Q.
I was just curious if you were looking for general requirements to be eligible for Medicare or specific requirements to be eligible for facilities/services that are covered under Part A?

A.
Yes, and yes.
1. In this course we are narrowing the discussion of Medicare as it applies to the population of persons over 65.  We are not addressing (younger) disabled persons who are eligible for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI), which is another “version” of Medicare.  For persons over 65, the only requirement for Medicare eligibility is that they are a US citizen and that they (or their spouse) have worked 40 quarters (10 years) making payroll contributions:

• MED/EE on your paycheck stands for Medicare/Employee Share
  You and your employer are each required in 2009 to pay 1.45% of all your earnings for Medicare, a total of 2.9%.  In contrast OASDI (Social Security) stops contributions for amounts over $106,800.
• OASDI/EE on your paycheck stands for Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance/Employee Share i.e. “Social Security”. You pay 6.2%, and your employer pays 6.2%, for a total of 12.4%, however, people who earn more than $106,800 do not pay SS tax on anything over $106,800.

2. The second angle to understand is from the perspective of the patient enrolled in Medicare A and Medicare B is expected to pay.  This is the information that you already looked at on the website.  Here is the route to get there:
http://web.missouri.edu/~brownmb/pt415/index.htm#medicare

3. The third angle to understand is from the perspective of the healthcare team, making decisions about a patient’s prognosis and the most suitable rehabilitation environment.  This is what you discussed in PBL related to Mrs. Kahlili, and the resources are under the “Reimbursement” link on the course website. http://web.missouri.edu/~proste/reimbursement/reimbursement/index.htm   
You need to have a basic understanding of the admission criteria for:

• Skilled Nursing Facility (Part A)
• Inpatient Rehabiliation (Part A)
• Home Health (Part A) – definition of Homebound Status is key
• Hospice (Part A)