New to the country, received my first paycheck, it says that some money was deducted from it for my medcare.
How do I know which medcare I got? Is it working now or do I need to activate it first? Do I just go to any hospital and get checked?
Thank you
In: Other
[assuming US] It doesn’t work that way. For most people, you don’t qualify for Medicare benefits until you’re in your 60s.
Medicare is a government run healthcare program for seniors and some other special classes (such as adults unable to work due to severe disability).
You don’t. The idea is that everyone pays into Medicare. When you’re 63, you’re allowed to use it. The same goes for social security.
First, it is Medicare with an I.
Second, that isn’t paying for YOU to receive Medicare, that is paying for OTHER people to receive Medicare. In the US, there are 3 pools of federal taxes:
1) a general federal income tax, which Congress allocates the budget for how this is spent
2) Social Security tax which is specifically allocated to go to the Social Security fund to pay people currently on Social Security
3) Medicare tax which is specifically allocated to go to paying for Medicare costs for people on Medicare
In terms of your other questions regarding going to get healthcare, if you are employed in the US, you will almost certainly will have been offered a benefits package or will within the first couple weeks, which includes medical, dental, and vision coverage. Your employer will cover some portion of this, and you will cover another portion. There will likely be several different types of insurance plans available each with different types of coverage, which also specify different restrictions on where you can go to get medical care and how much it will cost you out of pocket to go. You really need to work with your employer to understand your benefits and to understand what your healthcare coverage entails.
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