Missouri Medicare

This article gives the specifics of eligibility criteria for Medicare program as well as explains the four plans of the same. Finally, it presents useful statistics about Medicare programs in Missouri.

Missouri Medicare is a social insurance program administered by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). This medical health insurance program is particularly designed for the people of age 65 and above, as well as, for other disabled people with special cases. Originally started as a law in 1965, eventually the Missouri Medicare program has now evolved into a long term care insurance policy which is benefitting more than 16% of the local population of Missouri.

The eligibility criteria for the Missouri Medicare are as follows:

1. Interested parties must be at least of 65 years and above and must hold a permanent legal residence in the US for five or more continuous years

2. If they are under the age of 65 or disabled and are already eligible for one of the many social security plans, they can still opt for Missouri Medicare program.

Originally, the Missouri Medicare program had two parts: The Part A covered the Hospital Insurance while Part B took care of the Medical Insurance. Later on, Plan C was developed which combined these two and is known as Medicare advantage plan or Plan C. Medicare Part D covers a variety of prescription drug plans and is in effect since January 2006. Neither Plan A or Plan B is fully capable of paying all of a patient’s medical costs and this long term care insurance program also contains deductibles and premiums which a person has to pay out of his own pocket. Compulsory tax payments by the US citizens have largely contributed to the success of the Missouri Medicare program. This long term care program makes contracts with several regional insurance companies which are tasked with processing of more than one billion claims per year.

Medicare Frauds and other mishaps are part of the system due to its vastness. Yet, due to the great benefits offered by the Missouri Medicare programs, this long term care insurance policy is never in dearth of interested parties.

A recent study highlights interesting facts about Missouri Medicare program. The total number of Medicare beneficiaries is approx. 961,308 which amount to around 16% of the total population. Around 18% of these beneficiaries are disabled people, while around 53% people fall into the age group of 65-74.