65Delco 65Medicare in plain English for Delaware County

Turning 65: your Medicare checklist

Medicare has a seven-month window around your 65th birthday. Here's what to do, roughly in order. Most of it takes an afternoon.

Month by month

  1. About 6 months before your birthday month. Make lists: your doctors, your prescriptions (with doses), your pharmacy, and whether you travel or spend winters away. These lists drive every choice that follows. If you contribute to a Health Savings Account, plan to stop: once Medicare starts you can't contribute, and Part A can be backdated up to six months when you sign up after 65.
  2. 3 months before your birthday month: your window opens. Already getting Social Security? You're signed up for Parts A and B automatically, and your red-white-and-blue card arrives in the mail about three months before you turn 65. Not getting Social Security yet? Sign up at ssa.gov/medicare or call Social Security at 1-800-772-1213.
  3. Choose your path. Original Medicare (usually with a Medigap policy and a Part D drug plan), or a Medicare Advantage plan. See them side by side.
  4. Your birthday month and the 3 months after. The window is still open, but signing up late in it can mean a gap before coverage starts. Don't wait for the last month.

Still working at 65?

Employer with 20 or more employees

Your job's insurance pays first, so you can usually delay Part B (and its premium) without a penalty. When the job or coverage ends, you get an 8-month Special Enrollment Period to sign up. Many people still take premium-free Part A.

Employer with fewer than 20 employees

Medicare usually pays first, so you generally need Parts A and B at 65. Ask your benefits office in writing, and keep their answer.

COBRA and retiree coverage don't count as coverage from current work. If that's what you'll have, sign up for Part B during your window.

Penalties to avoid

Part B late penalty

10% added to your Part B premium for each full 12 months you could have had Part B and didn't, for as long as you have Part B (unless you had coverage from current work).

Part D late penalty

If you go 63 days or more without Part D or other drug coverage that's as good ("creditable"), a penalty is added to your drug premium for as long as you have Part D. Your employer or union can tell you if your coverage is creditable.

Bring these to your first conversation

Free counselors at PA MEDI will go through this with you: find them here.