For example, if you're eligible for Medicare when you turn 65, you can sign up during the 7-month period that begins 3 months before the month you turn 65, includes the month you turn 65, and ends 3 months after the month you turn 65. You can sign up for free Part A (if youâre eligible) any time during or after your Initial Enrollment Period starts.
1 On average, 21 people die every day from the lack of available organs for transplant. 2  Seven percent of people on the waiting listâmore than 6,500 each yearâdie before they are able to receive a transplant. The cornea is the most commonly transplanted tissue. 2  More than 40,000 corneal transplants take place each year in the United States. 3  A healthy person can become a âliving donorâ by donating a kidney, or a part of the liver, lung, intestine, blood or bone marrow. 4  More than 6,000 living donations occur each year.
The long-awaited changes from the United Network for Organ Sharing, or UNOS, come as the gap between who needs a new kidney and who gets one widens. Nearly 102,000 people are on the national waiting list for a kidney, while fewer than 17,000 transplants are performed each year. Roughly 11,000 transplants are thanks to kidneys donated from someone who just died rather than living donors.