Medicare Lost Check

[ztweb]

My poor mom. I feel terrible for her. She is trying to keep everything organized...traveling with dad back and forth to Mayo...5 hour drive...only home on the weekends. She has medicare stuff coming, Mayo stuff coming, gap insurance coming....and the list goes on.

She thinks she got a check from Medicare (they pay her, and she pays Mayo) for almost $4000. She cannot find it anywhere...and thinks quite possibly she dreampt it...she is panicked! Any suggestions?

For the record...it would have gotten lost in a matter of a 2 day time period. She went through the garbage, every closet, every drawer, and shed many tears. Urgh!!!!!

[ma's kid]

I would think she could call???? Maybe the Social Security Admin?

How upsetting for her on top of everything else she is dealing with.

I am sure this has happened before to someone else and there has to be some way of checking to see if they did mail the check. By chance, is a social worker involved? If so, maybe he/she can do some checking.

Hugs for your mom

Libby

[cindi o'h]

insurance and bills are a fulltime job in addition to being sick or taking care of the sick. Not for the feint of heart, nor the sick, weary or stressed.

Call Medicare tomorrow to see if a check was issued.

Poor thing.

Cindi o'h

[joanie55]

Is there any way that she can set up an automatic deposit into a checking account. This way there's never a chance to lose or have a check stolen.

She should also call tomorrow to report the check lost.

Joan

[Linda661]

Safest to call Medicare and find out for certain if a check was mailed. The general Medicare office is not going to have the information for her on this.....she needs to talk to the particular company responsible for processing Medicare claims in her state (this Medicare processing company can also put a stop to any lost check and reissue a new one) -- the general Medicare office should be able to tell her who that is.

Odd that Medicare isn't paying Mayo directly, unless Mayo doesn't accept Medicare assignment -- would agree that direct deposit might help her as well.

It is quite a paperwork nightmare when you have to deal with Medicare, supplemental insurance, doctor office billing departments, and Rx coverage on top of everything else!

Hope this helps,

Linda

[adela]

I have and still am in your mother's posititon it is so hard. You beat yourself up that you can't keep everything organized as a caregiver it is so hard to do. I am sure she can check on the medicare check. I hope she can get some peace soon on this.

There is a solution to every situation.

Adela.

[Carleen]

Medicare pays the beneficiary if a provider does not accept Medicare assignment. If you should lose a Medicare check, please contact Medicare immediately. Please refer to the Contact Us page. You may use electronic mail, telephone, fax or regular mail to contact us. Medicare will stop payment on the lost check, and reissue you a new check within 30-45 days. Remember, check with Medicare to make sure we have your current mailing address.

For South Dakota the agency used for payments and claims is:

Your Medicare Fiscal Intermediary:

Cahaba Government Benefit Administrators

(877) 567-3092

Some days I am surprised I remember to shower and dress myself. Your mom has so much going on and so much stress, there is no blaming her for getting a little disorganized.

[ztweb]

It was a dream! Ater more searching, more thinking, more calling, and more questioning, we have determined the check was never sent....pretty real dream .... urgh!

[cindi o'h]

Don't feel bad. Just about the time you posted this, I had dreamed that I found a whole wallet full of $$. In my dream, I recalled that I had stolen a whole wallet full of hundred dollar bills in real life.

When I awakened, I was trying to remember what wallet full of money I had stolen? I knew I had!

After about 20" of conscience-searching, I realized it was all part of the same dream. Darn! I would rather have the money and a marred conscience. lol..

Funny how real some of them can become.

I'm glad that she is awaits the check.

Cindi o'h