Medicare Comparison

Medicare and Medicaid are two different government-run programs that were created in 1965 in response to the inability of older and low-income Americans to buy private health insurance. However, they are both federal government program, there are some major differences between the two. The differences are who qualifies for these programs, who runs them, how much users pay and what services they cover.

Medicare is a federal program that provides medical care to people over 65 or older as well as those under age 65 with certain disabilities. Eligibility has nothing to do with income level in this program. Because Medicare is run by the federal government, its coverage, rules and guidelines are basically the same everywhere in the United States. With this program patients pay part of the costs through deductibles for hospital stays and they are required to pay monthly premiums health care services. Medical bills are paid from trust funds which those covered have paid into. Medicare has four parts:

Part A: offers

Eligibility is based on peoples’ income which is calculated related to a percentage of the Federal Poverty Level. Also, there are other non-financial eligibility criteria for example; individuals need to satisfy federal and state requirements regarding residency, immigration status, and documentation of U.S. citizenship. Medical bills are paid from federal, state and local tax funds. The federal government funds up to fifty percent of the cost of each state's Medicaid program, with more rich states receiving less funding than less affluent states. Because of this federal/state corporation each state has its own rules and regulations about who is eligible and who is covered. In this program patients sometimes don't pay any charges for covered medical costs, but in other cases, a co-pay is