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Enrolling in Medicare: The Deadlines

Pay attention to these windows of opportunity, or pay a price

by AARP

It’s best to enroll in Medicare during the following seven-month window. This is called your Initial Enrollment Period (IEP):

• Three months before your 65th birthday
• The month of your 65th birthday
• Three months after your 65th birthday

Understanding Medicare

Woman leaning against wall

1. Getting Started
2. Your Eligibility
3. Enrollment Deadlines
4. Medicare Parts A, B, C and D
5. Medigap Insurance
6. What Medicare Will Cost You
7. Your Medicare Checklist

An exception: If you are already receiving Social Security or Railroad Retirement Board benefits, you are automatically enrolled in Original Medicare — Parts A and B. If you want to consider a Medicare Advantage (Part C) plan, check with Medicare about these enrollment opportunities.

You can enroll later if you miss your initial enrollment window, but you may face penalties. The best time to sign up for Medicare is during the three months before your 65th birthday, so everything will be in place and you can begin receiving benefits.

You can sign up for Medicare at your local Social Security office or by applying online at SocialSecurity.gov.

It’s advisable to enroll in the Medicare program during your Initial Enrollment Period, even if you won't be using all, or any, of the program's benefits to begin with. Why?

Your Wellness Exams

If you enroll in Part B, make sure you take advantage of your free "Welcome to Medicare" preventive physical exam within the first 12 months you are enrolled in Medicare.

As a result of provisions in the new health care law, Medicare now offers additional prevention and wellness benefits. After your first year in the Medicare program you will be eligible for an annual wellness visit that may, depending on your needs, include important preventive services such as vaccinations, bone mass density testing and screenings for glaucoma, heart disease, diabetes and cancer.

If when you are first eligible you don’t enroll in Part B or Part D (which are optional and, unlike Part A, involve monthly premiums), and you don’t qualify for an exemption or special enrollment period, you could be charged higher premiums and a late enrollment penalty. Not only that, you might be limited by the times of year in which you can enroll.

For examples of situations in which higher costs were applied, see the AARP Ms. Medicare column about Medicare penalties and the AARP Bulletin article "COBRA Bites Back."

Medigap is an optional, supplemental insurance you can purchase to help pay for some of the health costs Medicare doesn’t cover. The best time to buy a Medigap policy is during your Medigap open enrollment period, which lasts for six months and begins on the first day of the month in which you are both 65 or older and enrolled in Medicare Part B.

During this period, you can buy a Medigap policy without fear of being turned down or charged more because of a past or present health problem. After this six-month period, you may be denied coverage or charged more due to a pre-existing condition. If you join a Medicare Advantage plan, also called Part C, you don’t need and can’t be sold a Medigap policy.

Know Your Windows of Opportunity

Enrolling in Medicare: You will likely pay higher premiums if you don’t sign up for Medicare within the seven-month window that starts three months before your 65th birthday. For instance, if your birthday is May 14, your Medicare effective date is May 1 and your enrollment window runs from Feb. 1 through Aug. 31.

Enrolling in Medigap: The best time period in which to buy this supplemental insurance is within the six-month period that starts on the first day of the month in which you are both 65 or older and enrolled in Medicare Part B. For instance, if you completed your Medicare enrollment in time for your 65th birthday, and your birthday is on May 14, this window runs from your Medicare effective date of May 1 until Oct. 31.

Annual Open Enrollment: Once you are in the Medicare system, you will be able to make changes to your coverage during the annual open enrollment period, which, starting in fall 2011, will run each year from Oct. 15 to Dec. 7.

See "Different Medicare Enrollment Periods" by AARP Bulletin’s Ask Ms. Medicare for more details, including information about a number of exceptions to these and other rules.