Simply Disability post travel details

Wow what a morning!  I remember now why I procrastinate making some phone calls. Duh!

A couple of cups of coffee and about 5 hours later someone actually knew what I was talking about!  Incredible I know.

You see I completely forgot which agency to call to be sure that my Medicare Part B was reinstated. When I traveled in Costa Rica it was best for me to opt out or sign out of any Medicare programs that cost me money. When I live in the US I am low enough income to have my state of residency help me to pay for these extra niceties that can only be used in the United States. When I returned two years ago I was traveling and until I was in AZ last spring I had not taken care of that detail. ..because the process is a pain and often even the people who process what I need don't understand the process. ..so I started the process with people in AZ but I never heard anything more about it.  While in the hospital last week I was concerned about what happened because it could affect how much help I get to pay for the bills. At 12:30pm I finally connected with AZs SSI-MOA office and after the operator transferred me to a live person....omgosh she knew terms like QMB and Medicare Part B and I lived outside the United States and I thought I applied. ...she looked it up and yup I applied in April and my file was opened and looked over twice with no notes and no action....so she approved it and sent it on its way. ...only how many months later. No meimporta!

So IF you are on Medicare or low income programs and you travel outside the United States do what you can to keep some state residency until you absolutely have to let it go.  And bookmark this page so you can remember who to call to get it all straight again.