Medicaid And Medicare: What's It All Mean?
Jason Lazarus, a financial planner from Orlando, FL, explains the differences between Medicaid and Medicare. He also explains how a brain or spinal cord injury survivor can determine if the qualify for either service.
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Step 1:
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Medicaid Explained
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Medicaid is a program that provides medical care to the indigent. So somebody has to meet specific financial eligibility requirements to qualify for Medicaid but it provides basic health care coverage for those who do not have any health care coverage at all.
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Step 2:
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Medicare Explained
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Medicare is an entitlement meaning you get that regardless of your financial status. It is a benefit that anybody that has work has paid in to the system through FICA and feuded taxes. So that specific benefit is available regardless of your income or assets. That particular benefit is tied though to Social Security Disability Income which is SSDI which is completely different from SSI.
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Step 3:
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Social Security Disability Income
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Social Security Disability Income is a disability payment that is paid to people that had paid in to the system if they have a qualifying disability. Two years from the date of commencement of those disability payments and injury victims can qualify for Medicare benefits. So it is a way to get at the Medicare system prior to reaching retirement age.
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Step 4:
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SSDI
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Well, the first thing that they would want to do is go to the Social Security Office and apply for disability benefits and they maybe entitled to SSDI and SSI. The only way that they are going to get Medicare benefits is if they qualify for SSDI. Because SSDI is the gate way to getting the Medicare benefits for those who are disabled and as SSI is the gate way for getting the Medicaid benefits.
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Step 5:
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Social Security Website
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So the starting point is that local Social Security Office or going to Social Security website and starting the application process for those benefits, which at the same time they can go down and apply for Medicaid. Medicare is not going to be a specific application because they are going to qualify for that from receiving the Social Security Disability Income, the SSDI.