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ENTITLEMENT TO HOSPITAL INSURANCE BENEFITS

SEC. 226. [42 U.S.C. 426] (a) Every individual who—

(1) has attained age 65, and

(2)(A) is entitled to monthly insurance benefits under section 202, would be entitled to those benefits except that he has not filed an application therefor (or application has not been made for a benefit the entitlement to which for any individual is a condition of entitlement therefor), or would be entitled to such benefits but for the failure of another individual, who meets all the criteria of entitlement to monthly insurance benefits, to meet such criteria throughout a month, and, in conformity with regulations of the Secretary, files an application for hospital insurance benefits under part A of title XVIII,

(B) is a qualified railroad retirement beneficiary, or

(C)(i) would meet the requirements of subparagraph (A) upon filing application for the monthly insurance benefits involved if medicare qualified government employment (as defined in section 210(p)) were treated as employment (as defined in section 210(a)) for purposes of this title, and (ii) files an application, in conformity with regulations of the Secretary, for hospital insurance benefits under part A of title XVIII,

shall be entitled to hospital insurance benefits under part A of title XVIII for each month for which he meets the condition specified in paragraph (2), beginning with the first month after June 1966 for which he meets the conditions specified in paragraphs (1) and (2).

(b) Every individual who—

(1) has not attained age 65, and

(2)(A) is entitled to, and has for 24 calendar months been entitled to, (i) disability insurance benefits under section 223 or (ii) child's insurance benefits under section 202(d) by reason of a disability (as defined in section 223(d)) or (iii) widow's insurance benefits under section 202(e) or widower's insurance benefits under section 202(f) by reason of a disability (as defined in section 223(d)), or

(B) is, and has been for not less than 24 months, a disabled qualified railroad retirement beneficiary, within the meaning of section 7(d) of the Railroad Retirement Act of 1974^[257], or

(C)(i) has filed an application, in conformity with regulations of the Secretary, for hospital insurance benefits under part A of title XVIII pursuant to this subparagraph, and

(ii) would meet the requirements of subparagraph (A) (as determined under the disability criteria, including reviews, applied under this title), including the requirement that he has been entitled to the specified benefits for 24 months, if—

(I) medicare qualified government employment (as defined in section 210(p)) were treated as employment (as defined in section 210(a)) for purposes of this title, and

(II) the filing of the application under clause (i) of this subparagraph were deemed to be the filing of an application for the disability-related benefits referred to in clause (i), (ii), or (iii) of subparagraph (A),

shall be entitled to hospital insurance benefits under part A of title XVIII for each month beginning with the later of (I) July 1973 or (II) the twenty-fifth month of his entitlement or status as a qualified railroad retirement beneficiary described in paragraph (2), and ending (subject to the last sentence of this subsection) with the month following the month in which notice of termination of such entitlement to benefits or status as a qualified railroad retirement beneficiary described in paragraph (2) is mailed to him, or if earlier, with the month before the month in which he attains age 65. In applying the previous sentence in the case of an individual described in paragraph (2)(C), the “twenty-fifth month of his entitlement” refers to the first month after the twenty-fourth month of entitlement to specified benefits referred to in paragraph (2)(C) and “notice of termination of such entitlement” refers to a notice that the individual would no longer be determined to be entitled to such specified benefits under the conditions described in that paragraph. For purposes of this subsection, an individual who has had a period of trial work which ended as provided in section 222(c)(4)(A), and whose entitlement to benefits or status as a qualified railroad retirement beneficiary as described in paragraph (2) has subsequently terminated, shall be deemed to be entitled to such benefits or to occupy such status (notwithstanding the termination of such entitlement or status) for the period of consecutive months throughout all of which the physical or mental impairment, on which such entitlement or status was based, continues, and throughout all of which such individual would have been entitled to monthly insurance benefits under title II or as a qualified railroad retirement beneficiary had such individual been unable to engage in substantial gainful activity, but not in excess of 78 such months. In determining when an individual's entitlement or status terminates for purposes of the preceding sentence, the term “36 months” in the second sentence of section 223(a)(1), in section 202(d)(1)(G)(i), in the last sentence of section 202(e)(1), and in the last sentence of section 202(f)(1) shall be applied as though it read “15 months”.

(c) For purposes of subsection (a)—

(1) entitlement of an individual to hospital insurance benefits for a month shall consist of entitlement to have payment made under, and subject to the limitations in, part A of title XVIII on his behalf for inpatient hospital services, post-hospital extended care services, and home health services (as such terms are defined in part C^[258] of title XVIII) furnished him in the United States (or outside the United States in the case of inpatient hospital services furnished under the conditions described in section 1814(f)) during such month; except that (A) no such payment may be made for post-hospital extended care services furnished before January 1967, and (B) no such payment may be made for post-hospital extended care services unless the discharge from the hospital required to qualify such services for payment under part A of title XVIII occurred (i) after June 30, 1966, or on or after the first day of the month in which he attains age 65, whichever is later, or (ii) if he was entitled to hospital insurance benefits pursuant to subsection (b), at a time when he was so entitled; and

(2) an individual shall be deemed entitled to monthly insurance benefits under section 202 or section 223, or to be a qualified railroad retirement beneficiary, for the month in which he died if he would have been entitled to such benefits, or would have been a qualified railroad retirement beneficiary, for such month had he died in the next month.

(d) For purposes of this section, the term “qualified railroad retirement beneficiary” means an individual whose name has been certified to the Secretary by the Railroad Retirement Board under section 7(d) of the Railroad Retirement Act of 1974^[259]. An individual shall cease to be a qualified railroad retirement beneficiary at the close of the month preceding the month which is certified by the Railroad Retirement Board as the month in which he ceased to meet the requirements of section 7(d) of the Railroad Retirement Act of 1974.

(e)(1)(A) For purposes of determining entitlement to hospital insurance benefits under subsection (b) in the case of widows and widowers described in paragraph (2)(A)(iii) thereof—

(i) the term “age 60” in sections 202(e)(1)(B)(ii), 202(e)(4), 202(f)(1)(B)(ii), and 202(f)(4)^[260] shall be deemed to read “age 65”; and

(ii) the phrase “before she attained age 60” in the matter following subparagraph (F) of section 202(e)(1) and the phrase “before he attained age 60” in the matter following subparagraph (F) of section 202(f)(1) shall each be deemed to read “based on a disability”.

(B) For purposes of subsection (b)(2)(A)(iii), each month in the period commencing with the first month for which an individual is first eligible for supplemental security income benefits under title XVI, or State supplementary payments of the type referred to in section 1616(a) of this Act (or payments of the type described in section 212(a) of Public Law 93-66) which are paid by the Secretary under an agreement referred to in section 1616(a) (or in section 212(b) of Public Law 93-66), shall be included as one of the 24 months for which such individual must have been entitled to widow's or widower's insurance benefits on the basis of disability in order to become entitled to hospital insurance benefits on that basis.

(2) For purposes of determining entitlement to hospital insurance benefits under subsection (b) in the case of an individual under age 65 who is entitled to benefits under section 202, and who was entitled to widow's insurance benefits or widower's insurance benefits based on disability for the month before the first month in which such individual was so entitled to old-age insurance benefits (but ceased to be entitled to such widow's or widower's insurance benefits upon becoming entitled to such old-age insurance benefits), such individual shall be deemed to have continued to be entitled to such widow's insurance benefits or widower's insurance benefits for and after such first month.

(3) For purposes of determining entitlement to hospital insurance benefits under subsection (b), any disabled widow aged 50 or older who is entitled to mother's insurance benefits (and who would have been entitled to widow's insurance benefits by reason of disability if she had filed for such widow's benefits), and any disabled widower aged 50 or older who is entitled to father's insurance benefits (and who would have been entitled to widower's insurance benefits by reason of disability if he had filed for such widower's benefits), shall, upon application for such hospital insurance benefits be deemed to have filed for such widow's or widower's insurance benefits.

(4) For purposes of determining entitlement to hospital insurance benefits under subsection (b) in the case of an individual described in clause (iii) of subsection (b)(2)(A), the entitlement of such individual to widow's or widower's insurance benefits under section 202(e) or (f) by reason of a disability shall be deemed to be the entitlement to such benefits that would result if such entitlement were determined without regard to the provisions of section 202(j)(4).

(f) For purposes of subsection (b) (and for purposes of section 1837(g)(1) of this Act and section 7(d)(2)(ii) of the Railroad Retirement Act of 1974^[261]), the 24 months for which an individual has to have been entitled to specified monthly benefits on the basis of disability in order to become entitled to hospital insurance benefits on such basis effective with any particular month (or to be deemed to have enrolled in the supplementary medical insurance program, on the basis of such entitlement, by reason of section 1837(f)), where such individual had been entitled to specified monthly benefits of the same type during a previous period which terminated—

(1) more than 60 months before the month in which his current disability began in any case where such monthly benefits were of the type specified in clause (A)(i) or (B) of subsection (b)(2), or

(2) more than 84 months before the month in which his current disability began in any case where such monthly benefits were of the type specified in clause (A)(ii) or (A)(iii) of such subsection,

shall not include any month which occurred during such previous period, unless the physical or mental impairment which is the basis for disability is the same as (or directly related to) the physical or mental impairment which served as the basis for disability in such previous period.

(g) The Secretary and Director of the Office of Personnel Management shall jointly prescribe and carry out procedures designed to assure that all individuals who perform medicare qualified government employment by virtue of service described in section 210(a)(5) are fully informed with respect to (1) their eligibility or potential eligibility for hospital insurance benefits (based on such employment) under part A of title XVIII, (2) the requirements for and conditions of such eligibility, and (3) the necessity of timely application as a condition of entitlement under subsection (b)(2)(C), giving particular attention to individuals who apply for an annuity under chapter 83 of title 5, United States Code, or under another similar Federal retirement program, and whose eligibility for such an annuity is or would be based on a disability.

(h) For purposes of applying this section in the case of an individual medically determined to have amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), the following special rules apply:

(1) Subsection (b) shall be applied as if there were no requirement for any entitlement to benefits, or status, for a period longer than 1 month.

(2) The entitlement under such subsection shall begin with the first month (rather than twenty-fifth month) of entitlement or status.

(3) Subsection (f) shall not be applied.

(i) For purposes of this section, each person whose monthly insurance benefit for any month is terminated or is otherwise not payable solely by reason of paragraph (1) or (7) of section 225(c) shall be treated as entitled to such benefit for such month.

(j) For entitlement to hospital insurance benefits in the case of certain benefit for any month is terminated or is otherwise not payable solely by reason of paragraph (1) or (7) of section 225(c) shall be treated as entitled to such benefit for such month.

^[257] See Vol. II, P.L. 75-162 [as amended by P.L. 93-445].

^[258] P.L. 105-33, §4002(f)(1), provided that any reference to part C of title XVIII is deemed a reference to part D of title XVIII as of August 5, 1997.

P.L. 108-173, §101(e)(1), provides that any reference to part D of title XVIII is deemed a reference to part E of title XVIII.

^[259] See Vol. II, P.L. 75-162 [as amended by P.L. 93-445].

^[260] P.L. 108-203, §418(b)(4)(B)(vii), struck out “and 202(f)(5)” and substituted “and 202(f)(4)”.

^[261] See Vol. II, P.L. 75-162 [as amended by P.L. 93-445].