What happens when you sign up late for Medicare?

[Mack]

If you miss your enrollment period for Part B you will have to wait for the general enrollment period from Jan 1st to March 31st, and your coverage won't start until July 1st.

You will also have to pay a late penalty of an extra 10% for your Part B premium for each 12 month period that you delayed in signing up. This penalty is permanent.

You will also only only be able to enroll in Part D during the open enrollment period from Oct 15th to Dec 7th, and your coverage will begin Jan 1st.

 

[gregl]

You may be charged Part D premium penalty, if you didn't enroll when you first become eligible and choose to enroll at a later date.

The premium penalty will be 1% for every month you delay enrollment based on the average national beneficiary premium. For example, the average national beneficiary premium for 2011 is $32.34. Therefore, if you've delayed enrollment for 6 months, your monthly premium penalty will be $0.3234 x 6 = $1.94. This amount will be added to your plan monthly premium.

 

[JohnJohnson]

Great topic. Very helpful information. Thanks so much. I definitely want to avoid the penalties.

 

[jjfeld]

bit of a problem here with signing up late. I am currently on my wife's anthem Blue cross plan but it will end March 1st. We have records for last 2 years but before that she worked for chase bank since I was 65 but 3 insurance companies were involved since the other two went bankrupt. The bank gave up the paperwork and it was filed away years ago but now my wife cannot find them so all I have unless she can reload from the bank is the Blue Cross proof.
Now I am worried that for some reason I cannot provide acceptable proof then I will be penalized for however it works on the years I was on her family plan from Chase.
I wonder if anyone else had this problem and how they dealt with it.

---

am 74 now and have been signed up on wife's insurance since 65, the last two years with Anthem Blue Cross. We have the paperwork for the last two years but cannot find when she worked at JPMorgan Chase when I was 65. Will try to go to them to see if they still have the information we need but I am worried that if this is not resolved I will be penalized when I sign up before March 1st when the Blue Cross runs out.

Anyone else ever have this problem?

 

[Charles R Schroeder]

If you miss your enrollment period for Part B you will have to wait for the general enrollment period from Jan 1st to March 31st, and your coverage won't start until July 1st.

You will also have to pay a late penalty of an extra 10% for your Part B premium for each 12 month period that you delayed in signing up. This penalty is permanent.

You will also only only be able to enroll in Part D during the open enrollment period from Oct 15th to Dec 7th, and your coverage will begin Jan 1st.

I delayed enrolling in Medicare Part B, thinking, erroneously, that because I am paying and receiving the exact health coverage under COBRA that I received when I was employed, I would not have to enroll in Medicare Part B until my COBRA expired. COBRA-qualified beneficiaries who have delayed enrollment in Medicare Part B do not qualify for a special enrollment period (SEP) to enroll in Part B after their COBRA coverage ends but more importantly COBRA is not considered "creditable" coverage. The definition I found is 'Creditable coverage is health insurance, prescription drug, or other health benefit plan that meets a minimum set of qualifications. Types of creditable coverage plans include group health plans, individual health plans, student health plans, as well as a variety of government-sponsored or government-provided plans. Creditable coverage is used to determine coverage and costs associated with pre-existing conditions, and whether policyholders have to pay late enrollment penalties.' There no definition of why COBRA is not creditable other than it is not. There is mention of needing to be employed/working but I cannot make the connection since I have the exact same coverage with the exact benefits under COBRA yet it is NOT creditable. I have been paying the full amount since February 2018 and it is very creditable. Please help me understand as I cannot be the only person with this question.