Turning 65? Here’s how to get Medicare right.

Turning 65 is the start of your Medicare journey. The choices you make in your first enrollment can affect your costs and your options for years, so it pays to plan ahead.

Your Initial Enrollment Period

Your Initial Enrollment Period lasts seven months. It begins three months before the month you turn 65, includes your birthday month, and ends three months after. Signing up in the months before your birthday month means your coverage can start on the first day of the month you turn 65.

Are you enrolled automatically?

If you already receive Social Security or Railroad Retirement benefits, you’ll usually be enrolled in Parts A and B automatically and receive your Medicare card in the mail. If not, you sign up through Social Security.

Still working at 65?

If you or your spouse are still working and covered by an employer health plan, you may be able to delay Part B without a penalty. The rules depend on the size of the employer, so check before you decide. If you have a health savings account, contributions must stop once your Medicare coverage begins.

Avoiding late penalties

If you don’t sign up for Part B when you’re first eligible and don’t have qualifying coverage, you may pay a penalty of 10% for each full 12-month period you could have had Part B, for as long as you have it. Part D has its own late enrollment penalty too.

Choosing how to get your coverage

Once you have Parts A and B, you choose how to fill the gaps:

• Medicare Supplement plus Part D: any doctor who accepts Medicare and predictable costs.
• Medicare Advantage: an all-in-one plan, often with drug coverage and extra benefits, usually with a network.

Read What happens to your health insurance when you turn 65 for more.

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