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How Much Do You Know About Medicare?

Take this quiz and discover how knowledgeable you are about the health insurance program

Dena Bunis

Updated October 12, 2021

En español

Published July 01, 2020

/ Updated October 12, 2021

7 Questions

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How Much Do You Know About Medicare?

[ {
  "question" : "How old do you have to be to qualify for Medicare?",
  "answers" : [ {
    "answer" : "62",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "65",
    "correctAnswer" : true
  }, {
    "answer" : "67",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "55",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  } ],
  "multiSelect" : false,
  "explanation" : "You can apply for Medicare beginning three months before the month of your 65th birthday.",
  "hint" : "",
  "hintLink" : "",
  "questionImgCaption" : "",
  "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
  "question" : "The portion of Medicare that pays for prescription drugs is:",
  "answers" : [ {
    "answer" : "Part A",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "Part B",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "Part C",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "Part D",
    "correctAnswer" : true
  } ],
  "multiSelect" : false,
  "explanation" : "Part A covers hospital care; Part B covers doctor visits and outpatient care; and Part C is Medicare Advantage, a private insurance plan option that covers hospital, doctors and usually prescription drugs.",
  "hint" : "",
  "hintLink" : "",
  "questionImgCaption" : "",
  "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
  "question" : "Which of these services is typically NOT covered by Medicare?",
  "answers" : [ {
    "answer" : "MRIs",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "Dialysis",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "Cataract surgery",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "Elective cosmetic surgery",
    "correctAnswer" : true
  } ],
  "multiSelect" : false,
  "explanation" : "Medicare covers a wide array of medical services – but not everything. In addition to elective cosmetic surgery, Original Medicare does not cover many vision and hearing services or routine podiatry visits. Some Medicare Advantage plans do pay for some of these needs.",
  "hint" : "",
  "hintLink" : "",
  "questionImgCaption" : "",
  "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
  "question" : "What percentage of primary care doctors accepts Medicare patients?",
  "answers" : [ {
    "answer" : "50 percent",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "35 percent",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "69 percent",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "93 percent",
    "correctAnswer" : true
  } ],
  "multiSelect" : false,
  "explanation" : "Although the vast majority (93 percent) of primary care doctors participate in Medicare, Kaiser Family Foundation research found that as of 2015 just 73 percent of those physicians accept new Medicare patients.",
  "hint" : "",
  "hintLink" : "",
  "questionImgCaption" : "",
  "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
  "question" : "Which president signed Medicare into law?",
  "answers" : [ {
    "answer" : "John F. Kennedy",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "Lyndon B. Johnson",
    "correctAnswer" : true
  }, {
    "answer" : "Ronald Reagan",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "Dwight D. Eisenhower",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  } ],
  "multiSelect" : false,
  "explanation" : "President Lyndon B. Johnson signed Medicare into law on July 30, 1965.",
  "hint" : "",
  "hintLink" : "",
  "questionImgCaption" : "",
  "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
  "question" : "About how many Americans are enrolled in Medicare?",
  "answers" : [ {
    "answer" : "10 percent",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "35 percent",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "60 percent",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "20 percent",
    "correctAnswer" : true
  } ],
  "multiSelect" : false,
  "explanation" : "About 61 million Americans were enrolled in Medicare in 2020. That’s roughly 20 percent of the country’s 330 million people.",
  "hint" : "",
  "hintLink" : "",
  "questionImgCaption" : "",
  "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
  "question" : "You can be enrolled in Medicare and Medicaid at the same time.",
  "answers" : [ {
    "answer" : "True",
    "correctAnswer" : true
  }, {
    "answer" : "False",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  } ],
  "multiSelect" : false,
  "explanation" : "Whether you qualify for Medicaid depends on your income, your assets and what state you live in. If you are enrolled in Medicaid, some of your out-of-pocket costs will be covered.",
  "hint" : "",
  "hintLink" : "",
  "questionImgCaption" : "",
  "questionImgCredit" : ""
} ]

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How Much Do You Know About Medicare?

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Dena Bunis covers Medicare, health care, health policy and Congress. She also writes the “Medicare Made Easy” column for the AARP Bulletin. An award-winning journalist, Bunis spent decades working for metropolitan daily newspapers, including as Washington bureau chief for the Orange County Register and as a health policy and workplace writer for Newsday.