Commentary: I'm on Medicare, but I still got stuck with a $25,000 hospital bill

On June 30, 1966, President Lyndon Johnson inaugurated the Medicare program with the promise that "nearly every older American will receive hospital care - not as an act of charity, but as the insured right of a senior citizen."

Medicare Part A was designed to provide that "insured right" to hospital care and is available without cost to every 65-year-old person who qualifies for Social Security. Unfortunately, Medicare Part A has a major gap in its coverage. As a senior citizen with Medicare