Medicare, The Envelope, Please

As I mentioned on Sunday, an envelope arrived a day or two ago that looks like my Medicare paperwork.

This is what I wrote on Sunday:

I've been waiting for this, and meaning to call to find out where it was, because it should have arrived a month ago.

But now that it's here, I'm not in a hurry to open it because I know what it will mean: Paperwork to fill out (GOVERNMENT paperwork, the worse kind) and phone calls to make. (Ugh. Press 1 for English; press 2 for Espanol ...)

So tomorrow will be dedicated to Medicare paperwork and phone calls. Expect to see a rather heated post tomorrow.

Well, I didn't open it on Monday, because I was finishing a paid story assignment, and needed to get that done. I managed to delay until today, Thursday, and then until 2:30 p.m. ... You can tell how much I was looking forward to the job of getting myself signed up for Medicare.

Then, when I finally opened the envelope, there was my Medicare card, with an effective date of JULY 1, 2008.

So I guess Medicare eligibility is two years from the date you start collecting Social Security Disability, not from the date that you actually became disabled, which in my case was January 2006.

This means I can put this whole project aside until after my trip with Younger Son. That's good news, because my to-do list for the trip keeps getting longer, and I have just about 48 hours now till we need to be at the train station.

Whew. ... Double whew.

Of course, now that I have all this extra time, I should work on my tax paperwork for my accountant. But somehow I don't think that is going to happen today. I don't owe the government money, so I can just get The Tax Guy to file for an extension for me.

@ Jeanne Sather 2008.