How to sign up for Medicare

ruggedmaker2 said:Help me out here, people 🙂
A colleague who handles all our enrollments and cancellations came down with the flu, so I had to jump in and handle a family member's enrollment through Medicare myself. Long story short: the system completely tanked on me.

Normally, we have everything set up so she can just breeze through it all online, but since she’s out sick and this was an emergency, I had to step up and try to fly solo. 🙂
I couldn't even get the online portal to load. I eventually lost my cool, gave up on the tech, and just filled out a paper Form 3 for the guy, telling him he’d need to take it down to the local office and try his luck at the service window.

What happens if they won't accept the paperwork at the counter? Is the whole digital system actually glitching out right now, or am I just losing my mind and doing something wrong? 🤔

I was actually over at the Medicare office yesterday, and they told me their entire system has been down for eight days straight. 🙂

It’s been 8 days now 😲
And they seriously can't manage to put a simple notice on their own website? I guess that's just too much high-level rocket science for them. 👎
Total nightmare! I’ve been sitting here losing my mind, thinking I was the one messing something up. 🙂

Honestly, these government agencies... zero accountability, zero common sense.

ruggedmaker2 said:It’s been 8 days now 😲
And they seriously can't manage to put a simple notice on their own website? I guess that's just too much high-level rocket science for them. 👎
Total nightmare! I’ve been sitting here losing my mind, thinking I was the one messing something up. 🙂

Honestly, these government agencies... zero accountability, zero common sense.

In my experience, when I handle an enrollment or a termination through the online portal, the system processes everything automatically; within a day or two, I receive a confirmation via email from Medicare in a PDF format.

I’m pretty sure I can’t just add a family member to my health insurance through the pension portal; I actually have to go through the Medicare site, right? Or am I just overthinking this?
I really don't feel like calling a colleague back home to ask, especially since my wife is currently on a forty-minute silent treatment streak and barely even looks at me. Honestly, I'd rather be suffocated than deal with that kind of tension right now. 😉

ruggedmaker2 said:I’m pretty sure I can’t just add a family member to my health insurance through the pension portal; I actually have to go through the Medicare site, right? Or am I just overthinking this?
I really don't feel like calling a colleague back home to ask, especially since my wife is currently on a forty-minute silent treatment streak and barely even looks at me. Honestly, I'd rather be suffocated than deal with that kind of tension right now. 😉

If an employee wants to retroactively add a family member to their coverage, they can only do so via the Medicare online portal.
The application seems to have been down since February 17th—apparently, they issued instructions to handle everything via paper forms at the local service counters instead.
My only concern is what you mentioned regarding filling out the T3 form. Is it possible you used an outdated version or perhaps filled out the wrong one by mistake? Currently, there are only the T1 forms (for the employee) and T2 forms (for dependents).
If we are talking about a child under 18, there are actually two paths available: independent coverage or being covered under the primary policyholder—in this case, the employee.

Robert Sanchez6 said:If an employee wants to retroactively add a family member to their coverage, they can only do so via the Medicare online portal.
The application seems to have been down since February 17th—apparently, they issued instructions to handle everything via paper forms at the local service counters instead.
My only concern is what you mentioned regarding filling out the T3 form. Is it possible you used an outdated version or perhaps filled out the wrong one by mistake? Currently, there are only the T1 forms (for the employee) and T2 forms (for dependents).
If we are talking about a child under 18, there are actually two paths available: independent coverage or being covered under the primary policyholder—in this case, the employee.

I just filled out the form I found sitting in the filing cabinet 😁—it had a section for family members on it, so I figured 😁that was the right one.
The coworker who actually knows this stuff is home with the flu, and honestly, this isn't really my area of expertise.

Anyway, the employee hasn't come back to check in. Guess he got it sorted.
I didn't see any notice about this on the Medicare site yesterday, even though I spent way too much time digging through it 😵

Thanks for the heads-up. I’ll send someone out today to pick up those specific forms you mentioned. Whatever works.

Robert Sanchez6 said:If an employee wants to retroactively add a family member to their coverage, they can only do so via the Medicare online portal.
The application seems to have been down since February 17th—apparently, they issued instructions to handle everything via paper forms at the local service counters instead.
My only concern is what you mentioned regarding filling out the T3 form. Is it possible you used an outdated version or perhaps filled out the wrong one by mistake? Currently, there are only the T1 forms (for the employee) and T2 forms (for dependents).
If we are talking about a child under 18, there are actually two paths available: independent coverage or being covered under the primary policyholder—in this case, the employee.

Well, that explains why I can't log into my MyMedicare account. So it's all paper-based now? Great. Just great. Now I know exactly what my Monday looks like—just endless piles of paperwork for changes that I can't even handle online through the pension portal.

Robert Sanchez6 said:If an employee wants to retroactively add a family member to their coverage, they can only do so via the Medicare online portal.
The application seems to have been down since February 17th—apparently, they issued instructions to handle everything via paper forms at the local service counters instead.
My only concern is what you mentioned regarding filling out the T3 form. Is it possible you used an outdated version or perhaps filled out the wrong one by mistake? Currently, there are only the T1 forms (for the employee) and T2 forms (for dependents).
If we are talking about a child under 18, there are actually two paths available: independent coverage or being covered under the primary policyholder—in this case, the employee.

Regarding that kid under 18 thing, there are two options. Personally, I’d suggest going with independent coverage. Man, I actually harassed IT support thinking my own computer had glitched out when it was really just their system acting up.

Brandon Newman95 said:Regarding that kid under 18 thing, there are two options. Personally, I’d suggest going with independent coverage. Man, I actually harassed IT support thinking my own computer had glitched out when it was really just their system acting up.

I couldn't agree more.
It seems they haven't even addressed their minor technical glitch yet—is it really necessary for this to drag on for an entire month?

Hey, can anyone tell me when a kid starts registering themselves? Do I use Ticket T1 or T2, and what should I put for the primary insurer under Medicare?

Robin Cook4 said:Hey, can anyone tell me when a kid starts registering themselves? Do I use Ticket T1 or T2, and what should I put for the primary insurer under Medicare?

I’m pretty sure it’s Ticket T1 (though honestly, I'd bet on T2 being the one), and they usually just fill in the subscriber number for you anyway.
Since T2 is meant for family members, but hey, let me double-check that for you.
I never actually had to hand-write a Ticket T3-long myself.

Brandon Newman95 said:I’m pretty sure it’s Ticket T1 (though honestly, I'd bet on T2 being the one), and they usually just fill in the subscriber number for you anyway.
Since T2 is meant for family members, but hey, let me double-check that for you.
I never actually had to hand-write a Ticket T3-long myself.

True, but Ticket T3 isn't even a thing anymore.

Robin Cook4 said:True, but Ticket T3 isn't even a thing anymore.

Ticket T2 is the one for kids.
Ticket T1 is what you use for employee registration.

hey, can someone tell me what I need for my seasonal business registration? It’s not my first time, and I’m doing it online. Is it just the M1P?

Look, if you're trying to register a seasonal business, you're going to need both the M13p and the M1P forms for the owner.
Basically, you handle the M13p just like you would for activating a registration—you really only need to fill in the business start date. Then, obviously, you fill out the M1P (the one covering the owner's insurance basis...)
Oh, and I usually attach the official seasonal business approval documents, though honestly, I don't think it's strictly mandatory...

Robin Cook4 said:hey, can someone tell me what I need for my seasonal business registration? It’s not my first time, and I’m doing it online. Is it just the M1P?

Austin Smith45 said:Look, if you're trying to register a seasonal business, you're going to need both the M13p and the M1P forms for the owner.
Basically, you handle the M13p just like you would for activating a registration—you really only need to fill in the business start date. Then, obviously, you fill out the M1P (the one covering the owner's insurance basis...)
Oh, and I usually attach the official seasonal business approval documents, though honestly, I don't think it's strictly mandatory...

Meanwhile, Medicare & Medicaid Services told me today it's M1P and M11P.

But look, every single local branch operates by its own set of rules. For me, everything always clears without a hitch using the M13P and M1P codes for small business owners...

Robin Cook4 said:Meanwhile, Medicare & Medicaid Services told me today it's M1P and M11P.

An employee was offboarded from his previous company on March 31st and started with us on April 1st. In my rush to meet the filing deadline, I processed him as a fixed-term employee based solely on his termination notice, completely unaware his boss had actually signed him for a permanent position. Since the filing hasn't been processed yet, how should I fix this? Should I just wait until it clears and then send an amendment via the portal?

Sandra Wells5 said:An employee was offboarded from his previous company on March 31st and started with us on April 1st. In my rush to meet the filing deadline, I processed him as a fixed-term employee based solely on his termination notice, completely unaware his boss had actually signed him for a permanent position. Since the filing hasn't been processed yet, how should I fix this? Should I just wait until it clears and then send an amendment via the portal?

Since the paperwork hasn't been processed yet, you should try sending them an email immediately; there’s a chance they can correct it on the spot. You can find the list of contact emails right there on the portal while you're working on the electronic filing. If that doesn't work, your last resort would be to submit an amended report once the initial one is finalized.

Help me out here, please. A company offered an employee a permanent contract back on February 1st, 2015—just to stop paying those extra payroll taxes—after he’d been on a fixed-term contract before that. So, now I'm wondering... was I actually supposed to file a change with Medicare regarding the insurance base for someone under 30?
It didn't even cross my mind at the time. I mean, everyone kept saying that when you sign a new contract with an employee, you don't need to report anything anywhere else since they're already in the system—the company just needs to keep it in their own files, and that was the end of it. Simple, right?
Fast forward almost a year later, and I finally log into the NOAA app, only to find a notification sitting in my unread messages about a change in the insurance coverage base. 😲
If this change actually *does* have to be filed, is the system even going to let me backdate it to February 1st?
Has anyone else dealt with this mess? 🙂