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If you’re now eligible, sign up as soon as you are able. You can also make use of enrollment periods when you experience a qualifying life event or need to renew your contract, switch plans, or drop your coverage.
Enroll When You’re First Able
The best time to sign up for Medicare is when you first become eligible for Medicare coverage.
If you are a senior, this will begin with your Initial Enrollment Period. Your personal initial enrollment period starts three months before the month of your 65th birthday. From that point until three months after your birthday month, you can enroll in Medicare by making an appointment to visit your local Social Security office, calling Medicare directly, or applying on the Medicare website.
When you sign up for Medicare in the three months before your birthday month, your coverage begins on the first day of your birthday month (or the first day of the month before if your birthday is on the 1st). Signing up during your birthday month means your coverage will begin one month later, and signing up in the three months after means your coverage will be delayed by at least one month from when you sign up.
The reason you should sign up for Medicare coverage when you first have the opportunity to is that Medicare Part B and Part D have late enrollment penalties. Medicare charges you these fees, which are added to your monthly premium, based on the length of time that you went without coverage while you were eligible. The Part B late enrollment penalty lasts for the lifetime of your coverage.
Enroll When You’re Eligible to Change Coverage
Certain life events give you the opportunity to sign up for a new Medicare plan. Some of these include:
- Losing existing health coverage
- Losing eligibility or becoming eligible for Medicaid
- Moving out of your plan’s coverage area
- Moving back to the U.S. after living outside the country
- Leaving or moving into an institution
- Leaving coverage from an employer or union
- Losing creditable drug coverage
- Dropping or enrolling in Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) coverage
- You have a chance to enroll in other coverage offered by your employer or union
- Medicare takes action against or terminates your plan
- Within the first 12 months of your first Medigap or Medicare Advantage plan, you decide to drop the plan for its alternative coverage
- There’s a Special Needs Plan that now suits your needs or you no longer meet the requirements for your Special Needs Plan
- And more
When one of these circumstances applies to you, you qualify for a special enrollment period. For example, if you are losing employer coverage, you have eight months to sign up for Medicare once you lose coverage or are no longer employed by the company, whichever comes first.
If you already are enrolled in a Medicare plan but encounter one of these life events, you have the opportunity to search for a new plan which covers your area.
Enroll Every Year in a Medicare Advantage or Medicare Part D Plan
One reason you may be enrolling in a Medicare plan is because you have signed up for a Medicare Advantage or Medicare Part D plan. These Medicare plans have yearly contracts, and during the Annual Enrollment Period each fall, you can renew your plan contract, switch to a different plan, or drop that coverage.
Do you have more questions about when to sign up for Medicare? Contact Insured for Life today for all the answers.
