Medicare at 50 Act reintroduced

[Janit]

It is important to distinguish between Medicare and retirement. They are separate things. I enrolled in Medicare at 65 but did not retire. Even so, I needed to have 40 "quarters" of social security credit to qualify for "free" part A. And there is a premium for part B, etc. I would expect "Medicare at 50" to have a different premium schedule, depending on age and work history. Medicare is not the free ride some people think it is. I am fortunate that my area has good "zero premium" Medicare Advantage plans available. This year they added PPO plans, in addition to the HMO plans, so the NJ providers must be feeling competitive pressure from seniors who do significant travel to other states.