Medicare Enrollment Starts Three Months Before a Person Turns 65

It’s a good idea to know when to apply for Medicare. It saves the hassle of scrambling later.

“If you are not getting Social Security benefits, then before you turn 65, you need to apply for Medicare. It is not, contrary to popular opinion, an automatic enrolment,” indicated Richard Cantu with Medicare supplements resource, GoMedigap.com. The preliminary enrollment period for Medicare actually begins three months before a person turns 65 and includes their birth month and end three months after that month. While that may sounds confusing, it is easily clarified by contacting a local Medicare health insurance agent.

“If by chance you are still working, and in this day and age that is far more common that it used to be, you may not need to enroll in Part B when you hit age 65. Here is how that works. If your employer has over 20 workers and offers group insurance that you are participating in, your primary medical cover is your work health insurance. That then means Medicare would play a secondary role,” Cantu explained.

Ultimately, that would mean being able to delay enrolling in Part B until (if and when) employer coverage is lost. “Basically, that avoids duplication of Part B cover and paying Part B premiums. However, don’t assume anything here. Always check if that is the right thing to do, as things in health care are changing so rapidly these days, it’s easy to miss something,” he added.

What if a person does not qualify for Medicare because they did not work the required number of years at a company that offered Medicare covered employment? In cases like that, the worker may opt to buy into Medicare. For example, Part A’s 2010 monthly premium would be about $461 if there were less than 30 quarters of Medicare covered work. For those who had 30 to 39 quarters covered, they would pay roughly $254 a month. For Part B cover, the monthly payments would start at $96.40 and could go as high as $353.60; something that is solely dependent on Medicare means testing.

“There are a number of other ins and outs that you would need to know when dealing with initial enrollment periods versus general open enrollment and how penalties may be assessed for delaying enrollment in Part B for every year they delay enrolling. Typically, these issues are things that are best discussed either in person or on the phone, and I’d be happy to help anyone who has questions,” suggested Cantu.

To learn more about Medicare, Medicare supplements, or Medicare supplement insurance visit http://www.gomedigap.com.

Tagged with: , ,