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.
In fact, in a recent year, surgeons performed 500,000 coronary bypass procedures. And even though there is a shortage of donor organs, more than 2,300 people have heart transplants each year. Two major advances in medicine made heart surgery possible: The heart-lung machine, which takes over the work of the heart.