There was no such thing as Medicare until 1965. It the person in question was born in 1890, he would have been 75 at the time. I have no idea whether everyone over 65 was automatically enrolled into Medicare. As far as SS is concerned, not everyone is covered, e.g., state and federal employees at the time.
“There was no such thing as Medicare until 1965. It the person in question was born in 1890, he would have been 75 at the time. I have no idea whether everyone over 65 was automatically enrolled into Medicare. As far as SS is concerned, not everyone is covered, e.g., state and federal employees at the time.”
People are eligible for Medicare without qualifying for SS http://www.medicare.gov/MedicareEligibility/Home.asp?dest=NAV|Home|GeneralEnrollment#TabTop
but they have to apply for benefits: there is not automatic enrollment. More importantly, if you don’t qualify for SS, you have to pay a premium to enroll in Medicare. I don’t know about Part A (hospital benefits), but for Part B, those premiums go up 10% a year for every year you fail to sign up for Medicare, so by waiting 10 years, this guy would have had to pay premiums 100% higher than if he’d done so the very first year he was eligible for Medicare (i.e., 1966, when the program actually became operational).
So....either the guy qualified for SS, in which case it defies logic he would not have applied for entirely free SS benefits once eligible and later applied for heavily subsidized Medicare coverage once it became available.
OR the guy DIDN’T qualify for SS, in which case delaying his participation in Medicare would have been even more irrational due to the built-in 10% of premium penalty designed to encourage seniors to enroll BEFORE they get severely ill and need the benefit etc.
Neither scenario hangs together particularly well, IMHO. I’m not saying it’s IMPOSSIBLE, just not very probable etc.
“There was no such thing as Medicare until 1965. It the person in question was born in 1890, he would have been 75 at the time. I have no idea whether everyone over 65 was automatically enrolled into Medicare. As far as SS is concerned, not everyone is covered, e.g., state and federal employees at the time.”
People are eligible for Medicare without qualifying for SS http://www.medicare.gov/MedicareEligibility/Home.asp?dest=NAV|Home|GeneralEnrollment#TabTop
but they have to apply for benefits: there is not automatic enrollment. More importantly, if you don’t qualify for SS, you have to pay a premium to enroll in Medicare. I don’t know about Part A (hospital benefits), but for Part B, those premiums go up 10% a year for every year you fail to sign up for Medicare, so by waiting 10 years, this guy would have had to pay premiums 100% higher than if he’d done so the very first year he was eligible for Medicare (i.e., 1966, when the program actually became operational).
So....either the guy qualified for SS, in which case it defies logic he would not have applied for entirely free SS benefits once eligible and later applied for heavily subsidized Medicare coverage once it became available.
OR the guy DIDN’T qualify for SS, in which case delaying his participation in Medicare would have been even more irrational due to the built-in 10% of premium penalty designed to encourage seniors to enroll BEFORE they get severely ill and need the benefit etc.
Neither scenario hangs together particularly well, IMHO. I’m not saying it’s IMPOSSIBLE, just not very probable etc.
“There was no such thing as Medicare until 1965. It the person in question was born in 1890, he would have been 75 at the time. I have no idea whether everyone over 65 was automatically enrolled into Medicare. As far as SS is concerned, not everyone is covered, e.g., state and federal employees at the time.”
People are eligible for Medicare without qualifying for SS http://www.medicare.gov/MedicareEligibility/Home.asp?dest=NAV|Home|GeneralEnrollment#TabTop
but they have to apply for benefits: there is not automatic enrollment. More importantly, if you don’t qualify for SS, you have to pay a premium to enroll in Medicare. I don’t know about Part A (hospital benefits), but for Part B, those premiums go up 10% a year for every year you fail to sign up for Medicare, so by waiting 10 years, this guy would have had to pay premiums 100% higher than if he’d done so the very first year he was eligible for Medicare (i.e., 1966, when the program actually became operational).
So....either the guy qualified for SS, in which case it defies logic he would not have applied for entirely free SS benefits once eligible and later applied for heavily subsidized Medicare coverage once it became available.
OR the guy DIDN’T qualify for SS, in which case delaying his participation in Medicare would have been even more irrational due to the built-in 10% of premium penalty designed to encourage seniors to enroll BEFORE they get severely ill and need the benefit etc.
Neither scenario hangs together particularly well, IMHO. I’m not saying it’s IMPOSSIBLE, just not very probable etc.