How to Verify Your Medicare Eligibility
It's important to remember that while verification checks are available online, the Social Security Administration (SSA) is the only one that can officially verify your eligibility.
You can contact the SSA at 800-772-1213 or visit their website.
How can you verify your eligibility?
You can verify your Medicare eligibility or estimate when you might be eligible on the Medicare.gov website.
You'll need the following information in order to verify your eligibility:
your date of birth
whether you have worked and paid Medicare taxes for at least 10 years
your disability status
The SSA website also allows you to check your eligibility for various benefits for different stages in life, such as:
when you retire or age
if you stop or limit work due to a disability or illness
if you lose a spouse
if you have difficulty paying for essentials, like food, your home, and clothing
The SSA estimates that their questionnaire should take around 10 minutes. It will finish by telling you what benefits you may be eligible for.
The information on this website may assist you in making personal decisions about insurance, but it is not intended to provide advice regarding the purchase or use of any insurance or insurance products. Healthline Media does not transact the business of insurance in any manner and is not licensed as an insurance company or producer in any U.S. jurisdiction. Healthline Media does not recommend or endorse any third parties that may transact the business of insurance.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Los Angeles Times
4 hours ago
- Los Angeles Times
A candid take on mortality and the power of friendship
They gather several times a week in the parking lot of a Vons supermarket in Mar Vista, and no subject is off-limits. Not even the grim medical prognosis for 70-year-old David Mays, one of the founding members of the coffee klatch. 'It's one of our major topics of conversation,' said Paul Morgan, 45, a klatch regular. Mays is a cancer survivor with a full package of maladies, including diabetes, a faltering heart and failing kidneys. But since I met him almost two years ago, he has told me repeatedly that he doesn't want dialysis treatment, even though it might extend his life. 'I get it, because it's a lot of hours out of your day,' said Morgan, a schoolteacher who lives nearby. 'People think you go in for dialysis for 15 minutes before you go straight to work. But really, it's a part-time job.' His treatment would require that he visit a dialysis center three times a week, for four hours each time, Mays said. 'For the rest of my life.' 'I don't think I could do it,' said klatcher Kit Bradley, 70, who lives in a van near the supermarket with his dog, Lea. I met Mays in October 2023, when he was living in his Chevy Malibu in a downtown garage that was part of the Safe Parking L.A. program. Mays later moved into an apartment in East Hollywood and still lives there, but his health has continued to deteriorate. 'He is Stage 5,' said Dr. Thet Thet Aung, Mays' nephrologist at Kaiser Permanente West Los Angeles. For such patients, Aung said, death can be imminent. She told me she's had many conversations with Mays about his treatment options, including dialysis in a clinic or self-administered at home. But not everyone does well on dialysis, she added, and when a patient makes an informed choice, 'we respect their wishes.' Mays has a refreshingly healthy attitude about mortality. Multibillion-dollar industries cater to those who want to look younger and live longer, and about 25% of Medicare's massive outlay is spent on patients in the last year of life, many of whom choose life-extending medical procedures. Mays, in the time I've known him, has been realistic rather than fatalistic. He has told me he doesn't think bravery, faith or spirituality has anything to do with his desire to let nature take its course. 'It transcends those things,' he said. He's at peace with his fate, he explained, because he's got friends, love and support. On a recent day at his apartment, I watched Mays load medication from more than 20 vials into a weekly pill organizer. 'I could almost do this in my sleep,' he said as he arranged meds that resembled miniature jelly beans. This one for his kidneys, that one for his heart, his blood pressure, and on and on. There were 18 pills in each compartment. And none of that will cure any of what ails him, he said. 'You just have to keep doing it, and doing it, just to stay at a sustained level,' he said. 'It's not like … I feel great because I took this stuff.' Two women in Mays' life are heartbroken about his condition but respectful of his refusal to try dialysis. 'I don't want him to suffer for the sake of placating other people,' said Mays' daughter Jennifer Nutt, 47, of Merced. Her parents divorced when she and her brother were young, and Nutt had no relationship with Mays until recently. She's had her own trials, Nutt said, including homelessness. Father and daughter began connecting in the fall of 2024. 'We spend hours every day talking. It's like a nonstop festival of catching up,' and they've discovered they have the same cheeky sense of humor and pragmatism, and similar traits and interests. 'We like big words and thick books,' Nutt said. The other woman is Helena Bake, of Perth, Australia, a registered nurse Mays affectionately refers to as 'Precious.' They met in 1985, when Mays was visiting London, and Bake, 18 at the time, was working in a restaurant he visited with friends. After Bake moved to Australia, Mays visited her many times and became close to her entire family. 'He was lovely,' said Bake, who is not surprised by Mays' attitude about his deteriorating health. 'He's always very positive and so pragmatic. He has this wonderful view of the world and the people in his life. It's such a gift that he has.' Mays, who gets by on Social Security payments, has set up a GoFundMe page to help pay for his cremation and send his ashes to Bake, to be scattered in his favorite places in Australia. Lately, medical appointments with his several doctors, and the occasional ER visit, have gotten in the way of one of Mays' favorite activities — the gatherings in the Vons parking lot. Mays worked for many years in the Mar Vista area as a live-in elder care provider, and he'd bump into Bradley at a park, or Morgan in the strip mall that includes the grocery store. Several years ago, they made a habit of grabbing coffee around 7 a.m. and hanging out near Mays' car. Bradley's dog often hops into the vehicle, a Vons employee named Elvis comes out for a smoke break, and others come and go. 'I had a cousin who had diabetes, and he called my mom one day and said, 'I'm not doing it anymore,' ' Morgan was saying the other day. His mother wasn't supportive at first, he told the klatch, but she listened to her nephew's explanation and came around. 'Who could judge someone for the choices they make in that situation?' 'There's a waiting list for kidneys of two to eight years,' Mays said. 'Let's say [in] four or five years, there was a kidney available. Your body can reject it … and then you're back to the drawing board…. I told Precious about this like a year and a half ago … and she said, 'I have to hang up now because I have to process this.' And the next time I talked with her, she said, 'I get it.' ' Mays said he doesn't want to be 'a prisoner to a process, like a machine or something.' 'And you have to do this indefinitely. It's not like you're on it for two or three years…,' he said. 'It is. The. Rest. Of. Your. Life.' 'I've seen people that were on dialysis,' said Bradley, a former musician. 'I think I'd rather be just, if I gotta go, I gotta go.' Morgan said his father, who died last year, had kidney problems in the end and resisted extreme measures to extend his life. 'It's not like he was at all suicidal, just like David's not,' Morgan said. 'The thing about David is, he's always been so resolute about it. We've never had a discussion where I felt like we could waver him, or like he was on the fence.' When he first resisted dialysis, Mays said, doctors set him up in a room with a video that explained the process. 'I watched the whole thing, and that was the clincher,' Mays said. 'By the time I got through looking at that, I'm just going, 'Oh HELL no.'' It's not that he wants to die, Mays said. It's that he wants to live on his terms. 'The irony of the whole thing is, it's all the people that I have around me — they're the reason I'm willing to go like this. What I get from them in the way of being … uplifted and loved, well, when you have all that, you can deal with anything.' He has his klatch buddies, he has Precious, he has his daughter in his life again. 'With people around that give a damn about you, care about you, you can deal … with death, you can deal with dying.... And I told my doctors I would rather live a shorter period of time, but with what I feel to be some decent quality of life, than live a longer period of time and be miserable. And I would be miserable on dialysis,' Mays said. 'Plus, I'm 70. It ain't like I'm 30 and there's so much life to live. I am the age that I am, and I would like to go further, sure, but it has to close out soon. And I'm fine with that, because I have lived.'
Yahoo
13 hours ago
- Yahoo
Local reactions to 'Big Beautiful Bill' passage
ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (News-Press NOW) — The passage of the so-called Big Beautiful Bill" by the U.S. House of Representatives has been met with mixed reactions nationally and locally. In St. Joseph, about a dozen people interviewed for their initial reactions a few hours after the bill passed echoed both the praises and concerns expressed by members of the House of Representatives in their debates about the financial package. One St. Joseph resident, who did not want to share her name, a Medicare recipient, said she is concerned about cuts to Medicare and Medicaid. "My mother is also on Medicaid, and she is in her eighties," she said. "I don't think we could get by without it." Lynn, who did not share her last name, is a retired nurse in St. Joseph, said she is glad the bill passed and does not share the concerns about cuts to Medicaid. "They were scaring people about Medicaid and everything," Lynn said. "I'm a retired nurse, and I believe we need to get those who can work off of Medicaid." Nyls Ferguson said he supports the bill because he believes there will be benefits for senior adults and many working Americans. "I think the fact that it doesn't tax social security is great," Ferguson said. "Also, removing tax for those who work overtime is good, because many have to work overtime just to get by, and that will relieve some of their burden. All local U.S. Representatives, as well as Senators from Missouri and Kansas, voted to support the bill, which will now go to President Donald Trump's desk for his signature. The final version of the bill passed the House by a margin of 218-214.
Yahoo
13 hours ago
- Yahoo
Humana Expands Medicaid Footprint With Virginia's Cardinal Care Win
Virginia's Medicaid program, Cardinal Care, has chosen Humana Inc. HUM as one of five insurers to administer services through its new Humana Healthy Horizons plan. All Virginia Cardinal Care members are now eligible to choose this as a new Medicaid plan option. Cardinal Care offers health coverage to low-income individuals, children, seniors, people with disabilities and pregnant women. Rather than paying healthcare providers directly, the program partners with private insurance companies known as Managed Care Organizations, which manage medical services, prescriptions and overall care coordination for members. Humana Healthy Horizons is poised to deliver comprehensive care to individuals and families across the state, focusing not only on physical and mental health but also on the social factors that often hinder better overall well-being. With existing service to Medicare Advantage and TRICARE members in the state, the expansion into Cardinal Care allows Humana to extend its human-centred approach to Medicaid recipients, aiming to offer innovative solutions, address complex needs, and improve both health outcomes and quality of life. This move opens a valuable opportunity for Humana's growth. By managing care for enrolled members, the company can increase memberships and receive regular payments from the state, offering a steady and scalable source of revenue. Through Humana Healthy Horizons, the company already serves 1.5 million Medicaid members in the country. Expanding into Virginia's Medicaid broadens Humana's reach beyond Medicare and TRICARE. In the year-to-date period, Humana's shares have lost 3.9% compared with a 24% decline across the broader industry. Due to rising healthcare costs, increased service utilization, and operational inefficiencies, Humana continues to face pressure on its profitability and long-term margins. Image Source: Zacks Investment Research HUM currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Some better-ranked stocks in the medical space areCentene Corporation CNC,Cigna Group CI and Molina Healthcare Inc. MOH,each carrying a Zacks Rank #2(Buy) at present. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Centene's current-year earnings is pegged at $7.28 per share, implying 1.5% year-over-year growth. CNC's earnings surpassed estimates in each of the last three of four quarters, the average surprise being 25.5%. The consensus estimate for Centene's current-year revenues is pegged at $179.5 billion, implying 10.1% year-over-year growth. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Cigna's current-year earnings is pegged at $29.68 per share, implying 8.6% year-over-year growth. Cigna's earnings surpassed estimates in three of the last four quarters. It has witnessed eight upward revisions in the last 60 days against no movement in the opposite direction. The consensus estimate for Cigna's current-year revenues is pegged at $258.2 billion, implying 4.5% year-over-year growth. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Molina's current-year earnings is pegged at $28.44 per share, implying 7.9% year-over-year growth. MOH's earnings surpassed estimates in three of the last four quarters. The estimate remained stable in the last 60 days. The consensus estimate for Molina's current-year revenues is pegged at $44.1 billion, implying 8.4% year-over-year growth. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research ( Zacks Investment Research Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
