Medicare, Medicaid, And Social Security are all closely related and mostly confused terms used in conjunction with each other.They are some what different from each other.
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| Medicare, Medicaid, And Social Security.Difference between these three terms |
Social Security :
This is the US federal program that makes income payments to millions of Americans. To qualify, recipients must meet the minimum requirements for having worked and contributed to the system, or they must be beneficiaries of people are. They must also meet age or disability qualifications. The traditional retirement age was 65 years old, but now that has been raised to 67 for many people who are still of working age.
For example, if you worked for the required amount of time, and contributed to the system, you should qualify for benefits. However, a spouse of somebody who qualified may also get benefits upon the death of the spouse.
The program is paid for by taxes levied upon current workers. Beneficiaries who are retired because of age or disability contributed to the system in the past, but their taxes paid for people who got benefits then.
To be clear, taxes you pay now are not really going towards your future benefits, but to current benefits. However, the people who get money now did contribute in the past, so they probably have some "entitlement" to the program.
Medicare:
Medicare and social security seem to go together, but benefits are not always collected at the same time. This is the US health insurance program for seniors and disabled people. The basic program only pays a portion of health costs, but it does cover things like doctors, hospital stays, and prescriptions. Many people supplement these benefits with private Medicare health plans too.
This is also paid for with taxes. It is probably fair to say that current taxes pay for current benefits. If recipients are retired, they have paid taxes in the past to support the care of past beneficiaries.
Medicaid :
Medicaid is different. It is a federal and state shared program that provides health insurance for qualifying beneficiaries with very low incomes and few assets. These people might be disabled, children, pregnant women, etc.
Some people are called dual-eligible. This is because they qualify for Medicare and Medicaid. An example may be a low income senior citizen who meets the qualifying criteria. Medicaid pays the tabs on a large percentage of US nursing care.
The program is supported by federal and state money.
This is the US federal program that makes income payments to millions of Americans. To qualify, recipients must meet the minimum requirements for having worked and contributed to the system, or they must be beneficiaries of people are. They must also meet age or disability qualifications. The traditional retirement age was 65 years old, but now that has been raised to 67 for many people who are still of working age.
For example, if you worked for the required amount of time, and contributed to the system, you should qualify for benefits. However, a spouse of somebody who qualified may also get benefits upon the death of the spouse.
The program is paid for by taxes levied upon current workers. Beneficiaries who are retired because of age or disability contributed to the system in the past, but their taxes paid for people who got benefits then.
To be clear, taxes you pay now are not really going towards your future benefits, but to current benefits. However, the people who get money now did contribute in the past, so they probably have some "entitlement" to the program.
Medicare:
Medicare and social security seem to go together, but benefits are not always collected at the same time. This is the US health insurance program for seniors and disabled people. The basic program only pays a portion of health costs, but it does cover things like doctors, hospital stays, and prescriptions. Many people supplement these benefits with private Medicare health plans too.
This is also paid for with taxes. It is probably fair to say that current taxes pay for current benefits. If recipients are retired, they have paid taxes in the past to support the care of past beneficiaries.
Medicaid :
Medicaid is different. It is a federal and state shared program that provides health insurance for qualifying beneficiaries with very low incomes and few assets. These people might be disabled, children, pregnant women, etc.
Some people are called dual-eligible. This is because they qualify for Medicare and Medicaid. An example may be a low income senior citizen who meets the qualifying criteria. Medicaid pays the tabs on a large percentage of US nursing care.
The program is supported by federal and state money.
