You have to meet one of 2 conditions:
- You have reached the 65th birthday, or perhaps are older than sixty-five.
- You are under sixty-five but have a disability that is officially recognized and meets the requirements for Medicare coverage.
Hitting the milestone of age sixty-five
Nobody qualifies for Medicare just by reaching sixty-five. You have to meet some other conditions, according to the circumstances of yours.
Debunking some qualification myths
The law does not push you to take Medicare Part B at sixty-five or perhaps any other age.
You can enroll in Medicare at age sixty-five or perhaps later, even if you have not begun receiving Social Security or maybe retirement benefits.
You can stop enrolling in Part B beyond age sixty-five without incurring late penalties for as long as you are covered by health insurance offered by an employer for whom you or perhaps your spouse is actively working, provided that the employer has twenty or perhaps more employees.
Meeting the requirements for Parts A, B, and D.
The law does not push you to take Medicare Part B at sixty-five or perhaps any other age.
You can enroll in Medicare at age sixty-five or perhaps later, even if you have not begun receiving Social Security or maybe retirement benefits.
You can stop enrolling in Part B beyond age sixty-five without incurring late penalties for as long as you are covered by health insurance offered by an employer for whom you or perhaps your spouse is actively working, provided that the employer has twenty or perhaps more employees.
Part A
You qualify to receive Part A benefits at age sixty-five or even older in case you are a U.S. citizen, or perhaps permanent legal resident, and at least one of the following is also true:
- You have earned forty credits through payroll taxes at work, making you qualified for Social Security or perhaps railroad retirement benefits.
- You qualify for the work history of the current spouse.
- You qualify to receive Part A benefits without forty work credits at age sixty-five or even older. In case you are a U.S. citizen or perhaps legal resident who’s lived in the United States less than five years before applying for Medicare, you enroll in Part A and Part B.
- You’ve zero to twenty-nine work credits and pay the full Part A premium.
- You or perhaps your spouse has 30-39 work credits, and you pay the partial Part A premium.
Medicare Part B
You can get Part B benefits at age sixty-five or even older in case you are a U.S. citizen or perhaps a legal resident who’s lived in the United States for no less than five years; you are enrolled in Part B as well as on the following is true:
- You pay a monthly premium, either the standard Part B premium or perhaps more, if your income is high enough to call for a surcharge.
- Your state pays your Part B premium.
Medicare Part D
You can receive Part D benefit at age sixty-five or even older in case you are enrolled in Part A or perhaps Part B or maybe both; you enroll in a stand-alone Part D drug plan or maybe a Medicare Advantage plan which provides Medicare drug coverage, and the following applies to you: You pay a premium that your project needs.
Qualifying for Medicare Part A on your work record You have to earn forty work credits, sometimes called quarters of coverage, before becoming eligible for premium-free Part A benefits at age sixty-five or perhaps over or perhaps qualify for Social security retirement benefits. Heres how credits are calculated:
Work credits are calculated on the income you work for, and that is taxable.
You have to generate a specific amount of cash to get one work credit; the amount is likely to go up a bit each year.
You can generate a maximum of just four work credits in any one year.
Regardless of when you earn four credits, social security will not credit the fourth one until the first day of the very last quarter of the season.
Racking up forty credits usually takes at least ten years of work, but these years need not be consecutive. You receive credits when you work and pay payroll taxes, even in case you’ve long breaks between spells of work.
Rules that are Different relating to work credits may apply in certain circumstances. Contact social security to discuss the credits in case you’re
- Self-employed and making less than $400 a year
- Operated by a local or even state government that opted not to take part in social security
- In the military
- Performing domestic work or perhaps farm work
- Working for a church organization that does not pay social security taxes
Becoming eligible for Medicare Part A on someone else’s work record
If your former or current spouse has earned forty work credits, you can qualify for premium-free Part A on his or perhaps her work record under these circumstances:
Current Spouse: You have been married to the present spouse of yours for a minimum of one year, you are aged sixty-five or perhaps older, and your spouse is a minimum of sixty-two Divorces Spouse: You were married to your divorced spouse for no less than ten years before the divorce started to be final. You have not remarried, you are age sixty-five or perhaps older, and your ex is at least sixty-two
Late Spouse: You’d been married to your deceased spouse for no less than nine months immediately before he or perhaps she died. You are sixty-five or maybe older, and also, you did not remarry before age sixty
Divorced late spouse: You were married for no less than ten years before the divorce started to be final. You did not remarry before age sixty, and you are sixty-five or perhaps older
Neither you nor your spouse has forty work credits. In case the present spouse of yours has under thirty credits, he or maybe she is not of any use to you since you still have to pay full premiums to get Part A benefits.
You are the foreign spouse of a U.S. citizen or perhaps legal resident.
When your sixty-five or perhaps older and are a green card holder whos been married to a U.S. citizen or maybe a legal resident for a minimum of one year, and your spouse is aged sixty-two or perhaps older and earned forty work credits, you are entitled to full Medicare benefits on his or perhaps her work record without being required to live in this country for five seasons