Letter: My Medicare saga (2024)

This is another argument for universal healthcare.

I recently retired. I had worked the same job since 2010. During that time I had five different employers—global companies based in the U.S., France, the UK which we were bought and sold. Beyond that, parent corporations often changed health insurance providers for employees. I can remember having had BCBS of North Dakota, BCBS of Texas, Cigna, Aetna, and United Health at different times. Plan years were mostly January-December but under one employer the plan year started in October.

Having retired at the time I did puts me in the special enrollment period. So the Medicare Part B application needed to know who my employer was, where they were located, and proof of coverage.

I received employer proof of coverage after I retired. The most recent corporate buy and sell was effective January 1, so that proof of coverage shows my insurance started January 1, 2024. Incidentally, given that our jobs became remote in March 2020 and stayed there, my employer existed basically in the cloud. If I checked my timesheet, it showed I was clocked in to work in London. I had to track down a company phone number and call them to find out where their U.S. headquarters were (of course, the call went to an overseas call center, I’m guessing Manila, since many of my coworkers and employees of our company partners work there and I have grown familiar with the accent). I entered the name and address, then paused where the online form asked what year my coverage started. 2010? Or 2024 with the most recent employer? Guessing, I put 2024 and uploaded the requested proof of coverage.

A few days later I got a phone call from Social Security. I turned 65 in 2019. I applied for Medicare Part A but did not need Part B at the time. Since 2019 was my original eligibility, I need proof of coverage since then to avoid a lifetime premium penalty for Medicare.

I called the most recent employer, and the rep was only able to pull up the coverage beginning this year, but he did create a ticket to have the issue researched and they will send me what they find.

Then I called Sanford to see what records they had. Billing was able to see I had Aetna for four years including 2019, then BCBS although not which Blue (probably Texas). She could not provide group or ID numbers and suggested I call the insurers.

I called Aetna and spoke to someone who could not find me in their system anywhere. I suspect they could have researched the issue but she did not offer that.

I checked my tax records, both what I have saved on the computer and paper copies. I scan the tax notices that come in the beginning of the year but apparently did not scan or save those. They may have been provided in digital form to employees those years and I didn’t bother downloading them, since I did not have to send them in.

I called the company that I was officially employed by from 2016 to May 2021 and have been given an email address for the team that might be able to help. Even after we were sold in 2021, we remained contractors for that company so the work processes are the same, which is encouraging. On the other hand, I can remember a time or two when I had an issue that was out of the norm (usually regarding problems with pay, paid time off, or benefits related to the times we were sold to other companies) and it took a long time to resolve. So we’ll see.

Social Security is going to check to see if the IRS can provide Form 1095 records, which would also show proof of coverage.

In any event, hopefully we can get this handled by the end of the month so I can have coverage beginning July 1. I have an Aetna rep set to go with Medigap as soon as I have an effective date of coverage. Meanwhile, I will need to be sure to look both ways and not climb or walk under ladders.

A word to people who work past age 65: save your 1095s or copies of your insurance cards or medical claims (I saved claims for a time and decided that was silly). Even if you work for a brick-and-mortar enterprise, since we know that long-established businesses can evaporate, sometimes unexpectedly.

Sheri McMahon lives in Fargo.