<p>Status update: </p>
<p>After the Office Of Personnel Management (OPM) notified Kaiser that my mom was no longer eligible for medical benefits under my dad’s plan as the surviving spouse, I was able to get my mom a special enrollment in Medicare Part B with the help of my local congressman. </p>
<p>The very next day I received a letter from the OPM reinstating my mom on my dad’s health plan. It turns out that my dad HAD paid into keeping my mom on his plan, even though 2 different OPM reps told me over the phone that she was NOT eligible to remain on his plan since he wasn’t paying into the survivor annuity. An OPM manager explained that since my dad was on worker’s compensation during his federal employment, the extra payments he was having deducted from his payments were not visible to the level 1 (lowest level) OPM reps who received my calls. </p>
<p>I immediately contacted the manager at the local Social Security office who processed my mom’s special enrollment in Medicare Part B, as well as the congressman’s staff member who handled it. I was told that since it had already been processed, she would not be able to withdraw until Jan. 1st 2014. She would be charged 6 months worth of enrollment- from 7/1/13 through 12/31/13- amounting to about $2,000 (includes penalties for not having Part B for 23 years). I filed a “Request For Reconsideration” with Social Security and am awaiting an answer expected in about 6 to 8 weeks.</p>
<p>It is unnecessary for my mom to pay for Medicare Part B, including penalties, when my mom is covered under my dad’s plan for the remainder of her life. If Social Security does not refund retroactively the Medicare Part B payments, I think I will ask OPM and/or Office Of Worker’s Compensation (OWCP) to pay her back, since it is they who cancelled her coverage and then said she wasn’t eligible.</p>