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 Medicare: Do You Know All You Should? Under both parts of Medicare, you are responsible for making certain payments directly from your assets. Here, as with other parts of the Medicare provisions, Social Security rules govern certain coverages. Under Part A, if you have 40 quarters of work which meet the requirements of the Social Security rules, then you are entitled to this portion of Medicare coverage premium-free, that is with no extra monthly payments required to be made by you toward this coverage. If you have at least 30 quarters but less than 40 quarters which qualify under social security requirements, then you will be required to pay a monthly premium charge, set by law, in order to be entitled to all of the benefits of the Medicare coverage. If you have fewer than 30 quarters which qualify under Social Security requirements, then you may still receive coverage, but you will be forced to pay a higher monthly premium. Under Part B, you are required to pay a monthly premium, set by law. However, this amount may be higher in some instances depending upon when you enroll. If you enroll in Part B within 7 months of turning 65 [either three months before or after the month of your birthday, and that month] you can receive the lowest monthly premium. If you enroll after this period, or at some later date, you may be forced to pay a higher, penalty premium on a monthly basis. All of this depends upon the actual time of your enrollment.
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