Initial Enrollment Period
The Medicare rules give you certain windows of time to sign up for,
change or drop the different parts of Medicare. Initial enrollment is the period
during which you are first eligible to sign up for Medicare. Choosing your coverage
options during this period is very important because certain rules only apply at this time.
For instance, applicants cannot be turned down for health reasons when
applying. When you first become eligible for hospital insurance (Part A), you have
a seven-month period (your initial enrollment period) in which to sign up for medical
insurance (Part B). A delay on your part will cause a delay in coverage and result
in higher premiums.
If you are eligible at age 65, your initial enrollment period begins three months
before your 65th birthday, includes the month you turn age 65 and ends three months
after that birthday. As an example of how this window works: assume that you become eligible, or turn
65, in May 2010. In that situation, your initial enrollment period would run from
February 2010 to August 2010.
If you are eligible for Medicare based on disability or permanent
kidney failure, your initial enrollment period depends on the date your disability
or treatment began. Specifically, you become eligible at the 25th month of your
receiving SSDI (Social Security Disability Insurance.) As with applicants who are
turning 65, your initial enroll period runs from three months before the month of
eligibility to three months.
This Web site is intended for general information purposes only. It does not nor is it intended to constitute legal, tax or investment advice. United Financial Systems, Corporation is not a lawyer, registered investment advisor or investment advisor representative, and is not engaged in the practice of law or the business of investment advice.