Medicare application still not approved, open enrollment ends .

[tbudx3]

I live in California and turned 65 in November. I am not working. I applied online for SS and Medicare in October. My application has been at step 2 of 3 for the past month. I have gotten no communication from anyone about any additional info needed. There is no way I can meet the Medicare open enrollment period without having the MBI # effective date by tomorrow. To make matters worse, my husband is retiring last day of December which cancels my current medical insurance with his company. There is nothing I can do while my paperwork is in limbo. I have called all the numbers i can find listed but no one can speed up the process. What will happen when I miss the deadline?

 

[Limozine]

You are in your initial enrollment period, so the December 7th deadline doesn't apply to you. If you can get your MBI number and effective dates by the end of the month, you can apply for a supplement or MAPD for a January 1st effective date. I would suggest logging into social security at [EXTERNAL LINK] - my Social Security | SSA. You might have to create an online account first if you don't already have one, but once logged in look for your benefit letter. Your MBI and A/B effective dates will be in that letter. Good luck.

 

[goillini52]

I live in California and turned 65 in November. I am not working. I applied online for SS and Medicare in October. My application has been at step 2 of 3 for the past month. I have gotten no communication from anyone about any additional info needed. There is no way I can meet the Medicare open enrollment period without having the MBI # effective date by tomorrow. To make matters worse, my husband is retiring last day of December which cancels my current medical insurance with his company. There is nothing I can do while my paperwork is in limbo. I have called all the numbers i can find listed but no one can speed up the process. What will happen when I miss the deadline?

The end of AEP (Annual Enrollment Period) doesn't affect you this year. You're still in your IEP (Initial Enrollment Period).

Have you tried calling Social Security? It can be a long hold time, but you can have them return your call instead of waiting.

I'm sure I read that they were giving extensions because of the difficulty getting through to them on the phone.

 

[pogo]

If you don’t see the Medicare number in the benefits verification letter in your account at ssa.gov as Limozine said, you can try contacting your Congressional Representative’s office for help. If they ask for the government office you need help with, it’s Social Security, which is issuing the number. This worked great for someone here—after waiting for months, she got her Medicare number within 48 hours after contacting our Rep’s office. YMMV