>Honestly, you'd be surprised, or maybe not, at least I was, how tied up the various government agencies are.

Actually "not", but they don't always speak the same dialects of Governmentese. After 1971 I paid nothing into SSI but rather RRB. Nevertheless for about 10-20 years SSI sent me an annual statement listing what were my RRB contributions. I finally called them to ask what was going on, and they essentially said, "Oops, this will take a while to fix." Over the next few years, the SSI annual statements showed fewer and fewer post-1971 contributions until the only years appearing were for my pre-1972, non-RR jobs (one of which was my year in Vietnam). These, of course, were rolled into the RRB figures when I retired, and my monthly cashola deposit comes entirely from the RRB.

>On the same day last March, I got a letter and booklet from Medicare regarding coverage, a letter from SSA telling me my monthly stipend would be docked for Medicare coverage, and a notice from the VA regarding my future health benefits through the VA.

Allow me to quote the parrot in Disney's Aladdin "Why-y am I NOT surprised."

>Frankly, I was/am amazed. Three separate government agencies/bureaucracies somehow managed to get together.

As I understand the system, at least under RRB, part A is "free" but you have to pay a monthly premium for part B (and you have to sign up for part B). I'm also eligible for VA medical care, which can be used instead of both parts A and B, but after the USN dentists screwed up one of my molars for no good reason (eventually requiring a root canal and gold crown), I've always preferred to use my own doctors (not to mention that I had to have one of the Navy's surgical procedures redone).

>Regarding your other point, despite what you said, at that time, I was given a choice.

Probably a case of "Hello there, Left Hand, meet Right Hand". OTOH, sometime around 1990, there was a change about double-dipping. One thing is for certain, red tape is there to confuse, not clarify.