Applying for Insurance
Not having medical insurance is risky, and yet millions of Americans are without proper insurance. If you go without and have an accident, you could be responsible for thousands of dollars in hospital expenses that you can't afford. Yet, insurance itself is expensive. This section helps you sort out which types of insurance are available from the government.
Understanding Medicare
Medicare is an insurance plan for people age 65 and older, for younger Americans who have permanent kidney failure, and for certain disabled citizens.
If you qualify and spent 10 years of your adult life working in what's called “Medicare-covered employment” (which generally means that you were paid like an employee, not in under-the-table cash payments that were never reported to the federal government), you probably qualify for Part A of the Medicare plan, which covers hospital insurance.
If you didn't work enough years, the deductible for this insurance is high — currently from $226 to $410 per month — plus, you pay a deductible of nearly $1,000 per year. But if you worked during much of your adult life, you probably paid for this insurance coverage, so you want to sign up for it.
Does Medicare cover prescription drugs?
Yes, Medicare does cover some prescription drugs, through Part D. Costs vary widely, as does coverage, deductibles, and copays, depending on which plan you choose under Part D. Visit Medicare.gov for a host of calculators and other explanations that make Part D much easier to understand.
Part B of the Medicare plan does have a premium — currently a little over $90 per month — and it is voluntary. It works exactly like medical insurance (including doctor visits), has a deductible of about $130 per year, and may or may not have copayments.
As far as medical insurance goes, paying just over $1,000 per year for coverage that begins after a $130 deductible is phenomenal! Note that, as your income increases, however, the premium for Part B increase as well, but the increases are minor.
For a higher premium, you can also access Medicare Part C, which has better benefits and care.
Looking at Medicaid
Medicaid is a shared federal and state health-insurance program for low-income Americans. Because it's administered by the states, each state determines its own eligibility guidelines, so even if you're eligible for Medicaid in one state, you may not be in another.
Medicaid is very, very difficult to qualify for. Most low-income children, however, are covered in some way — for vaccinations, doctor visits, or hospitalization, for example — as are many low-income pregnant women. Applicants must be medically needy with low income and few, if any, assets or other resources.
On the other hand, the “medically needy” standard may make you eligible for Medicaid when you wouldn't otherwise be eligible for state-sponsored low-income services such as welfare.
To get more information on whether you qualify for Medicaid, contact your state social-services and/or human-services agencies. You can find the toll-free number in your phone book.
