This year, my husband has decided to sign up for Medicare Part B. He is currently getting only Medicare Part A. We have been struggling to find affordable health insurance since I lost my job a few years ago. It seemed like a good time for him to try and get Part B.
Medicare is a government run health insurance program that is for people who are age 65 or older. It is also for people who have certain types of disabilities, no matter what their age happens to be. My husband is legally blind. He was born this way. Therefore, he qualifies for Medicare.
For most of our marriage, I had a job that came with health insurance benefits. This allowed me to have access to affordable health insurance coverage. It also covered my husband. Due to his disability, he had been getting Medicare Part A. So, for years, he had the private insurance that came from my job as his primary insurance, and the Medicare Part A as his secondary insurance.
This worked just fine until a few years ago, when I lost my job (and our health insurance with it). Since then, try as we might, we have been unable to find affordable health insurance. He still is covered by Medicare Part A. I have absolutely no coverage at all (except for Family PACT, which covers birth control, and a few other women’s health care related things).
It seemed like a good time for him to see if he could get Medicare Part B. This is the form of Medicare that covers things like doctors visits, outpatient care, home health services, and other medical services. Medicare Part A does not cover those types of things.
The first step for him was to call Social Security on the phone. He went through their automated phone system. It said it would transfer him to an agent, but, instead, it told him that all agents were busy, and that he should “call again later”. Of course, this was on Friday, and there would be no one to answer the phones over the weekend.
Today, Monday, he called again. This time, the automated system told him that he had an approximate nine minute wait time. He was given the option to hold, or to have them call him back when they were ready to talk to him. He selected to have them call him back. A glitch in their system told him that it couldn’t handle that right now, and basically left him on hold.
He eventually got to speak with an actual person. He told her that he wanted to enroll in Medicare Part B. The agent said she would mail a one page form to him, along with a cover letter. He is to fill out the form, and return it to Social Security.
What would the premiums cost? The cost can vary depending on how long it has been between the time you became eligible for Part B and when you decided to enroll. In some cases, a person will pay a slightly higher premium as a penalty for not enrolling in Part B right away.
So now, we wait for the form to come in the mail. Once he completes the form, and it gets accepted into their system, it will take six months before he will officially be able to use his Medicare Part B benefits.
Image by takomabibelot on Flickr