Enrolling at the time that's right for you is critical. If you don't, you risk late penalties, in the form of surcharges added to your premiums for all future years, and delays of several months before coverage kicks in. If you have health coverage, beyond age 65, from an employer for whom you (or your spouse) actively work, and the employer has 20 or more workers, you can delay Part B enrollment without penalty until the employment ends. Otherwise, you need to sign up during your seven-month initial enrollment period, of which the fourth month is the one in which you turn 65.
Part B is optional, but you should carefully check with your retiree plan to see how it fits in with Medicare. In many such plans, Medicare automatically becomes primary coverage and the plan pays only for a few services that Medicare doesn't cover. So if you fail to sign up for Part B when you're required to, you'll essentially have no coverage.
Full retirement age for most people is now 66. But to avoid late penalties you need to sign up for Medicare at age 65, unless you have health coverage from your own or your spouse's current employment. You don't need to be collecting government retirement benefits to enroll in Medicare.
Why pay Part D premiums if you need no medicines? Because you don't have a crystal ball and can't be sure that you won't get some unforeseen illness or injury that takes expensive drugs to treat. (Some cancer drugs cost thousands of dollars a month.) Part D, like all insurance, provides coverage when you need it, but doesn't allow you to wait to sign up until the need becomes urgent. One solution (if you don't have drug coverage from elsewhere): Pick the plan with the lowest premium, so you get coverage at the least cost.
The best way to pick a plan is according to the specific drugs you take, because Part D plans do not cover all drugs and they charge widely differing copays, even for the same drug. You can compare coverage and costs for your own drugs among different plans by using the plan finder program on Medicare's website or by calling Medicare at 800-633-4227.
Next page: Misunderstanding enrollment periods. »
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