Medicare Rights Center On The Waiting Period For Medicare

I am often asked by my clients who are awarded Title II Social Security disability benefits why they have to suffer through what amounts to a two and a half year waiting period for Medicare. The Medicare waiting period is two years itself, but this is on top of a five to six month waiting period for Title II Social Security disability benefits. My clients long for some rational explanation. I have to tell them the plain truth. The only explanation is that it saves money. Period. The cruelty of this waiting period has been acknowledged by everyone for decades now, yet nothing has been done.

The Medicare Rights Center has issued a report: Too Sick To Work, Too Soon For Medicare: The Human Cost Of The Two-Year Medicare Waiting Period For Americans With Disabilities. The report appears to be an early step in a campaign to eliminate the Medicare waiting period. This will not happen while George W. Bush is president, but activists are already trying to set an agenda for the next president.