Definition of Medicare

Medicare: The United States government's health insurance program for:

• "senior citizens" -- people 65 years of age or older,
• certain younger people with specific disabilities, and
• people with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) -- permanent kidney failure requiring dialysis or a transplant.

Medicare is funded by the Social Security Administration. with a budget roughly equal to about 10% of the entire US budget. Medicare is currently available to about 40 million people

Medicare Part A covers inpatient hospital stays while Medicare Part B covers physician and outpatient services.

In 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Medicare bill into law in the presence of former President Harry S. Truman in Independence, Missouri. Truman described the event as "a profound personal experience for me." During his presidency, Truman had attempted in vain to get a national health insurance program through Congress. In 1966 the first Medicare card was issued by LBJ to Truman. The second card was given to the former First Lady, Bess Truman.