§1395i–2a Hospital insurance benefits for disabled individuals who have exhausted other entitlement

Summary

Allows people under 65 who were getting disability benefits but lost those benefits only because their earnings became too high to sign up for hospital insurance (Medicare Part A). To qualify they must still have the same disability or be blind, must have been on benefits under section 426(b), and must not already be eligible for Part A another way. You must enroll in the way and during the times the government sets. Your first enrollment window starts the month you get notice that your benefits will stop for earnings reasons and ends 7 months later. There is also a general yearly enrollment from January 1 to March 31 (starting in 1990). Coverage begins on the latest of several month-based rules depending on when you enroll (ranging from the first day of the month you become eligible to up to the third month after you enroll, or July 1 if you enroll in the general period). Coverage stops the month after you are told you no longer meet the disability/blindness test, the month after you ask to stop, the month before you become eligible under sections 426(a) or 426–1, or on a date set for missed premium payments. Premiums must be paid to the Secretary as the rules require and go into the Federal Hospital Insurance Trust Fund. Premiums are due from the first month of coverage until death or earlier termination, but not for months when you are eligible under section 426(b). Certain other enrollment and premium rules from sections 1395i–2 and 1395p (subsections named in the law) apply here in the same way.