Medicare 101 Guide

Medicare was established in the United States as a national health insurance program for those 65 or older. Medicare Parts A, B, and D are the parts of Medicare that most people pay for individually. The program is chiefly funded through a payroll tax, though recipients are responsible for a monthly premium and cost-sharing. Medicare provides benefits to eligible beneficiaries who meet specific eligibility requirements. Participants are encouraged to enrol in a supplemental private supplementary policy through Medicare Advantage or private fee-for-service plans. The premium for these policies is paid by the beneficiary, not the federal government. Those eligible for Medicare enrolment must be at least 65 years old. Those under 65 must be permanently disabled or suffer from specific terminal illnesses.

1. What is Medicare?

Medicare is the federal healthcare program for seniors and the disabled. Its age eligibility rules are confusing, so some of those who qualify get stuck in a coverage gap that leaves them unable to afford necessary medical care. The government has been trying to help out with an updated guide on how Medicare works, but there’s still confusion about what benefits people should expect from this program. Here are some things you should know about Medicare from a healthcare perspective to make the most of your coverage and stay healthy for as long as possible.

It provides medical services to those covered by Parts A and B of the plan, which covers hospital expenses and doctor visits, respectively. Part C is Medicare Advantage (MA), which offers additional benefits such as prescription drug coverage, outpatient care, and hearing aids or eyeglasses for seniors. Those who enrol in Medicare Part D receive coverage for prescription drug costs.

2. Medicare Part A

Part A covers most of the hospital expenses for Medicare beneficiaries. The amount of coverage is based on financial needs determined by complicated formulas adjusted annually for inflation. You might wonder why this coverage gap exists in the first place, but it’s important to remember that Medicare is also a government program—i.e., you pay taxes into it, and the government gives you healthcare back. The government limits the hospital expenses covered by Part A each year.

People who have certain types of employer-sponsored insurance—such as pensions or other retirement plans—also get Medicare Part A coverage. These people are known as “dual eligible” which means they are both Medicare beneficiaries and members of an eligible group.

3. Medicare Part B

Part B covers the costs of doctors and outpatient care, such as doctor office visits and in-patient hospital stays. Medicare beneficiaries must pay a monthly premium for that coverage. Recipients also have to pay a deductible each year for any covered services. You must pay the deductible for each service before Medicare kicks in to cover the remainder.

The Social Security Administration (SSA) sets cost-of-living increases yearly. The program also covers certain preventive services with no cost sharing. You can expect to pay about $4 for your doctor visits and up to $150 for prescription drugs.

4. Medicare Part C (Medicare Advantage)

It is privatized Medicare, offered by health insurance companies and paid directly to Medicare beneficiaries. It covers various healthcare benefits and services, from screenings to hospital stays, with cost-sharing or copayments. It’s private, beneficiaries don’t have to pay anything for their plans, and neither does the government for most of those benefits.

Private insurance companies offer these plans and don’t have an annual limit on Medicare benefits. They can cover the same services as Part B and cost less because they aren’t required to follow Medicare’s formula for setting premiums and deductibles. Beneficiaries must know precisely what’s covered by each plan.

5. Medicare Part D

Part D is the prescription drug coverage offered through Medicare Part A. It covers the costs of most, but not all, prescription drugs. Some of the covered drugs are generic versions of brand-name drugs. You have to pay a monthly premium for your prescription drug coverage, and there is no cost-sharing requirement as with other parts of Medicare Part A. There’s no annual limit on the total drug costs covered, but there is a limit on what you pay out-of-pocket each year for prescriptions. Part D plans also have pre-set out-of-pocket limits that beneficiaries must pay before their plans kick in again. Beneficiaries pay their premiums and cost-sharing annually, which are set by the insurance companies offering the plans.

6. How to Enroll in Medicare?

Most people eligible for Medicare enrol in the program through their employers. If you’re self-employed, it’s wise to enroll in employer-sponsored health insurance as a dual eligible. If you’re not covered by an employer-provided plan and don’t qualify for Medicaid or a state plan, you can enroll in Medicare at any time during open enrollment. Plans often allow you to pick which parts of Medicare the federal government will cover and which ones you want to be responsible for paying out of pocket.

7. How is Medicare Paid For?

The government pays a fixed amount to beneficiaries based on their income and a sliding scale for those who are disabled or elderly. There are also premiums for MA plans. Medicare is a federal program, so it is subject to all the laws passed by Congress that regulate the establishment of insurance companies and the prosecution of fraud committed against them. Participants have access to all the information about their benefits from the Social Security Administration, which maintains a database with all Medicare enrolees’ personal information.

Medicare is a good program that helps seniors when they need it most. The government will pay its share of the costs of hospitalization or doctor visits during its 50-year lifetime. Since Medicare pays so much less than private insurance, beneficiaries often have to pay more out-of-pocket for many services, especially prescription drugs and other medical supplies.

Todayville Content Team

www.todayville.com/

Todayville Content Team works with a wide variety of clients to develop compelling content solutions. Our experienced team develops strategic campaigns that use video and storytelling, digital advertising and social media to help our clients position and distinguish themselves in the market.

Follow Author

The bizarre story of Taro Tsujimoto

Also Interesting / 3 days ago

60% of Canadians gamble each month – why the industry is going from strength to strength

Also Interesting / 4 days ago

Can Crypto Help You Budget?

Also Interesting

The bizarre story of Taro Tsujimoto

Published on March 28, 2025

Todayville Content Team

The National Hockey League (NHL) has seen its fair share of strange moments, but few compare to the bizarre and hilarious tale of Taro Tsujimoto, a player who never existed. His “selection” in the 1974 NHL Draft remains one of the most legendary pranks in hockey history. If you want to wager on actual players, making the 1xBet app download is definitely a great idea.

In the 1970s, the NHL Draft was a much less glamorous event than today. It was a tedious process conducted over the phone, with teams calling in their picks. The 3 biggest highlights of what happened during that year’s draft were:

the draft dragged on for hours;
there were multiple rounds and teams selecting unknown prospects from obscure leagues;
frustrated with the monotony, Buffalo Sabres general manager Punch Imlach decided to have a little fun.

As the 11th round approached, Imlach instructed his team’s representative to draft Taro Tsujimoto, a supposed forward from the Tokyo Katanas of the Japan Ice Hockey League. The name sounded authentic enough. The league officials, unfamiliar with Japanese hockey, accepted the pick without question. By downloading the 1xBet app you will also be able to wager on great NHL teams too.

A small problem

There was a small problem with all of this, as 2 things didn’t exist: Tsujimoto and the Tokyo Katanas. Imlach had completely fabricated the player as a joke, taking advantage of the NHL’s lack of verification. When it comes to NHL wagers, there is no better platform than the 1xBet Canada site.

For weeks, the league listed Tsujimoto as an official draft pick, and even some newspapers reported on Buffalo’s mysterious new Japanese prospect. Eventually, the Sabres admitted the hoax, and the NHL was forced to retroactively erase the selection from its records.

Despite being a fictional player, Taro Tsujimoto took on a life of his own. Buffalo Sabres fans embraced the prank, and over the years, his name has become a cult legend in hockey culture. Some fans even wore jerseys with “Tsujimoto” on the back. The joke persisted so much that when EA Sports released NHL video games, players could occasionally find Tsujimoto in the game’s draft pool as a hidden Easter egg.

More than just a prank, the story of Taro Tsujimoto highlights 2 things: the quirks of old-school sports management and the creativity of one of hockey’s most colorful executives. Today, with the draft process being highly scrutinized and broadcast live, such a prank would be impossible. But Tsujimoto’s legacy lives on as one of hockey’s greatest inside jokes. What is not a joke are the great rewards that a platform like the Canadian 1xBet site can give you.

Also Interesting

60% of Canadians gamble each month – why the industry is going from strength to strength

Published on March 26, 2025

Todayville Content Team

When it comes to regulating gambling, Canada has a somewhat relaxed approach. The Canadian Gaming Association oversees the industry, but it’s up to individual provinces to enact and enforce any laws relating to online casino gaming, sports betting, traditional casino gaming, and other forms of gambling.

Canada’s online casino gaming laws are not totally clear, but individual provinces are starting to put this right. Ontario was the first and did so when it launched its own regulated igaming market in April 2022. Now some other provinces have followed suit, creating a safer igaming environment for players in those provinces. Below is a look at gambling in Canada compared to other parts of the world, at gaming laws in Alberta compared to other provinces, and at the future of the Canadian, US, and UK gambling industries.

Canada: a forever love of gambling

Gambling in some form or other has always been popular in Canada. Way back in the 1990s, research found six in ten Canadians (60%) gambled every month. Additionally, four in ten (43%) spent between 1 and 20 Canadian dollars on gambling. Fast forward to today and the Canadian gambling market is worth 14.2 billion US dollars as of January 2024, according to data on the website of consumer and market data company Statista.

It seems Canada enjoys wagering just as much as two other countries that love a gamble: the US and the UK. Data on the Statista website shows that 49% of US adults took part in gambling activities in 2023. Fifty-six percent said their attitude towards gambling had relaxed, compared to the 50% of 2019.

The UK returned similar stats for the same year. Forty-eight percent of adults reported engaging in gambling activity. Online casinos generated the most gross gambling yield in 2023, but it was the nation’s National Lottery that people played the most.

Alberta: following Ontario’s lead

The regulatory developments in Ontario have triggered movement in Alberta. In May 2024, Bill 16, the Red Tape Reduction Amendment Act, made it through the process and later received Royal Assent to become law. The act removes the monopoly of gaming by a single government entity and will allow private operators, licensed by Alberta’s provincial regulator, to provide online gaming services in Alberta, meaning players will have a choice of more than one Alberta online casino to play at.

The regulation transforms Alberta into one of the more liberal provinces when it comes to online gambling, others being Quebec, Ontario, and British Columbia.

Several provinces, such as Novia Scotia and Northwest Territories, have no provincially regulated online gaming sites. Some also restrict betting on horse racing and/or other types of sports betting, obliging citizens to use international betting sites for freedom from caps and betting on as many events as they wish.

What lies ahead for the Canadian, US, and UK gambling industries?

Canada’s appetite for gambling is clear, and the industry’s online sector is beginning to thrive. Ontario has enjoyed vast success by creating its own regulated market, one which, in just its first year, saw Canadians place billions in wagers and the industry itself generate more than a billion in total gaming revenue.

Canada can expect to see other provinces follow Ontario’s lead and allow private operators to provide services in the province under license. The purpose of the regulation is player protection. Any province that develops a regulated market will focus on this, so there will also be regulations around the advertising of gambling services.

The US

Gambling online is the future for the US, too, although states are slow to legalize it. As of September 2024, 38 states had legalized sports betting, following the US Supreme Court’s ruling that states could regulate sports gambling directly.

Despite allowing sports betting, some states only permit in-person betting, and only a few states allow online casino gaming. Operators believe online casino gaming is the future of gambling.

The UK

In the UK, the use of artificial intelligence (AI) will get bigger and bigger. Companies have realized AI can enhance players’ experience and are embracing it more and more. For instance, sports betting websites can use it to crunch data and provide iGamers with stats and other data to make better betting decisions. They’re also understanding they can use AI to prioritize content players are likely to be interested in and to personalize their offerings and services to players’ preferences.

Canada enjoys gambling as much as America and the UK. Although laws around igaming are more of a grey area in Canada, some provinces are clearing the issue up by creating regulated markets and experiencing great success. As time goes by, more are sure to follow.