Medicare is not a free program. There is no charge for Part A that covers hospitalization. Part B costs senior citizens $104.00 per month.

Part B alone is $1248.00 annually out of a Social Security check that is fixed to it's value. 

Add to that $104.00 per month the cost of either Part D or a supplemental that can cost significant amounts of money. 

Part D was effected by the ACA and reduced subscription fees to about 25 percent of the cost before the ACA. 

A Medicare supplemental can cost anywhere from $70 to $250. Add the costs of Part D and/or a supplemental and the cost per month for Medicare healthcare rises to $354.00 per month. That is an annual bill of $4248.00. PLUS deductibles that can be as high as $50.00 per office specialist visit and pharmacy deductibles of $300 per year and overall deductibles to $7000 per year. The higher the deductibles the lower the monthly subscription costs. That is not peanuts.

Among the people complaining about health care costs dearly few are senior citizens.