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Flint Journal ‘Ask the Attorney’ Column

Q. If I receive Social Security Disability, will I also receive Medicare?

 A. Since 1965, American seniors 65 and older have generally been entitled to Medicare health insurance. Disabled workers receiving Social Security Disability are also entitled to Medicare usually after a 24 month waiting period. While it is well known that most Republicans have been fighting to eliminate Medicaid insurance for the poor and to repeal Obamacare for the uninsured middle class, fewer people realize that Republicans in Congress also want to eliminate Medicare insurance for seniors and the disabled. The Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan’s plan on his website is to eliminate Medicare and to give senior citizens coupons to buy insurance instead. If you are planning for retirement or unable to work because of disabilities, if the Republican Congress eliminates Medicare, it is hard to believe most seniors and disabled people will have extra money available to go buy insurance or to pay for medical care out of their own pocket. Medicare is generally recognized as a huge success story that has raised the quality of life for American seniors and lessened the burdened of families trying to care for aging parents. If you have questions regarding your own specific situation and benefit entitlements, please free to contact me. If you want Medicare to exist when you need it, exercise your right to vote, and make your voice heard by contacting the new Republican leaders in Congress.

–Robert J. MacDonald (Nov 2016)

2021 Postscript:  Paul Ryan has left Congress and now sits on the Fox News Board of Directors. Democrats control both Houses in Congress and are talking about expanding Medicare rather than dismantling it.