 can benefit from Medicare, either directly or indirectly.
For starters, by making affordable health care accessible to older Americans, Medicare eases pressure on younger Americans to care for their parents. Before Medicare came fully into effect, chronically ill older adults faced a stream of difficult choices to get the care they needed. They often wiped out their savings or became dependent on their adult children.
With Medicare, seniors are guaranteed a base level of health care. The program makes affordable healthcare more accessible and, in the process, helps fight poverty. In 1965, when Medicare was enacted, 1 in 3 seniors lived in poverty. Within ten years, Medicare helped cut the poverty rate of millions of older adults in half.
Today, it isn’t just older adults who can take advantage of Medicare either. Medicare also provides healthcare to 9.1 million disabled persons. One can enroll in a Medicare program if Social Security classifies you as disabled for more than 24 months. Older adults in good health can take advantage of the Part B program, which entails a free annual wellness check-up, periodic screenings for cardiovascular disease; cervical, vaginal, and breast cancer for women; prostate cancer for men; diabetes; and depression. It even covers annual flu shots. This focus on preventative care is another way Americans get a better quality of life as they get older.
Under Medicare Part D, adults can save significant amounts on costly preventative and therapeutic prescription drugs. If a person is terminally ill, Medicare also offers hospice benefits and end-of-life care from the patient’s own home.
Medicare also has a lot of initiatives that help prevent avoidable readmissions to the hospital and is working through paying doctors and hospitals for the quality of care they offer rather than the volume of services. This ensures that there is less pressure placed on health care professionals and front-line workers.
