My husband will be 65 next March, and he is busy studying the Social Security website. He tried unsuccessfully several times to sign up for a personal account, called "My Social Security." Finally accepting defeat, he called the SSA and sat on hold for half the day. The helpful woman asked him if he had put a lock on his credit monitoring, and he said yes. (After the giant Experian breach a couple of years ago we had our credit locked on all three major reporting agencies.) Well apparently that is the problem... who knew?? She told him to go to Experian and unlock his credit reporting for one or two days, then sign up for My Social Security during that time. Just thought I'd share this tidbit in case anyone had a similar situation. Next episode will be "Adventures in Medicare."
I have been attempting to sign into the S.S. site and find out where my new medicare card is. Well, they keep saying I am not in the system. Odd that since I get my medical bills paid and my monthly checks. I have to visit one of the offices later this month as they have my day of birth wrong. I thought I straightened that out years ago, but here we go again.
@Lois Winters Just a thought If you have a Medicare Advantage plan you may not be on the Medicare website. You might check with your health care provider to see who they are billing. United Health Care had my new Medicare number long before I got my new card.
[QUOTE="Lois Winters, post: 390043, member: 1436"]I have been attempting to sign into the S.S. site and find out where my new medicare card is. Well, they keep saying I am not in the system. Odd that since I get my medical bills paid and my monthly checks. I have to visit one of the offices later this month as they have my day of birth wrong. I thought I straightened that out years ago, but here we go again.[/QUOTE] This just occurred to me, Lois. You probably need to go to the Medicare website instead of SS. https://www.medicare.gov/forms-help-resources/your-medicare-card
I agree @Beth Gallagher. I used to think that Medicare and Social Security were the same but they are not. Medicare is an insurance and Social Security is for monetary benefits. I learned this when my mother came to live with us. I think because premiums for Medicare are deducted from Social Security benefits gives reason for the confusion.
I setup my Social Security years ago then the Experian debacle and I froze my credit. I tried to set my wife's up but it won't let me because she's not self-employed doesn't have a credit card that they accept(only MC and Visa) and doesn't have a W-2. Those requirements are what the system wants and she can't comply on employment issues and only has an AMEX.
This just occurred to me, Lois. You probably need to go to the Medicare website instead of SS. https://www.medicare.gov/forms-help-resources/your-medicare-card[/QUOTE] I tried that as well, Beth. No ceegar.
That doesn't sound right, Al. As long as your wife has a social security number/card, she should be able to set up an account online and view her possible benefits. Have you called SS to inquire?
This has all been a huge learning curve for my husband and I; trying to get signed up for SS and then Medicare seems so confusing. Right now our focus is SS, so one obstacle at a time. I still can't figure out why SS needs access to our credit report to set up an account...?????? It's their rule so I guess we have to abide, and I'm sure all this has to do with rampant identity theft and fraud.
@Beth Gallagher Why in the world would Social Security need a credit score report? I don't remember having to deal with any of that. For my original sign up, the line was ridiculous, so I requested a call on the phone instead....which I got the next day. Signing up was easy. They were very helpful and nice. However, the account you set up online is a bit of a pain. It requires this long password and a phone number for them to send a code to everytime you want to log in. All was well till my phone number changed last year. Now, I can't get on my account to change the number...so I can't get the code to get into my account. It would be laughable if it wasn't so stupid.
I guess I'm one of the fortunate ones when I signed up for My Social Security once the paper statements were stopped being mailed because of the Paper Reduction Act. The only difficulty I've had was forgetting my password.