Typically, anyone who is 65 years of age or older is eligible for Medicare or if you are younger with a disability or if you have ESRD or end-stage renal disease. There are 2 parts of Medicare, including Part A that is the hospital coverage along with Part B, which is the Medicare coverage. You would be eligible for the Part A, which is premium free, if you are above the age of 65 or older and if your spouse or you worked and paid the taxes for Medicare for a minimum of 10 years.

You would also be able to get Part A when you turn 65 at no cost to you if:

• You currently receive any retirement benefits from either the Railroad Retirement Board or Social Security.
• You are eligible to get Railroad or Social security benefits, but haven’t yet filed to get them.
• Your spouse or you had government employment that was Medicare-covered

To find out if you are eligible and your expected premium, go the Medicare.gov eligibility tool.

If your spouse or you didn’t pay any Medicare taxes when you were working or if you are above the age of 65 and a permanent resident or citizen of the US, then you can buy Part A. For those who are under the age of 65, then you can get coverage under Part A without needing to pay the premiums if:

• For 24 months you are entitled to get Railroad Retirement Board or Social Security disability benefits. (Note: For those with Lou Gehrig’s disease, then the benefits of Medicare would start the 1st month you would get the disability benefits.)
• You are a patient of kidney transplant or dialysis.

The majority of people don’t need to pay any Part A premium, but if you want Part B coverage, then you need to pay for it. The premium would be deducted monthly from your Civil Service Retirement, Railroad Retirement or Social security check. If you don’t receive these payments, then you would get a bill from Medicare every 3 months for the premium of Part B.