Estelle Carlson of Redondo Beach, California, has had a smartphone for at least 10 years. Carlson, who is in her 70s, does everything on it: she banks, Facetimes with her cousin in Scotland and her granddaughters in Boston and Kaui, she writes “letters” and texts. “I can’t imagine being without it,” she says of her iPhone. Carlson is one of many senior smartphone users. The number of seniors using smartphones is growing every year, varying substantially by age: 59 percent of 65- to 69-year-olds have smartphones. But that drops off as seniors get older. Only 31 percent of 75- to 79-year-olds use them, according to the Pew Research Center. What if you’re not a savvy iPhone user like Carlson, a
Medicare is the federal government program that provides health care coverage (health insurance) if you are 65+, under 65 and receiving Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) for a certain amount of time, or under 65 and with End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD). The Centers for Medicare & MedicaidServices (CMS) is the federal agency that runs Medicare. The program is funded in part by Social Security and Medicare taxes you pay on your income, in part through premiums that people with Medicare pay, and in part by the federal budget. Once you have become Medicare-eligible and enroll, you can choose to get your Medicare benefits from Original Medicare, the traditional fee-for-service program of
