Medicare requires “permanent” residential address

[OrignalBudman]

My wife is stumped. That’s saying something because she spent 30 years managing a State Medicaid program for Aetna.

We’re going through the annual B.S. with Medicare’s open enrollment period. The question no one we’ve spoken with can answer is what to do about a permanent residential address, which Medicare requires.

Our mailing address is USGlobalMail - they scan our mail to PDFs and email them to us. That works fine and won’t change. But no one at Medicare knows how to deal with long term cruisers who live the transient lifestyle.

Anyone else deal with this issue? What have you discovered?

[flightlead404]

st. brendan's isle or similar service provider.

[JPA Cate]

You need a street address somewhere, so Brendan's Isle does work, as suggested above.

Ann

[OrignalBudman]

Originally Posted by JPA Cate

You need a street address somewhere, so Brendan's Isle does work, as suggested above.

Ann

Thanks, Ann. I appreciate your desire to help.

We have a mail forwarding service similar to St. Brendan’s Isle. The problem is that it’s not a permanent residential address. It’s your residential address zipcode that determines what Medicare drug plans & etc. are available to you and what your co-pays are.

We’re still digging. If we find “the answer” I’ll post it back here in case someone else runs into the same obstacle.

Fair winds and following seas…

[chrisr]

we have a couple of similar situations...drivers licence (yes, we have one even though no car) and boat registration both require a residential address

for this we use our daughter's address, and just take the risk that no beaurocrat will bother to check

cheers,

ps : fortunately australian medicare doesn't care...

[OrignalBudman]

Here in the US if you need urgent medical care outside your designated area, which is determined by your address, you can end up in a real mess.

[Jammer]

Much has been written here and in various RV forums about this problem.


There is a presumption that you have a domicile, that is, a place you will eventually return to even if you do not presently live there. This is what medicare calls a "permanent address."


There are two ways to deal with this. One is to choose a domicile that you have some sort of physical connection to. Perhaps the house of a sibling or son or daughter or close friend. The other is, as suggested upthread, to use a service like St. Brendan's Isle that is structured to create a permanent physical address and in a local jurisdiction that supports this.


Generally, travelers who encounter "permanent address" problems encounter them upfront with entities that are unwilling to accept that their address is actual. It is all but unheard of to encounter post hoc problems where some busybody makes a big deal out of the matter months/years later. The two keys are to use a service that is supported by its local government and to understand and comply with the rules for demonstrating that your residential address is valid i.e. produce a bank statement that has been mailed to that address or a voter registration card.

[Training Wheels]

Since 9/11, mail forwarding services can’t be used as domicile addresses. THEY know.

[wingssail]

Originally Posted by JPA Cate

You need a street address somewhere, so Brendan's Isle does work, as suggested above.

Ann

The difficulty is that there are software address checkers which look at the address provided and evaluate its credibility. For instance if an address is a single office and 1200 people have that as their address a fishy situation is detected. Or, as happened to me, the agency verified my address with a "google street view' picture of my mail box company's store front and said, "you cannot possibly live there".

Not all agencies have this software yet but many do. It is coming, because they want to detect fraud, (you are not who you say you are and you don't live there).

These kind of programs don't accomodate alternate lifestyles, (like people who live on boats or live in RV's). This problem will get worse.

I was advised by Washington State Department of licensing to use my marina berth number and the marina street address, even though I have not lived there for 20 years. Most people use an address of a friend or relative, not my preference.

[BillKny]

Originally Posted by Training Wheels

Since 9/11, mail forwarding services can’t be used as domicile addresses. THEY know.

Yeah, well... sometimes stupid laws are ignored by everybody. And nobody is hurt.

A for instance: Every bank and credit card company is required to know there customer's domicile address, an actual physical address. It's in the same law referred to above.

I have three credit cards, one from AmEx and two Visa cards from other banks. Twice in 10 years I got a pro forma letter from AmEx asking to please tell them my actual physical address since they were required to have one on file for all their customers according to Federal Law XXZZZXX.XX

I use St Brendans Isle, and have used other mail services in the past, and have since 1999 and of course they are known as a mail service and not a physical address. I ignore the request, and AmEx ignores the fact that I ignored their request, and all goes on as it did before.

NONE of my other financial institutions have EVER even bothered to ask.

Sometimes reality just intrudes on the best dreams of a regulation writing bureaucrat.

[wingssail]

Originally Posted by BillKny

Yeah, well... sometimes stupid laws are ignored by everybody. And nobody is hurt.

A for instance: Every bank and credit card company is required to know there customer's domicile address, an actual physical address. It's in the same law referred to above.

I have three credit cards, one from AmEx and two Visa cards from other banks. Twice in 10 years I got a pro forma letter from AmEx asking to please tell them my actual physical address since they were required to have one on file for all their customers according to Federal Law XXZZZXX.XX

I use St Brendans Isle, and have used other mail services in the past, and have since 1999 and of course they are known as a mail service and not a physical address. I ignore the request, and AmEx ignores the fact that I ignored their request, and all goes on as it did before.

NONE of my other financial institutions have EVER even bothered to ask.

Sometimes reality just intrudes on the best dreams of a regulation writing bureaucrat.

The problem is more insidious that that. The law gets written and mostly ignored. Then some programmer somewhere writes some software to do the verification, then goes around selling it to agencies and companies. Some bureaucrat buys it and the software guy installs it and we're busted.

[jdaltonpe]

I have been using St Brendans Isle as my permanent address for many things including bank accounts, IRS, etc. In the address line I always write in my SBI box number as Apt xxxxx. SBI suggested I do that to fake out algorithms that identify them as commercial and so far it has worked well.

I just got my first social security check and Medicare card as well so it worked for me. Good Luck with whatever you try!

[Sailshabby]

Originally Posted by OrignalBudman

My wife is stumped. That’s saying something because she spent 30 years managing a State Medicaid program for Aetna.

We’re going through the annual B.S. with Medicare’s open enrollment period. The question no one we’ve spoken with can answer is what to do about a permanent residential address, which Medicare requires.

Our mailing address is USGlobalMail - they scan our mail to PDFs and email them to us. That works fine and won’t change. But no one at Medicare knows how to deal with long term cruisers who live the transient lifestyle.

Anyone else deal with this issue? What have you discovered?

We use SBI and haven’t had a problem. I figure we’re one of millions, and it’s a minor detail. I understand your point, but suspect your wife was really good at her job and is too focused. My two cents worth.

[ArmyDaveNY]

One option is to pick a random home, apartment, etc. and use that address for registering. Just be sure to go have your mail forwarded to whatever mail forwarding service or relative's home you use. Here in the U.S. a USPS forward can be temporary or permanent. There is a $1.10 identity verification fee.
https://www.usps.com/manage/forward.htm

Per the USPS:
Once you file it can kick in as soon as 3 days but they suggest allowing 2 weeks.
Most mail is forwarded with no charge, however with USPS Media Mail and USPS Retail Ground you must pay for any shipping costs involved with the shipping. Most important and beneficially for you, your change-of-address order does not automatically update any state or personal records.
Permanent change of address records are kept for 18 months, but can be renewed for 1 year if there is demonstrable financial hardship. Temporary change of address records are good for up to six months but can be renewed for 1 year. Both change of addresses can be done in person or online, however one needs a credit card if processing online and there is a credit card processing fee.

[Cpt Mark]

I use a close friend who gets my mail, scans it etc. Mostly I'm paperless so not a big deal. Everything is registered there, drivers license etc.