Wisconsin Income Maintenance Consortium: Which Office Handles Your MSP Application

Why Your County Matters for Medicare Savings Programs

Wisconsin doesn't process Medicare Savings Program applications through one central office. Instead, the state routes everything through 10 regional Income Maintenance (IM) consortia, plus Milwaukee Enrollment Services for Milwaukee County. Each consortium serves a cluster of counties with shared call centers, caseworkers, and fax lines.

Filing with the wrong consortium doesn't automatically get forwarded. It sits. Families lose weeks sending SeniorCare forms to county offices (SeniorCare goes directly to Madison) or mailing MSP paperwork to Social Security instead of their local consortium.

Find Your Consortium by County

Here's the complete directory of Wisconsin's 10 regional Income Maintenance consortia:

Capital Consortium — Dane (lead), Adams, Columbia, Dodge, Juneau, Richland, Sauk, Sheboygan Phone: 1-888-794-5556

Moraine Lakes Consortium — Fond du Lac (lead), Ozaukee, Walworth, Washington, Waukesha Phone: 1-888-446-1239

Bay Lake Consortium — Brown (lead), Door, Marinette, Oconto, Shawano Phone: 1-888-794-5747

Great Rivers Consortium — Barron, Burnett, Chippewa, Douglas, Dunn, Eau Claire, Pierce, Polk, St. Croix, Washburn Phone: 1-888-283-0012

Western Consortium — Buffalo, Clark, Jackson, La Crosse, Monroe, Pepin, Trempealeau, Vernon Phone: 1-888-627-0430

Southern Consortium — Crawford, Grant, Green, Iowa, Jefferson, Lafayette, Rock Phone: 1-888-794-5780

Northern Consortium — Ashland, Bayfield, Florence, Iron, Lincoln, Price, Rusk, Sawyer, Taylor, Vilas, Wood (lead) Phone: 1-888-794-5722

Central Consortium — Marathon (lead), Langlade, Oneida, Portage Phone: 1-888-445-1621

East Central Consortium — Calumet, Green Lake, Kewaunee, Manitowoc, Marquette, Outagamie, Waupaca, Waushara, Winnebago Phone: 1-888-256-4563

WKRP Consortium — Kenosha Phone: 1-888-794-5820

Milwaukee Enrollment Services (MilES) — Milwaukee County operates its own enrollment services center, separate from the consortium structure.

What Happens When You Call

When you reach your consortium's call center, the worker will pull up the case in CARES (the state eligibility system) using your parent's Social Security number. They can check application status, explain what verifications are still needed, and clarify Notice of Decision language.

Two things to know before calling:

1. You need authorization to discuss the case. Unless you're the applicant, the worker cannot share case details with you. You'll need to have filed Form F-10126A (Appoint, Change, or Remove an Authorized Representative: Person) or submitted authorization through ACCESS. Without it, the worker will politely decline to discuss anything — even confirming whether an application was received.

2. Rural consortia rely heavily on mailed verification. The Great Rivers, Northern, and Western consortia serve areas where many applicants don't use the ACCESS portal. If your parent's consortium is in northern or western Wisconsin, expect paper-based workflows and allow extra processing time for mail.

Tribal Income Maintenance Agencies

Wisconsin's sovereign tribal nations — including the Oneida Nation, Menominee Indian Tribe, St. Croix Chippewa, and others — coordinate through tribal economic support offices or their local Aging and Disability Resource Center (ADRC). Tribal members can apply through their tribal agency or through the county consortium where they reside.

Routing Common Tasks to the Right Place

Not everything goes to your consortium:

• MSP applications and renewals → Your regional IM consortium (or MilES for Milwaukee)
• SeniorCare applications → SeniorCare central office in Madison: 1 West Wilson Street, Madison, WI 53703, or call 1-800-657-2038
• Extra Help (Part D LIS) applications → You don't need to apply separately. Enrolling in any MSP tier automatically generates deemed Extra Help status through CMS
• Fair hearing appeals → Division of Hearings and Appeals, using Form DHA-28
• Medicare plan questions → Board on Aging and Long Term Care (BOALTC) Medigap Helpline: 1-800-242-1060

Mixing these up is the single most common cause of benefit delays. The Wisconsin Medicare Savings Programs, Extra Help & SeniorCare Guide includes a routing flowchart that maps every task to the right office, with direct phone numbers.

Tips for Out-of-State Adult Children

If you're helping a parent in Wisconsin from another state, the consortium structure creates extra friction. Official notices go to your parent's residential address unless you've filed as authorized representative. ACCESS portal verification codes are mailed physically — you can't intercept them remotely.

Your best move is to establish authorized representative status early (Form F-10126A), set up ACCESS login credentials while you have physical access to your parent's mail, and keep the consortium phone number saved. The call center is your primary channel for resolving stalls, clarifying notice language, and confirming that uploaded documents were received.

For the full consortium directory with fax numbers and step-by-step application routing, get the Wisconsin Medicare Savings Programs Guide.

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