I'm 68 years old and 4 Quarters short am I eligible to get on medicare and Medicaid if so I would like to know and how much it would cost me if any,

Hi,

Anyone who is a U.S. resident and either a citizen or an alien admitted for permanent residence who has resided in the United States for at least the last 5 years is eligible for Medicare, regardless of their earnings history. The only difference between someone who has worked long enough to be insured for Social Security benefits and someone who has not is that the insured person can sign up for Part A (inpatient hospital) coverage free of charge. Even if a person is not insured for Social Security benefits themselves, they can potentially get free Part A coverage if they meet the eligibility requirements for Social Security benefits on someone else's record (e.g. spouse, ex-spouse).

The 2017 base monthly premium rate for Part A of Medicare for uninsured individuals is $413, but since you apparently have at least 30 quarters of Social Security coverage your base premium would be $227. However, a 10% late filing surcharge is applied if you sign up for Part A more than 12 months after you were first eligible, which would make your likely monthly premium around $249.70.

The base Part B (outpatient) premium amount in 2017 is $134, and the late filing surcharge is 10% per year. Therefore, your likely cost for Part B of Medicare would be around $174.20 per month (i.e. $134 x 1.3).

Furthermore, there are only certain periods of time during which you can enroll in Medicare. Unless you meet the requirements for a special enrollment period, you would likely need to wait for a general enrollment period to sign up for Medicare. General enrollment periods (GEP) occur every year from January through March, and people who enroll during a GEP are covered effective with July 1st of the year in which they enroll. For more information on Medicare and enrollment periods, refer to this Social Security publication: https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10043.pdf.

Best, Jerry