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Medicare Enrollment
Medicare has many different enrollment periods. For help navigating these times and avoiding late enrollment penalties, contact our team at Insured for Life.
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Initial Enrollment Period
The Medicare initial enrollment period is for American seniors turning 65. Three months before the month of your 65th birthday, you can first enroll in Medicare. You have seven months during this enrollment period to sign up for Medicare benefits.
Special Enrollment Period
Special enrollment periods are available for people who meet certain conditions. These include situations such as:
- You move to a different location, outside of your current coverage area
- You move within your coverage area, but new coverage options have become available
- You move back to the U.S. after living in another country
- You move into or out of an institution
- You are released from jail
- You lose Medicaid coverage
- You leave employer coverage or COBRA
- You leave creditable drug coverage
- You drop coverage from a Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) plan
- You have the chance to enroll in other coverage from an employer or union
- You are enrolling in other creditable drug coverage
- You enroll in a PACE plan
- Medicare sanctions your plan
- Medicare terminates your plan contract
- Your plan’s contract with Medicare is not renewed
- You are dual-eligible for Medicare and Medicaid
- You qualify for Extra Help
- You are enrolling in a State Pharmaceutical Assistance Program (SPAP) or lose eligibility
- You dropped Medigap to join a Medicare Advantage plan
- You have a chronic condition that would be better served by a Chronic Care Special Needs Plan
- You are in a Special Needs Plan and no longer have the qualifying condition
- You joined a plan due to an error of a federal employee
- You were not informed that a drug coverage plan was not creditable
- You were not informed that you were losing creditable drug coverage
One common circumstance that qualifies you for a special enrollment period is if you are turning 65 and still have group health coverage through an employer. You can delay signing up for Medicare Part B until you lose coverage or are no longer employed with that company. You would then have eight months to sign up for Medicare Part B.
Annual Election Period
From October 15 to December 7 of each year spans the Annual Election Period. During this time, people who are enrolled in Medicare Advantage or a Medicare Part D plan can drop their plans and return to Original Medicare, renew their plan contracts, or switch to a different plan.
General Enrollment
Medicare General Enrollment is from January 1 to March 31 of every year. During this time, you can sign up for Medicare. This time is available for people who missed their initial enrollment or special enrollment periods. You may be charged a late enrollment penalty to account for the time that you were eligible for coverage and did not enroll in Medicare.
Medicare Supplement Open Enrollment
Medicare Supplement (Medigap) Open Enrollment begins when you are 65 or older and first sign up for Medicare Part B. You have six months to sign up for a Medicare Supplement plan, during which time you will not have to go through medical underwriting. You may still be able to purchase a Medicare Supplement if you are under age 65 and have Medicare due to a disability, but insurance companies are not federally required to sell you a plan unless you are 65; this may vary by state.
