Another Thing to Worry About

As you may remember, at the end of my trip to Ohio I had received a summons to jury duty at my old address.  I resolved that issue, but upon returning to Mexico City, I faced another cause for concern.

While I was in Ohio, I had received an email that a piece of mail had arrived at my private mailing service.  It was a week after my return to Mexico City before I had a chance to pick it up at office.  The letter was from Medicare, and when I read it, my stomach was immediately tied in knots.  Ever since I turned 65, my Medicare premiums have been automatically deducted from my checking account in Ohio.  The letter said that I was delinquent in my payments.  When I returned to the apartment, I checked my account statements online, and sure enough, no Medicare payments had been deducted since January.  By that time, it was after business hours, and I figured that I would not be able to call and find out what was going on.  Needless to say, I had a sleepless night.

The next morning, I was up before 6:00 A.M.  We are two hours behind Eastern time in the U.S.  I thought that perhaps the office would be open at 8:00 EDT, so at the stroke of six, I was dialing the Medicare number.  I imagined being on hold for an hour or more before being able to talk with someone.  To my surprise, my call went through immediately, and I found out that the Medicare line is open 24 hours.  I explained the situation to the lady.  She could see that no payment had been made since January, but she had no idea why the premiums had not been made automatically.  She told me that I could pay the delinquent bill online on the Medicare website.  She also said that once the bill is paid, the premiums should once again be taken from my checking account.  If they are not, I should call again.

I went to the Medicare website, and I was able to easily pay it online with my credit card.  I still do not understand why the automatic payments stopped, but at least I know how to pay online if necessary.