How to sign up for Medicare

I processed an employee's termination through the Social Security Administration yesterday, and it went through successfully.

Do I just sit tight now and wait for Medicare to process everything via email?

True, but you should probably give them about 10 to 15 days to process everything...

frozenangler12 said:True, but you should probably give them about 10 to 15 days to process everything...

I was thinking along those lines too—thanks a lot

I really need some advice here
So, I recently left my job and had a 30-day window to sign myself up for Medicare, but—total brain fog moment—I completely blanked on it and missed the deadline by about a week.
When I finally went to get everything sorted, they told me I needed to submit a formal appeal to the legal department explaining why I missed the cutoff. I just wrote "personal reasons" because, honestly, I didn't know what else to say at the time. They told me they'd mail the decision to my house. Has anyone actually dealt with something like this before? Are there actual penalties for being late? The worst part is I really need to see a doctor right now and I don't have any coverage...

Need some help here.. so we signed up for the Social Security online portal and everything seems fine. But for all our companies, we also sent over the filings to Medicare via the e-health portal... The folks at the Medicare office said everything gets automatically updated and synced with Medicare. But I guess, do they actually send us some kind of electronic confirmation so we know for sure if someone’s been deregistered or enrolled?
The people at the Medicare desk told me when we handed in the paperwork for e-health that a PIN would show up in my email, but nothing came. Just this random email saying:
The e-health service has been activated for the following individuals (then lists names and IDs). To start using our services, go to the Medicare website www.medicare.gov click on the e-health link, and download these:
-Medicare e-health app installation package
-Medicare e-health user instructions

Once the app is installed, authorized users with digital ID cards can start using the service immediately using those cards...

...etc..

I'm not really sure, does Medicare send confirmations about automatic enrollment/deregistration through this app so we just print them out or something? Where do those notices even go?
What's even the point of the app if everything happens automatically once you file with the Social Security Administration? I guess I'm just a bit confused about how this whole thing works... maybe someone could give me a quick breakdown😢,
Thanks!!!!!

Nathan Thomas41 said:Need some help here.. so we signed up for the Social Security online portal and everything seems fine. But for all our companies, we also sent over the filings to Medicare via the e-health portal... The folks at the Medicare office said everything gets automatically updated and synced with Medicare. But I guess, do they actually send us some kind of electronic confirmation so we know for sure if someone’s been deregistered or enrolled?
The people at the Medicare desk told me when we handed in the paperwork for e-health that a PIN would show up in my email, but nothing came. Just this random email saying:
The e-health service has been activated for the following individuals (then lists names and IDs). To start using our services, go to the Medicare website www.medicare.gov click on the e-health link, and download these:
-Medicare e-health app installation package
-Medicare e-health user instructions

Once the app is installed, authorized users with digital ID cards can start using the service immediately using those cards...

...etc..

I'm not really sure, does Medicare send confirmations about automatic enrollment/deregistration through this app so we just print them out or something? Where do those notices even go?
What's even the point of the app if everything happens automatically once you file with the Social Security Administration? I guess I'm just a bit confused about how this whole thing works... maybe someone could give me a quick breakdown😢,
Thanks!!!!!

The primary reason that application exists is so you can manually register or de-register employees if, for instance, they are being signed up for the very first time rather than through the automated sync. It also serves as the channel for them to send you processed enrollment and termination notices. If you are just handling standard, routine employee updates, you won't necessarily need to do anything extra within the app because those updates now flow automatically from the Social Security Administration over to Medicare. However, if you haven't registered for the application, they wouldn't have a way to send those processed notifications to you since they wouldn't know which email address to use. With the setup you've done, once the Social Security Administration processes the paperwork, you will receive the completed forms via the email address you provided during the activation process.

So... I don't really get what you mean by "first time" vs. automatic. Are we talking about someone's first job ever, or just the first time a company registers them with Medicare? Like, standard hiring and firing wouldn't count because they've been on the system before? I guess... maybe?
Wait, so we just get these confirmed hires and terminations via email? Not through the app? Because honestly, we've had people joining and leaving Medicare for months now and nothing has shown up in our inbox... Oh, I see... it says up there that there's a long wait for them to send it over? Man, that's kind of confusing...
So basically, once we hand the paperwork for a small business or firm over to Medicare, they just automatically pop up in the app? No extra steps needed on our end to "add" them manually 🙂? And that PIN everyone’s mentioning... I don't actually need a PIN? Ugh, sorry for being such a pain... and thanks a million for the help!!!!!

Nathan Thomas41 said:So... I don't really get what you mean by "first time" vs. automatic. Are we talking about someone's first job ever, or just the first time a company registers them with Medicare? Like, standard hiring and firing wouldn't count because they've been on the system before? I guess... maybe?
Wait, so we just get these confirmed hires and terminations via email? Not through the app? Because honestly, we've had people joining and leaving Medicare for months now and nothing has shown up in our inbox... Oh, I see... it says up there that there's a long wait for them to send it over? Man, that's kind of confusing...
So basically, once we hand the paperwork for a small business or firm over to Medicare, they just automatically pop up in the app? No extra steps needed on our end to "add" them manually 🙂? And that PIN everyone’s mentioning... I don't actually need a PIN? Ugh, sorry for being such a pain... and thanks a million for the help!!!!!

My initial question was actually about dependents (children, spouses, etc.), rather than the employee's own employment status. If someone wants to add a newborn under their own coverage, that's handled through the online portal, and then it shows up in the app.

How were you handling enrollments and terminations with Medicare before you started using the app? You were probably doing everything manually. In that case, they wouldn't be sending you emails. But once you're fully integrated into the digital system, they will send processed notifications to your email, and then you'll be able to print out the official forms.

That’s correct; once you submit the paperwork, they add the business or LLC to your profile and that's it—there's no manual entry needed on your end.

You will need a PIN to actually use the system. I'm not sure which version of the Medicare portal you're accessing, but for example, I have my fiancée's digital ID which has its own PIN, and that's what I use to log in.

Nah, we didn't just set up the digital health portal now, I'm just asking because nothing is hitting our inbox. No confirmations, no T2 forms, no sign-up or opt-out notices... even though we submitted everything for the Silicon Valley stuff and the health insurance at the same time. All we got was that one automated email I mentioned earlier for every single business we registered. But the actual confirmed paperwork? Nothing. And we’ve had people joining and leaving for months. Some lady at the office told me everything syncs automatically with the health system, and honestly, I didn't even know we were supposed to get emails until some woman in line mentioned she got a confirmation. So, I guess I'm just confused...
Anyway, thanks for the detailed answer! I guess we just have to wait for the paperwork to show up... maybe there's always a long wait?

Nathan Thomas41 said:Nah, we didn't just set up the digital health portal now, I'm just asking because nothing is hitting our inbox. No confirmations, no T2 forms, no sign-up or opt-out notices... even though we submitted everything for the Silicon Valley stuff and the health insurance at the same time. All we got was that one automated email I mentioned earlier for every single business we registered. But the actual confirmed paperwork? Nothing. And we’ve had people joining and leaving for months. Some lady at the office told me everything syncs automatically with the health system, and honestly, I didn't even know we were supposed to get emails until some woman in line mentioned she got a confirmation. So, I guess I'm just confused...
Anyway, thanks for the detailed answer! I guess we just have to wait for the paperwork to show up... maybe there's always a long wait?

It is true that there is a waiting period, but several months seems quite unusual to me. Personally, I usually receive my processed documentation via email within two weeks, so it strikes me as odd that you haven't received anything after several months of processing through the digital Medicare portal. Your best bet would be to send an inquiry to registration@medicare.gov, as they might simply have an incorrect email address on file.

Yeah, that's super weird. Thanks a ton. I'll try sending it via email... I guess something just got stuck or didn't go through somewhere. Ugh.

Can someone please help me out here? I was reading some stuff about this, but I’m totally lost. I use the Silicon Valley pension portal for my clients, and that part works perfectly fine.
I haven't signed up for the online Medicare portal because it wasn't mandatory, so I didn't bother pushing for it.
Now, a client just told me that after I offboarded an employee through the Silicon Valley system and manually filled out his Medicare termination forms, they rejected them. Apparently, the paperwork is useless because the termination was already processed automatically once I updated the Social Security Administration records.
The problem is, now I have zero documentation proving the offboarding happened. I'm not even registered on the online Medicare portal.
So, here's my question: since I'm already set up with the Silicon Valley portal, am I actually forced to register for the online Medicare system too?
And how on earth do I get copies of these automatic registration and termination documents?

Thanks for any help.
☕

Arthur Bishop6, I’m actually dealing with a very similar situation with a few of my clients. My plan is to transition everything over to the digital portal once that becomes available...
Up until this point, I’ve just been bringing in hand-filled paperwork to Medicare, where they would simply stamp and sign everything for me. They also made it quite clear
that I absolutely have to bring in physical copies for anyone who isn't set up on the digital system yet, just so the employees have official proof that their coverage has been terminated 🤷

David Green642 said:I processed an employee's termination through the Social Security Administration yesterday, and it went through successfully.

Do I just sit tight now and wait for Medicare to process everything via email?

It should arrive eventually.
We once had a situation where the employer was registered in Silicon Valley but not in
Medicare.
We ended up filing a paper form and taking it directly to Medicare; the employee was already
deregistered, even though we hadn't received an email.
I suppose the Medicare online system has been buggy since its inception; the software is a joke.

Arthur Bishop6 said:Can someone please help me out here? I was reading some stuff about this, but I’m totally lost. I use the Silicon Valley pension portal for my clients, and that part works perfectly fine.
I haven't signed up for the online Medicare portal because it wasn't mandatory, so I didn't bother pushing for it.
Now, a client just told me that after I offboarded an employee through the Silicon Valley system and manually filled out his Medicare termination forms, they rejected them. Apparently, the paperwork is useless because the termination was already processed automatically once I updated the Social Security Administration records.
The problem is, now I have zero documentation proving the offboarding happened. I'm not even registered on the online Medicare portal.
So, here's my question: since I'm already set up with the Silicon Valley portal, am I actually forced to register for the online Medicare system too?
And how on earth do I get copies of these automatic registration and termination documents?

Thanks for any help.
☕

At Medicare, you just get some ridiculous printout, almost like a screenshot.
That’s what one of our employees got, and it didn't cause any further issues.

Hi there!
Could I get a little bit of advice here, please?
Once an LLC is officially registered, the corporation needs to register with both Medicare and the Social Security Administration.

If the business isn't going to have any employees for a while, should they go ahead and register with health and retirement services right away (and I'm talking about the corporation itself!), or should they just wait until they actually hire someone?

Kyle Mendoza said:Hi there!
Could I get a little bit of advice here, please?
Once an LLC is officially registered, the corporation needs to register with both Medicare and the Social Security Administration.

If the business isn't going to have any employees for a while, should they go ahead and register with health and retirement services right away (and I'm talking about the corporation itself!), or should they just wait until they actually hire someone?

Generally speaking, you register the legal entity—your company—with the retirement system, and then you register your employees separately if you have them; the same goes for the director. The company is one entity, the director is another, and both get filed individually.

In my experience, they wouldn't let me register the firm without at least one employee on file—specifically the person in charge, which is obviously the director.

So, I ended up having to register both the director and the company, which naturally meant signing up for health insurance as well.

I suspect if you aren't registering a director yet, you might not need to register the company either. But honestly, I'm not entirely sure. 🙂

Wait, shouldn't at least one employee be officially registered under the company starting from January 1st, 2015?
As for the business registration itself, I believe there’s some kind of deadline—maybe a month or so—if my memory serves me right. 🤔

David Green642 said:Generally speaking, you register the legal entity—your company—with the retirement system, and then you register your employees separately if you have them; the same goes for the director. The company is one entity, the director is another, and both get filed individually.

In my experience, they wouldn't let me register the firm without at least one employee on file—specifically the person in charge, which is obviously the director.

So, I ended up having to register both the director and the company, which naturally meant signing up for health insurance as well.

I suspect if you aren't registering a director yet, you might not need to register the company either. But honestly, I'm not entirely sure. 🙂

I follow that logic. That’s exactly why I’m asking about filing regardless of whether there are employees on board.🙂

David Green642 said:Generally speaking, you register the legal entity—your company—with the retirement system, and then you register your employees separately if you have them; the same goes for the director. The company is one entity, the director is another, and both get filed individually.

In my experience, they wouldn't let me register the firm without at least one employee on file—specifically the person in charge, which is obviously the director.

So, I ended up having to register both the director and the company, which naturally meant signing up for health insurance as well.

I suspect if you aren't registering a director yet, you might not need to register the company either. But honestly, I'm not entirely sure. 🙂

So, in that scenario, did the director actually have to be an employee?

silversailor said:Wait, shouldn't at least one employee be officially registered under the company starting from January 1st, 2015?
As for the business registration itself, I believe there’s some kind of deadline—maybe a month or so—if my memory serves me right. 🤔

I recall some chatter about how you won't be able to run a company without any staff anymore, but has that actually been written into the recent law?

Right now, I manage several businesses that don't have employees. Based on their entire model and why they even exist, they truly don't need them. I honestly have no idea what’s going to happen to those setups once January 1st rolls around...
But hey, we're getting off track here 😁, sorry....