Congress created Medicare under Title XVIII of the Social Security Act in 1965. The purpose of medicare is to provide health insurance, regardless of income and medical history, to all people who are at least 65 years old. Prior to the introduction of medicare, only 50 percent of senior citizens had health insurance of any sort. This put some of the most vulnerable citizens in unfortunate situations. Thankfully, now there are a number of medicare supplemental plans from which older people can choose.

About 9 million Americans, most of whom are low income older adults, are dually eligible for Medicaid and Medicare supplemental plans. There are many medicare supplemental plans including medicare advantage health plans and medicare part b supplemental plans. Hospital care is covered as a part of the Medicare Part A plan. The Medicare Part A Plan is a good thing to have due to the fact that 30 percent of Medicare enrollees go to the emergency room annually. So too do medicare supplemental plans cover adults with chronic health conditions. This is good news because about 87 percent of older people have at least one chronic health problem, as compared to 21 percent of the general population. About 50 percent of seniors have three chronic health problems or more, in contrast with 7 percent of the rest of American citizens.

As baby boomers retire, they are expected to take a toll on the Medicare coffers. By 2030, baby boom medicare coverage is projected to increase enrollment from its current 48 million to more than 80 million. Medicare spending is expected to go up from 560 billion dollars currently to more than 1 trillion dollars in the year 2022. This is going to be extremely costly. Therefore, it is a good idea to become familiar with medicare supplemental plans now. Medicare supplemental plans help keep seniors safe and healthy. To see more, read this.