How to sign up for Medicare

Brian Campbell36 said:So, we are back to dealing with Java issues and all the other nonsense that comes with downloading these documents. Am I correct in assuming that Chrome won't even work because it lacks NPAPI support, meaning I'm forced to use Internet Explorer just to get this done?

This is how I am currently attempting to retrieve the confirmation via the Medicare portal:

Log into the application — select business users — go to view registrations and cancellations — enter the Social Security number of the individual being deregistered — and then the system should automatically generate the confirmation as a PDF.

Is this indeed the proper procedure, or have I fundamentally misunderstood the process?

Exactly. Just keep in mind you have to wait a few days for them to process the request.

Hannah Evans3 said:Exactly. Just keep in mind you have to wait a few days for them to process the request.

I appreciate the quick response. I suppose I might be waiting even longer than anticipated, given that most of them don't consolidate until January 9th, 2017.

Rather than maintaining the status quo—which was a seamless automated process via email confirmation—they seem intent on overcomplicating things for no apparent reason. 🤦

If I may ask one more thing: when signing via the digital pension portal, is that Lana application still required as a browser extension to facilitate the signature and submission, or is Java sufficient on its own? 🤔

I don't have health insurance right now, but I'm planning to sign up sometime in 2017. My only income comes from freelance royalties from overseas, so I don't actually pay any health insurance premiums. Because of that, I'm a little lost on how Medicare views me—do they just see me as unemployed or something else?

I found this on the Medicare website, but I honestly have no clue if it still applies after January 1st, 2017.

People receiving income classified as "other income" under tax laws (like contract work or royalties) can apply for mandatory health insurance coverage and gain insured status under these conditions: provided they aren't already covered by health insurance through some other means.

if they are residents or have approved permanent residency in the United States and
if, according to social security contribution regulations, they have made one-time or multiple payments within the last five years toward mandatory health insurance, totaling at least the amount calculated based on the lowest possible contribution base for a six-month period.

I know everything is still pretty fuzzy since the reform is so new, but I figured I'd ask if anyone might know... 🙂

Brian Campbell36 said:I appreciate the quick response. I suppose I might be waiting even longer than anticipated, given that most of them don't consolidate until January 9th, 2017.

Rather than maintaining the status quo—which was a seamless automated process via email confirmation—they seem intent on overcomplicating things for no apparent reason. 🤦

If I may ask one more thing: when signing via the digital pension portal, is that Lana application still required as a browser extension to facilitate the signature and submission, or is Java sufficient on its own? 🤔

You have to use the app.

Has anyone actually figured out the process for signing up for Social Security if you’ve never been officially enrolled before, but now need to start paying into the system because of a freelance contract?😁

Betty Sanchez10 said:Has anyone actually figured out the process for signing up for Social Security if you’ve never been officially enrolled before, but now need to start paying into the system because of a freelance contract?😁

If you're working under a copyright contract, there's really no need to file a formal report—you just take whatever fee you landed from that foreign gig, head over to the IRS, and pay your taxes and contributions directly into the required accounts. Simple as that!

Which specific law, regulation, or official decree actually dictates how data is supposed to be exchanged between NOAA and Medicare? I’ve been digging through the archives, but I can’t find a single trace of it...

What happens if Medicare fails to pull a change that was already submitted to NOAA via hard copy and processed back on Monday, January 2nd? Am I really expected to waste my life filing manual updates with Medicare, or can I just hit "send" at 3 PM and let them deal with their own mess? If it's their job to sync up, why should I do it for them? How are we even supposed to fight against these half-baked government systems without just throwing our hands up in frustration?

Has anyone here ever actually been penalized for failing to report a change to Medicare, specifically in cases where Medicare should have already pulled that exact update from NOAA after they processed it correctly?
I have absolutely zero desire to manually submit paperwork to Medicare just to make life easier for some bureaucrat who should have already grabbed the info from NOAA...

If you're dealing with a change that happened mid-coverage period—meaning you've already submitted an M3P or M13P form, depending on whether we're talking about an employee or a small business owner—you actually have to take those papers down to Medicare in person. Their system just isn't set up to process those specific types of updates automatically, or at least that's what 🤷
told me...
As for registering or de-registering someone, I'd suggest waiting a few days to see if it clears on its own. If there's still no movement after that, then it's probably time to head over to the Medicare office with your paperwork in hand.

So, basically, any paperwork I hand-deliver to Medicare, I just do the exact same thing for the IRS... since they're both located in the same building for me, it really isn't much of an issue 🤷

frozenangler12 said:If you're dealing with a change that happened mid-coverage period—meaning you've already submitted an M3P or M13P form, depending on whether we're talking about an employee or a small business owner—you actually have to take those papers down to Medicare in person. Their system just isn't set up to process those specific types of updates automatically, or at least that's what 🤷
told me...
As for registering or de-registering someone, I'd suggest waiting a few days to see if it clears on its own. If there's still no movement after that, then it's probably time to head over to the Medicare office with your paperwork in hand.

But what if the change was already logged last year? You know, via the web portal? Do I still have to physically trek down to the Medicare office, or is that part of the system actually synced up like it is for new hires and terminations?

I’m honestly not quite sure what advice I could give you, since my local Medicare office told me they won't accept digital updates and insisted we have to bring all the paperwork down to them in person, so it might be best if you just reach out to 🤷
...

We actually ran into a bit of a situation where we had a seasonal worker who was supposed to be covered under extended peace-of-mind insurance. It wasn't until right at the end of that period that we realized he didn't actually have health coverage, because we were supposed to register him as unemployed through Medicare. It happened just during that window when they stopped sending out those confirmation emails for the processed paperwork, so it somehow just slipped through the cracks...

The folks over at Medicare are being totally cold toward Google applications... my client's claims have been sitting there unprocessed for ten days now, and today she tells me they're using Google in San Francisco just to tell people they need to head down to Washington, D.C. to file in person 🤣

There isn't a single agent available who can actually process an application—if it weren't so ridiculous, it would be downright tragic!

I'm thinking about making the jump from Windows 7 to Windows 10.

Has anyone actually done this yet? I’m mostly wondering if there are any headaches with digital certificates for the IRS, my bank, or Medicare after switching over to Windows 10, or does everything just work smoothly?

Thanks!

Brian Campbell36 said:Tomorrow, I intend to deregister an individual from both their pension and health insurance records. My plan is to process this through the online pension portal using the standard electronic filing form. Does this procedure necessitate a separate submission via the Medicare portal, or will I receive an automated confirmation email from the health insurance provider once the deregistration is finalized, much like my previous experiences? 🤔

Hannah Evans3 said:They don't send confirmations via email anymore. You have to log in to the Medicare portal and download the confirmation there yourself.

Arthur Thomas5 said:Which specific law, regulation, or official decree actually dictates how data is supposed to be exchanged between NOAA and Medicare? I’ve been digging through the archives, but I can’t find a single trace of it...

What happens if Medicare fails to pull a change that was already submitted to NOAA via hard copy and processed back on Monday, January 2nd? Am I really expected to waste my life filing manual updates with Medicare, or can I just hit "send" at 3 PM and let them deal with their own mess? If it's their job to sync up, why should I do it for them? How are we even supposed to fight against these half-baked government systems without just throwing our hands up in frustration?

Has anyone here ever actually been penalized for failing to report a change to Medicare, specifically in cases where Medicare should have already pulled that exact update from NOAA after they processed it correctly?
I have absolutely zero desire to manually submit paperwork to Medicare just to make life easier for some bureaucrat who should have already grabbed the info from NOAA...

frozenangler12 said:
if this is a mid-coverage change—meaning you filed the standard manual forms depending on whether it's an employee or a contractor—then you HAVE to take it to Medicare in person. They can't process those types of forms automatically. At least, that's what they told me. 🤷

if it's just a standard enrollment/de-enrollment, maybe wait a few days, and if it hasn't updated, then go ahead and bring the paperwork to Medicare.

Michelle Lopez5 said:But what if the change was already logged last year? You know, via the web portal? Do I still have to physically trek down to the Medicare office, or is that part of the system actually synced up like it is for new hires and terminations?

frozenangler12 said:I’m honestly not quite sure what advice I could give you, since my local Medicare office told me they won't accept digital updates and insisted we have to bring all the paperwork down to them in person, so it might be best if you just reach out to 🤷
...

frozenangler12 said:So, basically, any paperwork I hand-deliver to Medicare, I just do the exact same thing for the IRS... since they're both located in the same building for me, it really isn't much of an issue 🤷

I've combined a few posts here to recap my week.

I did an e-change for my Social Security info. I called to ask if Medicare would automatically pick up the update. They seemed pretty horrified 🙂 by my question, since the whole point is that Medicare should be pulling those updates from them automatically.

After reading the debate about this on the forum, I decided to call Medicare just to be safe. They told me that while the automation between the SSA and Medicare *should* work, for some reason it doesn't, so I'd need to bring in the paper forms. So, off I went to the Medicare office. However, when I got there, the clerk looked baffled 🙂 by my arrival, because apparently, you aren't even supposed to hand in paper forms anymore since the changes are pulled directly from the SSA system.
I just submitted everything without making a scene, mostly because I had already "prepared" myself for any possible outcome. 🙂
Voila! 🤣

It all really depends on which specific branch or region you're looking at 🤣 so I can't say I'm particularly surprised by that... 😬

Richard Howard55 said:I've combined a few posts here to recap my week.

I did an e-change for my Social Security info. I called to ask if Medicare would automatically pick up the update. They seemed pretty horrified 🙂 by my question, since the whole point is that Medicare should be pulling those updates from them automatically.

After reading the debate about this on the forum, I decided to call Medicare just to be safe. They told me that while the automation between the SSA and Medicare *should* work, for some reason it doesn't, so I'd need to bring in the paper forms. So, off I went to the Medicare office. However, when I got there, the clerk looked baffled 🙂 by my arrival, because apparently, you aren't even supposed to hand in paper forms anymore since the changes are pulled directly from the SSA system.
I just submitted everything without making a scene, mostly because I had already "prepared" myself for any possible outcome. 🙂
Voila! 🤣

I am still digging around, trying to find where this is actually documented—in which specific law or federal regulation.
From what I can gather, it isn't written down ANYWHERE; it seems to be nothing more than some vague, non-binding internal agreement between agencies. In the actual laws and regulations governing mandatory insurance, there isn't a single word about this "automation"—instead, the law explicitly states that one must submit an application for health coverage.
So, when someone gets hit with a fine because they didn't file a report with Medicare, what are they supposed to cite? There is no law, no regulation... what is left to point to besides some random headline in a tabloid? 🤦

Arthur Thomas5 said:I am still digging around, trying to find where this is actually documented—in which specific law or federal regulation.
From what I can gather, it isn't written down ANYWHERE; it seems to be nothing more than some vague, non-binding internal agreement between agencies. In the actual laws and regulations governing mandatory insurance, there isn't a single word about this "automation"—instead, the law explicitly states that one must submit an application for health coverage.
So, when someone gets hit with a fine because they didn't file a report with Medicare, what are they supposed to cite? There is no law, no regulation... what is left to point to besides some random headline in a tabloid? 🤦

I honestly haven't a clue, but I dealt with this myself last summer when two different small businesses couldn't get Medicare & Medicaid Services to pull the data from NOAA. I have no idea what determines how those systems talk to each other...

slycobra7 said:I'm thinking about making the jump from Windows 7 to Windows 10.

Has anyone actually done this yet? I’m mostly wondering if there are any headaches with digital certificates for the IRS, my bank, or Medicare after switching over to Windows 10, or does everything just work smoothly?

Thanks!

Nobody?

slycobra7 said:Nobody?

Everything's running smooth, no issues at all.