Can I Wait Till The Last Few Days Of My Enrollment, Without Penalty?

[Josephat]

I want to delay filing for Medicare until the last few days prior to the final date of my Initial Enrollment period. I have until November 30, and will file about November 25th. Is this going to cause me any grief? Penalties? Longer delays? I am so healthy it's disgusting. Fully employed, and will be for at least 5 years. I don't want or need any 'help' from government, Doctors, Hospitals or other indispensable entities, according to most others. Can I file on November 25th online and suffer no harm, in any way?

Thank you.

 

[MBSC]

Not everyone is eligible to enroll online. For instance, I just had a case where the person assumed they could enroll online but was born on a U.S. military base overseas. Fortunately, she had enough time to collect her birth certificate and citizenship document and go to the local Social Security office to enroll in Medicare in person.

If November is the 3rd month after your 65th birthday, Part B will start 2/1/19 regardless of what day in November you enroll. Part B starts the first day of the third month after sign-up. Part A will be retroactive to the first day of your birth month.

The grief would be finding out you can't enroll online and having to enroll in person during the last week of the month, which is usually very busy. There is no penalty as long as the enrollment is completed by the end of November.

If you currently have group health insurance through employment, that plan may be primary to Medicare. If so, you can delay Medicare enrollment without penalty until you leave the company. Check with the HR department for more details.