Commencing July 1, 1966, under the "Medicare" law which was enacted in 1965, individuals in the United States eligible to receive Social Security or Railroad Retirement payments will be automatically enrolled in a limited form of "hospital" insurance when they reach age 65. In addition, the law also contains a special provision which allows most other individuals age 65 and over to file an application with their Social Security District Office for entitlement to hospital insurance benefits. Individuals over 65 who are employed, or who are not receiving Social Security benefits for some other reason, may wish to consider registering. Generally only proof of age is required.
The law extends the concept of the term "hospital" to include Christian Science sanatoriums operated by The Mother Church or listed and certified by the Department of Care of The Mother Church.
Eligible Christian Scientists who enter such a Christian Science sanatorium for nursing care will be entitled to have this insurance benefit paid for by the Social Security program, with certain limitations. If the individual's need for nursing care in a sanatorium is verified by a Christian Science practitioner listed in The Christian Science Journal and if the sanatorium admission committee confirms his need for intensive Christian Science nursing care, in general the insurance benefits which will be provided are as follows, for what is referred to by the Government as any one "spell of illness."
