Q. My father was a federal employee for many years and he retired in 1983. He passed away in 2004 at the age of 80. My mother has been receiving an annuity benefit since that time. The only insurance that my father ever had was his Blue Cross/Blue Shield Federal. Why was he (and now my mother) not eligible for Medicare Part A? Shouldn’t he have been paying into the Medicare system through payroll deductions when he was employed with the Federal Communications Commission?
A. Because he was a CSRS employee who retired before December 31, 1983, he didn’t have payroll deductions for Medicare Part A taken from his pay. It was only after that date that employees were required to have those deductions taken out.
