SENIOR EXPATS AND SOCIAL SECURITY

One of the most important things one needs to do BEFORE relocating to a foreign country is to research your health insurance benefits. The main question is – will my insurance/supplements cover me for illness or accidents sustained outside of the U.S.?

When I moved to Germany over 25 years ago, I was immediately informed as I applied for my working visa, that I had to be insured by a German company in order to remain in the country and satisfy the conditions of acquiring permanent residency. 

Claro! I also maintained my American insurance as I made frequent trips home. It was clear to me that neither country accepted the others policy, so betting on my health became a really expensive issue, especially since I rarely used my insurance in America or Germany.

The amount of money billed by my insurance companies over a period of more than 20 years (appx. $168,000 did not come close to the cost of services I actually received). If I’d invested that money wisely I could have paid for a healthy lifestyle and still saved tens of thousands of dollars for emergency medical care.

Before moving to Mexico, I accumulated lots of information from Expat and World Travelers pages. I read several posts that said Medicare is accepted by some doctors in Mexican facilities. I'd even seen billboards at the Tijuana border advertising doctors who accept Medicare.  Addresses of facilities where Medicare is accepted where also advertised. Therefore, I wasn’t concerned when we decided to move to Mexico. 

When my fiancée and I settled in Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco I went about my research to find doctors and facilities near me that accepted Medicare, just to be on the safe side in case of an emergency. Why I didn’t purchase insurance before moving to Mexico I don’t know. Perhaps it’s because I am now "retired" and I am a Medicare recipient. Whatever the reason, that was a mistake!

I didn't find a single doctor/facility in Puerto Vallarta who/that would accept Medicare so I called Social Security, Medicare and my supplement provider directly. To my dismay, it was made clear to me that "Medicare would not cover ANY of my medical needs in Mexico", therefore, my Medical coverage is useless.  

Now I’m looking for reasonable insurance coverage, because like many of us, I feel the need to bet against my own health and holistic knowledge and ass-U-me that one day I will actually need coverage.

Armed with this knowledge, I went about the process of trying to cancel my Medicare Part B since Social Security deducts $135.50 per month from my income for undelivered services. Let me tell you, DO THIS BEFORE YOU LEAVE THE U.S.  I have been fighting this battle since May 2019.

First:  To cancel your Part B supplement you are required to fill out a form that is not downloadable from Social Security or Medicare websites like the forms from their other services. Unless you fill out and return a signed copy of this particular application, Social Security will continue to charge you the Part B deduction.

Second:  Social Security will NOT mail you an application in a foreign country.  If you are not returning to the U.S. any time soon, the Social Security represenative will tell you to visit the nearest American embassy and fill out the form there. If you have any issues preventing you from traveling you are plain OUT OF LUCK!

Third: Even if you succeed in submitting the properly filled out/signed application, Social Security will continue to make the deduction for 60 working days (“not including weekends”) after the “date of receipt of your cancellation”. That means if you submitted your request in May (which does not count because they have already deducted the payment), you will pay the deduction for June, July and August before your cancellation is officially processed, a total of 91+ days IF everything goes smoothly. 

All this still doesn’t mean Social Security will stop deducting the payment from your account. In my case, after much ado (I applied for cancellation the first time in May), Social Security processed my application as having been submitted on June 13^th. According to their calculations, the deductions should have stopped in September, so I paid for Part B Supplemental coverage for services officially unavailable to me for 4 months. 

The next misappropriated deduction is scheduled for October 3^rd. When I called today (September 17^th) I was informed that my cancellation process has still not been completed and assured that the deductions will cease within the next 60 days (the time already passed will not be calculated since this is a repeat request) – not including weekends, meaning that I will now pay for October, November and December before my cancellation request becomes official. Possibly then I will be refunded for payments deducted the months of September thru December. The payments from June through August will not be calculated.

Even with the representative reading through my documentation as we telephoned, her answer was only speculative. To put my mind at ease, the Social Security representative agreed to record my official complaint which may or may not expedite the processing of my case. She asked to put me on hold before “taking my information” - which she already had - and then the call was disconnected. I never received a call back and now I have to start the whole calling/explaining process again.

Please take my advice. If you are retired and moving, cancel any benefits and/or supplemental insurance that will not be accepted in your new home country before you move.

Copyright © Sept. 17, 2019