When to start medicare application
When to Enroll in Medicare | Medicare Initial Enrollment Period
not sure when to enroll in Medicare in
this video I'll discuss when you should
enroll in Medicare depending on whether
you're still working and have other
coverage or whether Medicare will be
your primary coverage hi there if we
haven't met yet I'm Danielle Roberts
co-founder here at boomer benefits and a
member of the Forbes Finance Council I
share my best tips about Medicare here
on our youtube channel so be sure to
subscribe to our channel so that you'll
be notified when we post new videos if
you are turning 65 soon and you aren't
sure when to enroll in Medicare
stay tuned every year my team and I help
thousands of people with their Medicare
enrollment decisions and I'm confident
that we can help you too by the end of
this video you'll know the best time for
you to sign up so when should you enroll
in Medicare the answer depends on
whether you have other active health
insurance let's start with people who
have retired and have left their
employer coverage so if you don't have
other coverage and Medicare will be your
primary insurance you want to enroll in
both Medicare Parts A and B during your
initial enrollment period this period
lasts for seven months
it begins three months prior to your
65th birthday month runs through that
month and then extends three months
afterward as long as you enroll in both
a and B at this time you'll face no late
penalties although Medicare gives you a
seven month window for this we strongly
recommend that you apply prior to your
birthday so that your benefits will
begin on the first of the month in which
you turn 65 the reason is that if you
apply after your birthday your coverage
will have a delayed start date of up to
three months after you apply and this
could leave you without coverage in
between I should also mention two
additional points number one if you're
already taking Social Security income
benefits before you turn 65 Medicare
will assume that you've retired and
they're going to auto enroll you into
Medicare your card will just arrive in
your mailbox shortly before you turn 65
number two if you happen to have a
birthday on the 1st of the month your
coverage will actually start the month
prior so for example if you're born on
May 1st and you apply for Medicare in
the three months before you turn 65 your
benefits will begin on April 1st so that
covers people who are turning 65 with no
other coverage but what if you do have
other cover
if you're working for a small employer
with less than 20 employees Medicare
will still be your primary coverage so
you'll want to enroll in both a and B
during your initial enrollment period
failure to do so could result in your
paying for 80% of your outpatient
expenses even worse you'll be subject to
a late enrollment penalty later when you
finally do enroll in Medicare people
with TRICARE or with retiree coverage
should also enroll in Parts A and B at
65 because Medicare is primary in both
of those situations and your other
coverage is secondary lastly some of you
out there will be turning 65 while
you're still working at an employer with
more than 20 employees you'll have some
decisions to make about when you should
enroll because your employer coverage is
primary you can enroll in Parts A and/or
B to coordinate with that coverage most
people do enroll in Part A because it
doesn't cost you anything if you or your
spouse has been working in paying FICA
taxes for at least 10 years it doesn't
hurt to enroll in Part A and let it
coordinate with your group coverage it
could reduce hospital spending if you
have a hospital stay
however since Part B and D have monthly
premiums and your group coverage already
provides outpatient and drug benefits
you could delay those until you retire
you'll have a special election period at
that time to enroll in Part B and D and
whatever supplemental coverage you
ultimately choose now you also have the
option of leaving your employer coverage
while you're still working and electing
Medicare as your primary insurance
instead here at our agency we get lots
of phone calls from people in this
situation who want us to compare their
employer benefits and the cost of that
against the cost of Medicare with
supplemental insurance I would say that
about half the time it makes sense to
stay with your employer coverage and
delay your enrollment into Medicare
however there are many times we run the
numbers and we find that someone has
employer insurance which is either
really expensive or may have a very high
deductible and in some of those
scenarios it makes sense to elect
Medicare instead as your primary
coverage we're happy to help you assess
this at no charge one caveat for people
still working at a large employer if
your employer insurance is a high
deductible plan and you are contributing
to a health savings account then you
want to delay enrollment into all parts
of Medicare
it is not legal for you to continue
contributing into an HSA when you have
another form of insurance including any
part of Medicare now you know when to
enroll in Medicare so that you can avoid
penalties but what about how to sign up
and where you should apply I invite you
to attend one of our free noona medicare
webinars will recover all of this in
detail you can find a link to register
below this video if you liked this video
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and we'll see you in a future video
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