HELP....INSURANCE QUESTION

[SandyinMonterey]

My Mother recently passed. I am in the process of taking care of everything. Do I need to cancel her medical coverage (Medicare)? Also, her Medicare supplemental, RX. plan, etc. There will be incoming medical bills. Her Rx plan was a monthly fee, charge every 3 months (which payment is up to date to her death). I haven't contacted or canceled yet because I'm concerned it will cause problems with incoming coverage with the incoming bills.

 

[crazymomof4]

My sincere condolences!
I went through this 3 years ago (early Jan 2018)..... and I still miss her every day!
Yes, you need to report her passing to Medicare. I think I found the #on her most recent check stub or maybe googled "report death to medicare". It won't cause any problems with coverage because any services rendered would have been before date of death (when coverage ends).
I ended up making a list of ALL that I needed to call and wrote the numbers down. I left a space after each to write when I called and who I spoke to.
Social Security, Phone company (cell and landline), upcoming Dr appts, Newspaper or other subscriptions, TV/cable provider.
Also, you have to go to your county offices to have the will probated and a Short Certificate issued.

 

[Sjm9911]

Sorry for your loss. Its hard and for a while dosent get any easier. Sorting through the stuff is hard. And what i have to say next isn't ment to be rough. You will have to cancel everything, and a lot of places will want death certificates to confirm it. Seems almost inhumane to want this stuff but you will need it.

 

[SandyinMonterey]

My sincere condolences!
I went through this 3 years ago (early Jan 2018)
Yes, you need to report her passing to Medicare. I think I found the #on her most recent check stub or maybe googled "report death to medicare". It won't cause any problems with coverage because any services rendered would have been before date of death (when coverage ends).
I ended up making a list of ALL that I needed to call and wrote the numbers down. I left a space after each to write when I called and who I spoke to.
Social Security, Phone company (cell and landline), upcoming Dr appts, Newspaper or other subscriptions, TV/cable provider.
Also, you have to go to your county offices to have the will probated and a Short Certificate issued.

Thank you.
In the state my Mom passed in, the funeral director notifies social security. That was done right away and I followed up with my own phone call. I've canceled credit cards, doctor's appointments, life alert, etc. Just not health coverage.

 

[SandyinMonterey]

Sorry for your loss. Its hard and for a while dosent get any easier. Sorting through the stuff is hard. And what i have to say next isn't ment to be rough. You will have to cancel everything, and a lot of places will want death certificates to confirm it. Seems almost inhumane to want this stuff but you will need it.

Thank you.

 

[macraven]

Condolences for you

it is hard to lose a parent.

 

[SandyinMonterey]

Condolences for you

it is hard to lose a parent.

Thank you

 

[princesscinderella]

So sorry for your loss

 

[Dan Murphy]

My condolences for you, Sandy, along with your family and mom's friends. You have memories for a lifetime.

 

[longboard55]

The most important one is social security because they will make you pay back any payments

 

[Feralpeg]

I know this is going to sound really odd. Since I have a terminal illness, I have been doing research so that things will be easier for my family when the time finally comes (hopefully not for a couple of years). Here are a few things that I never would have thought of on my own.

Death Certificate
Obtain multiple copies from the funeral home. There is a fee for each copy, but it is easier to obtain copies at this time than later.
Probate
File a copy of the will with county probate court.
When someone passes away leaving a valid Last Will & Testament, anyone with possession of the Will must file the original document with the correct circuit court, aka probate court. The original Last Will & Testament and any probate pleadings will be filed in the county of last resident for the decedent. For example, if the decedent passed away as a resident of Orlando, then Orange County would be the correct jurisdiction for a domiciliary probate proceeding.
Attorney
Contact on attorney to discuss how to transfer assets according to the will.
Accountant
Contact an accountant to determine if a final tax return must be filed.
If the decedent didn’t earn a great deal of money in the year he or she passed away, you may not have to file a final 1040.
In practice, however, a final 1040 is almost always filed because it’s the best way to let the IRS know that the decedent has passed away.
Social Security
Contact Social Security Administration to stop automatic payments. The funeral home may contact them for you. This needs to be done quickly as the SSA will ask you to return any benefits paid the month of death and going forward.
1-800-772-1213
Insurance
Send a copy of the death certificate for any life insurance.
Health Insurance
You will need to cancel health, dental and vision insurance.
Credit Card
Contact any credit card holders to either cancel the card or have the descendant removed from the account. They may require a copy of the death certificate.
Social Media
Decide if you will have social media accounts deleted. They may require a copy of the death certificate.

 

[LuvOrlando]

Sorry for your loss.

 

[Dan Murphy]

I know this is going to sound really odd. Since I have a terminal illness, I have been doing research so that things will be easier for my family when the time finally comes (hopefully not for a couple of years). Here are a few things that I never would have thought of on my own.

Death Certificate
Obtain multiple copies from the funeral home. There is a fee for each copy, but it is easier to obtain copies at this time than later.
Probate
File a copy of the will with county probate court.
When someone passes away leaving a valid Last Will & Testament, anyone with possession of the Will must file the original document with the correct circuit court, aka probate court. The original Last Will & Testament and any probate pleadings will be filed in the county of last resident for the decedent. For example, if the decedent passed away as a resident of Orlando, then Orange County would be the correct jurisdiction for a domiciliary probate proceeding.
Attorney
Contact on attorney to discuss how to transfer assets according to the will.
Accountant
Contact an accountant to determine if a final tax return must be filed.
If the decedent didn’t earn a great deal of money in the year he or she passed away, you may not have to file a final 1040.
In practice, however, a final 1040 is almost always filed because it’s the best way to let the IRS know that the decedent has passed away.
Social Security
Contact Social Security Administration to stop automatic payments. The funeral home may contact them for you. This needs to be done quickly as the SSA will ask you to return any benefits paid the month of death and going forward.
1-800-772-1213
Insurance
Send a copy of the death certificate for any life insurance.
Health Insurance
You will need to cancel health, dental and vision insurance.
Credit Card
Contact any credit card holders to either cancel the card or have the descendant removed from the account. They may require a copy of the death certificate.
Social Media
Decide if you will have social media accounts deleted. They may require a copy of the death certificate.

's

 

[tvguy]

Probate
File a copy of the will with county probate court.
When someone passes away leaving a valid Last Will & Testament, anyone with possession of the Will must file the original document with the correct circuit court, aka probate court. The original Last Will & Testament and any probate pleadings will be filed in the county of last resident for the decedent. For example, if the decedent passed away as a resident of Orlando, then Orange County would be the correct jurisdiction for a domiciliary probate proceeding.

A good general guideline, but check on Probate requirements. At least in California, with a proper estate plan, no probate filing is necessary. Both my parents very much wanted the government not to get a penny of their estates and they made sure everything was setup to avoid Probate.

 

[barkley]

if the funeral director notified social security then medicare would have been notified (ss death index drives both medicare and medicaid national and state databases). if this was a supplemental plan then i would go ahead and notify the plan b/c she may have been paying in advance for coverage (pay in june for july and so on) so there could be a refund due the estate. make sure she didn't have any prescriptions on auto-refill through mail order. it's one thing if they are at a brick and mortar pharmacy and you don't pick up (they will pull from the shelf/reverse any charge) but trying to return a mail order scrip is next to impossible.

one other suggestion-we did this just as an 'in case' w/ my mil when she passed-if you are in charge of her estate consider contacting a local credit service. pull a report and put a freeze on her name/ss#. we were surprised to find accounts in long deceased fil's name still active (b/c mil just never notified when he died/kept the credit cards open) and credit cards we had no idea mil had (she physically did'nt b/c we never found them-we think she figured they would just close accounts she did'nt use after a couple of years). it helped us ensure we had caught all creditors hanging out there.

take care.

 

[John VN]

2 OP -- :,o(

DW and her dad made sure he had a PROPER TRUST for here in FL and following his death everything went smoothly with NO GOVERNMENTAL delays. My mom would not act on our suggestions r.e. a TRUST and it was 1+ year before things were settled costing $$$$.

 

[nkereina]

Very sorry for your loss OP.

Death Certificate
Obtain multiple copies from the funeral home. There is a fee for each copy, but it is easier to obtain copies at this time than later.

Perhaps it varies by state (we are in NY), but my aunt passed in January and the funeral home didn't facilitate the death certificate. My uncle had to request copies from the state (county?) and it took a couple weeks due to backlog at the time. The funeral home said something about this is the way its done now, but I don't have anymore details.

As another note, the banks and possibly some health care companies will run deceased reporting regularly, which comes from social security. They bump it up against their list of clients and process accordingly. After my aunt's death was reported to social security, the beneficiaries on her bank accounts had letters within a week with further instructions.

 

[barkley]

since this thread has mentions of estate planning pros and cons i'm want to share-

based on my experiences having been an executor and a trustee for family in 2 different states other than i resided in at the time of their deaths:

1. research what is the best option (trust or will) in the state you live in, given your own personal circumstances. in some states a trust is golden, in others not so much. a good estate planning attorney is worth the few hundred dollars for a simple consultation to help you choose, and can also help you avoid costly pitfalls (as in naming executors or trustees out of state when your home state does not permit them w/o an instate co-trustee and you've never updated your paperwork to eliminate/replace successor trustees who predeceased you so there's a scramble to find someone or worse-a costly legal battle over who should NOT be one),

and

2. prior to your death it's no one's business what is in your final will or trust documents BUT if the reason you are not sharing the details with your family, esp. your children is because of your fear of jealousy, anger or push back then for goodness sake name an unrelated non beneficiary to act as a executor or trustee (there are professionals who do it for a fee or percentage of the estate). it's a thankless job that can garner animosity leading up to including physical violence. in both cases i handled it took over a year to settle everything (i can't imagine how long it takes now with irs processing times so backlogged) and the resulting resentment over nothing within my control destroyed sibling relationships and entailed law enforcement protection.