If you want to sign up for Medicare you need to meet some criteria. Primary, you must be a U.S. citizen or a permanent resident who is living in the U.S. for at least five years in a row. If this requirement is valid, then there are the next criteria for Medicare eligibility: you need to be 65 years old or older, or you need to receive Social Security benefits for at least 2 years in a row, or you have been diagnosed with ESRD or ALS. If all the requirements are met then you can proceed with your application.
In this blog, we will present you with all documents needed for a Medicare application.
List of Documents
No matter which way are you applying for Medicare coverage, you will need some documents to prove your eligibility and answer all the possible questions. It is possible that Social Security or Medicare already have some of the needed information, but no matter if they do you are required to have those documents as proof of eligibility (proof of age, citizenship) and income history as well.
You will need to prove that you are eligible for Medicare when you first enroll. In some cases, Medicare might already have this information. If you’re already receiving Social Security retirement benefits or Social Security Disability Insurance, then you won’t need to submit any additional documents because Social Security and Medicare will already have all the information they need to process your enrollment. If you don’t receive any kind of Social Security benefits, you will need to provide all the needed documents to enroll in Medicare.
Here are all documents you might need for your Medicare application:
- Social Security card
- Social Security statement or records of your earnings
- Original birth certificate or certified copy of it
- An alternate form of identification proving your age besides a birth certificate
- A W-2 or self-employment tax information
- Proof of U.S. citizenship (U.S. passport, Naturalization certificate, Certificate of Citizenship, or U.S. consular report of birth for those born outside the United States of America)
- Proof of your legal residency if you are not a U.S. citizen (including “Green card”)
- A record of your service or discharge papers if you had served in U.S. Military before 1968
You will need to provide these documents when you enroll in Original Medicare. As for Medicare Advantage, Medicare Part D, and Supplement plans, you should not present those documents, because you gave them to Medicare while you were enrolled in Original Medicare.