This is a blog post I had hoped never to write, as this story doesn’t make me look too intelligent. That said, I hope that you will learn from my mistakes and don’t do what I did!
Back in the fall of 2023, I made the decision to ditch employer provided health insurance and plunge ahead into Medicare. It was an easy decision as I was expecting to retire soon and was tired of fighting with my employer provided plan over things that were supposed to be covered but often were denied. As anyone approaching 62 can tell you, there are plenty of options and you will receive at least 20 official looking envelopes a week from companies that offer Medicare policies. Sooner or later, we all make the jump to Medicare - how hard could it be?
So, at the beginning of 2024, I traded the comfort of a single line paycheck deduction for 8 separate policies for my wife and myself. We each had Medicare Parts A (hospitalization), B (regular healthcare), and D (prescription meds). Denise took a plan F (supplemental) and I took a plan G (supplemental). We worked with our plan administrator to get all the payments on autopilot, or at least that’s what I thought we did.
Early in January, I caught COVID, or maybe it caught me. I’m a little fuzzy on the details for that period of time because brain fog is real. From January through July, I felt like my brain was functioning at about 20% of normal capacity. Focusing on anything for more than 30 seconds felt impossible. And just about every day, there would be 2 or 3 official looking envelopes telling me about all of these Medicare policies and I’d toss them all in the garbage without even opening them. Then one day in early August, I opened one up. It informed me that my Medicare Part B policy had been cancelled for lack of payment.
I scratched my head and wondered what was going on. It turned out that the billing for Medicare Part B wasn’t on autopilot. It also turns out that without Part B coverage, you can’t have Part D or G. I was screwed - no health coverage until I got reinstated. I went down to the local Social Security office, pleaded guilty to being an idiot and asked to be reinstated. They told me I needed to pay up the back payments and they’d do their best to get my Part B going again. It was then that I learned that getting reinstated for Part B involves both the Medicare and Social Security teams working together - two gigantic organizations who were both severely understaffed. They warned me, it might take a while. I wrote the check and said a prayer.
My check for the missed payment didn’t even clear the bank for almost two months, but once it did, it gave me hope. I became a regular visitor to my local social security office – every week I’d stop in and ask for an update. I was nice at first but became increasingly agitated. They always told me the same thing - they had no control over any of it - it was out of their hands. I asked, “whose hands it was in?” They couldn’t tell me. None of them. Every week it was the same conversation. I was fed up. In early November, I contacted Senator Mark Warner’s office and asked for help. They said they would, and I was satisfied that I had sic’d the big dogs on them. But still… nothing. Nothing but the same old story - Two gigantic organizations who were both severely understaffed.
In early December, I got a call from the top supervisor at the Roanoke Social Security Office. They needed another check to cover the time from August 1st to the end of the year. I happened to have the checkbook with me, drove right down and paid the man. I was getting desperate for something to happen. Finally, in mid-December, he called again to inform me that my Part B coverage had been reinstated. I felt like a huge weight had been lifted off me – now I could get sick and not have to worry.
The moral of the story is this - don’t ever miss a Medicare payment. I don’t care if you are in a coma and your arms and legs have been amputated. You need to crawl out of your hospital bed and pay that bill. Because once you get the boot, you may never get back on. And not to go political or anything, but you know what’s happening in DC and government offices all over the land. This could happen to you just like it happened to me. You could literally get sick, die and be reborn two or three times before you get it straightened out.
I welcome your thoughts and experiences in the comments below. Please share this post with others who value both humor and serious stuff about this blue marble that we all share.
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