Many elderly people, especially unmarried women who never worked outside their home, have never had the opportunity to contribute to Social Security and are therefore not eligible for Medicare.
These people are now forced to try to find private insurance, usually for $1000 a month or more, that buys poor coverage and has a high deductible. Allowing them to buy into Medicare is the humane way to address this issue.
2014 is still a year away and even then, private insurance for people over 65 will be prohibitively expensive. Allow these citizens the right to buy into Medicare.