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Costly Medicare Mistakes to Avoid Part 1

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You know how important your health insurance is, but the amount of information on Medicare is overwhelming. You don’t want to miss a deadline or enroll in the wrong plan. What if your doctor isn’t covered? Do you need a drug plan? 

Healthcare costs consistently rank among the highest household expenses. However, choosing a health plan is often complicated and confusing. 

This series will look at costly mistakes to avoid when you are new to Medicare. 

Medicare Mistake: Missing your Initial Enrollment Period

If you’ve received Social Security or Railroad Retiree benefits for the prior four months, you’ll typically be enrolled automatically in Medicare Part A and Part B when you turn 65. In this case, you’ll need to let Medicare know if you want to postpone your Medicare enrollment. 

If you haven’t received Social Security or Railroad Retiree benefits, you must apply for Medicare. Your Initial Enrollment Period lasts for a total of seven months. You will have three months before your 65th birthday, the month of your birthday, and up to three months after your birthday to enroll in Medicare.

Deadline on paper

Impact of enrolling late

If you miss your Initial Enrollment Period, you will have to wait until Medicare’s General Enrollment Period. This enrollment period runs from January 1st to March 31st, and coverage will begin on July 1st. 

In addition, if you miss your Initial Enrollment Period and wish to have health coverage, you will need to enroll in an individual medical plan. These are generally more expensive than Medicare. 

When you enroll in Medicare down the road, you will have to pay a penalty for signing up late. The Part A late enrollment penalty only applies if you have to buy Part A. Learn more about Part A here.

According to Medicare.gov, “If you didn’t get Part B when you’re first eligible, your monthly premium may go up 10% for each 12-month period you could’ve had Part B, but didn’t sign up”.

Avoid this mistake

Missing your Initial Enrollment Period is one of the biggest Medicare mistakes you can easily avoid. We recommend you enroll three months before your 65th birthday to avoid delays in coverage.

There are several options to sign up for Medicare:

You can apply online at Social Security’s website.

You can call 1-800-772-1213. TTY users can call 1-800-325-0778. (If you or your spouse worked for a railroad, call the Railroad Retirement Board at 1-877-772-5772)

You can contact your local Social Security office.

As always, if you have any questions or need help setting up your Medicare, you can reach one of our licensed agents by calling (800) 398-8714.

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We are not connected with or endorsed by the United States government or the federal Medicare program.
We do not offer every plan available in your area. Any information we provide is limited to those plans we do offer in your area. Please contact Medicare.gov or 1-800-MEDICARE to get information on all of your options.