Each month the Regular Transcript Attainment and Selection Pass (RETAP) Operation
identifies records for Medicare entitlement. Five months prior to attaining age 65
and five months prior to the 25th month a beneficiary has entitlement to disability benefits, RETAP establishes only
hospital insurance (HI) entitlement on the master beneficiary record (MBR) for beneficiaries
who reside in Puerto Rico.
RETAP does not establish Supplementary Medical Insurance (SMI) entitlement for beneficiaries
living in Puerto Rico because the law does not allow for automatic enrollment into
SMI.
The Social Security Administration (SSA) sends the HI entitlement information to the
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). CMS notifies the beneficiaries about
their entitlement to HI and eligibility to enroll in SMI via the Puerto Rican initial
enrollment period (IEP) package. CMS mails the Puerto Rican IEP package four months
prior to the age 65-attainment month or four months prior to the 25th month of disability benefit entitlement. CMS prints the Puerto Rican IEP package
in Spanish, and it contains:
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•
Welcome to Medicare letter; and
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•
Welcome to Medicare booklet that provides an overview of the Medicare Program.
The Medicare card is not included in the Puerto Rican IEP package.
For a detailed description of the Puerto Rican IEP package, see HI 00805.125C.