Medicare is our country’s health insurance program for people age 65. Or older and younger people receiving Social Security disability benefits. The program helps with the cost of health care. But it doesn’t cover all medical expenses or the cost of most long-term care. Medicare is a broad program of health insurance designed. To assist the nation’s elderly to meet hospital, medical, and other health costs. Medicare is available to most individuals 65 years of age and older.
Medicare is a federal program that provides health coverage if you are 65+ or under 65 and have a disability, no matter your income. Medicaid is a state and federal program that provides health coverage if you have a very low income.
Why Do You Have to Pay a Medicare Tax? The Medicare tax helps fund the Hospital Insurance (HI) Trust Fund. It’s one of two trust funds that pay for Medicare. The HI Trust Fund pays for Medicare Part A benefits including inpatient hospital care, skilled nursing facility care, home health care, and hospice care.
Medicare is a U.S. government health insurance program that subsidizes healthcare services. The plan covers people age 65 or older, younger people who meet specific eligibility criteria, and individuals with certain diseases. Medicare is divided into different plans that cover a variety of healthcare situations—some of which come at a cost to the insured person. While this allows the program to offer consumers more choice in terms of costs and coverage, it also introduces complexity for those seeking to sign up.
What is Medicare?
Medicare is a government national health insurance program in the United States, begun in 1965 under the Social Security Administration (SSA) and now administered by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).
It primarily provides health insurance for Americans aged 65 and older, but also for some younger people with disability status as determined by the SSA, including people with end-stage renal disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease).
In 2018, according to the 2019 Medicare Trustees Report, Medicare provided health insurance for over 59.9 million individuals—more than 52 million people aged 65 and older and about 8 million younger people. According to annual Medicare Trustees reports and research by the government’s MedPAC group, Medicare covers about half of the healthcare expenses of those enrolled.
Enrollees almost always cover most of the remaining costs by taking additional private insurance and/or by joining a public Part C or Part D Medicare health plan. In 2020, US federal government spending on Medicare was $776.2 billion.
No matter which of those two options the beneficiaries choose
No matter which of those two options the beneficiaries choose—or if they choose to do nothing extra (around 1% according to annual Medicare Trustees reports over time), beneficiaries also have other healthcare-related costs. These additional so-called out-of-pocket (OOP) costs can include deductibles and co-pays; the costs of uncovered services.
Such as for long-term custodial, dental, hearing, and vision care; the cost of annual physical exams, and the costs related to basic Medicare’s lifetime and per-incident limits. Medicare is funded by a combination of a specific payroll tax, beneficiary premiums, surtaxes from beneficiaries, co-pays and deductibles, and general U.S. Treasury revenue.
Medicare wages are employee earnings that are subject to a U.S. payroll tax known as the Medicare tax. Similar to the other U.S. payroll tax, Social Security, the Medicare tax is used to fund the government’s Medicare program, which provides subsidized healthcare and hospital insurance benefits to people ages 65 and older and people with disabilities. Medicare and Social Security taxes are levied on both employees and employers under the Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA).
Understanding Medicare Wages
There is no limit on Medicare wages. The employee’s share of the Medicare tax is a percentage withheld from their paycheck. In 2020 and 2021, the Medicare tax is 1.45% on an individual’s wages. Employers also pay 1.45%.
There is also a 0.9% Additional Medicare Tax that only the employee filing an individual tax return pays for wages that exceed $200,000. The additional tax also applies to those whose wages exceed $250,000 if they file a joint return and exceed $125,000 for married taxpayers filing a separate return.
For 2021, the rate for the Social Security tax is 6.2% for the employee and 6.2% for the employer, or 12.4% total—the same as 2020. The tax applies to the first $142,800 of income in 2021, and up to $147,000 in 2022. The Social Security tax rate is assessed on all types of income that an employee earns, including salaries, wages, and bonuses.
Medicare Tax for the Self-Employed
Under the Self-Employed Contributions Act (SECA), the self-employed are also required to pay Social Security and Medicare taxes. In 2021 and 2022, the Medicare tax on a self-employed individual’s income is 2.9%, while the Social Security tax rate is 12.4%. The maximum Social Security tax for self-employed people in 2021 is $17,707.20, and $18,228 in 2022.
Self-employed individuals must pay double the Medicare and Social Security taxes that traditional employees pay because employers typically pay half of these taxes. But they are allowed to deduct half of their Medicare and Social Security taxes from their income taxes.
Notable References
In addition to noting particular withdrawals for Medicare and Social Security from each paycheck, an employee should consider options for saving for retirement. In many cases, you can elect to have a portion deducted from your paycheck for this purpose. Many employers offer certain types of retirement plans, depending on the length of time an employee has been with an organization (known as vesting) and the type of organization (company, nonprofit, or government agency).
Many companies, for example, offer a 401(k) plan. A 401(k) is a qualified employer-sponsored retirement plan into which eligible employees can make salary deferral contributions. Earnings in a 401(k) accrue on a tax-deferred basis. A 403(b) retirement plan is comparable to a 401(k) plan but is designed specifically for employees of public schools, tax-exempt organizations, and certain ministers. A 457 plan is a retirement plan offered to state and local government employees.
The most common investments offered in 401(k) plans are mutual funds. A 403(b) lets employees invest in a tax-sheltered annuity plan or a designated Roth account.
You can also opt to save for retirement via an IRA in the event your employer does not offer a retirement plan, or you can use one to save an additional amount for retirement above and beyond the money saved in an employer-sponsored plan. As with a 401(k), retirement savers can enjoy the benefit of tax-deferred savings in a traditional IRA.
History
Originally, the name “Medicare” in the United States referred to a program providing medical care for families of people serving in the military as part of the Dependents’ Medical Care Act, which was passed in 1956. President Dwight D. Eisenhower held the first White House Conference on Aging in January 1961, in which creating a health care program for social security beneficiaries was proposed.
In July 1965, under the leadership of President Lyndon Johnson, Congress enacted Medicare under Title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide health insurance to people age 65 and older, regardless of income or medical history. Johnson signed the Social Security Amendments of 1965 into law on July 30, 1965, at the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library in Independence, Missouri.
Former President Harry S. Truman and his wife, former First Lady Bess Truman became the first recipients of the program. Before Medicare was created, only approximately 60% of people over the age of 65 had health insurance. With coverage often unavailable or unaffordable to many others. As older adults paid more than three times as much for health insurance as younger people.
Many of this group (about 20% of the total in 2015) became “dual eligible”. For both Medicare and Medicaid with the passing of the law. In 1966, Medicare spurred the racial integration of thousands of waiting rooms. Hospital floors, and physician practices by making payments to health care providers conditional on desegregation.
Medicare has been operating for just over a half-century
Medicare has been operating for just over a half-century and, during that time, has undergone several changes. Since 1965, the program’s provisions have expanded to include benefits for speech, physical, and chiropractic therapy 1972.
Medicare added the option of payments to health maintenance organizations (HMO) in the 1970s. The government added hospice benefits to aid elderly people on a temporary basis in 1982 and made this permanent in 1984. Congress further expanded Medicare in 2001 to cover younger people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
However, as the years progressed, Congress expanded Medicare eligibility to younger people. With permanent disabilities who receive Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) payments. And to those with end-stage renal disease (ESRD). The association with HMOs that began in the 1970s was formalized. And expanded under President Bill Clinton in 1997 as Medicare Part C.
In 2003, under President George W. Bush, a Medicare program for covering almost all self-administered prescription drugs was passed as Medicare Part D.
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