Two Year Waiting Period for Medicare Benefits
The Medicare waiting period for Social Security disability recipients is two years.
Although a patient qualifies for Social Security Disability Income, there is a two-year wait to enroll in Medicare -- a gap instituted in 1972 to keep costs down, avoid overlaps with private insurance and to preserve Medicare for those with severe, long-lasting disabilities.
Currently it is estimated that 1.8 million Americans must wait two years after obtaining Social Security disability to become eligible for Medicare. The only exceptions to the Medicare wait are for people in end-state renal failure or with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
It is not uncommon for disabled people to spend their savings on the medical care necessary just to reach a diagnosis and are subsequently unable to obtain private health insurance.
It is not uncommon for recipients to die during the two year wait period.
For at least the past two sessions of Congress, a proposal has come forward to phase out the waiting period over 10 years. But the Congressional Budget Office calculated the measure would cost an average of $10 billion a year, and the proposal stalled.
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