Who we help
Turning 65
Seven months, two decisions, and one rule about supplements that nobody tells you until it is too late.
When does my window open, and should I take Part B now?
Turning 65 is the only time in this whole system when a door opens on a schedule rather than after something goes wrong. Your Initial Enrollment Period runs for seven months: the three months before your birthday month, the birthday month itself, and the three months after. When you enrol inside that window decides when coverage starts.
The first real decision is whether to take Part B now. If you are still working and covered by an employer group plan with 20 or more employees, you can usually delay Part B without penalty and take a Special Enrollment Period when that coverage ends. If the employer has fewer than 20 employees, Medicare generally pays first and delaying is usually a mistake. Retiree coverage and COBRA are not the same as active employer coverage for this purpose, and people get caught by that difference every year.
The second decision is structure: a Medicare Advantage plan, or Original Medicare plus a supplement and a standalone Part D plan. This is where the six-month Medigap open-enrolment window matters. Inside it you can buy any supplement without health questions. After it, in Florida, a carrier can underwrite you and say no. That does not make Advantage the wrong answer, but it means the decision is less reversible than it looks.
The order to do this in
- Six months outConfirm your Social Security and Medicare eligibility, and decide whether you are delaying Part B because of active employer coverage. Get the employer's written confirmation that the plan is creditable.
- Three months outYour IEP opens. Enrol in Parts A and B unless you are deliberately delaying. Coverage will start on the first day of your birthday month if you act in these three months.
- Two months outBuild the two lists: the doctors you will not change, and every prescription with dose and frequency. Everything downstream is decided by these.
- One month outCompare an Advantage plan against a supplement plus Part D, using your two lists and your travel pattern. Decide, and understand what the decision costs to reverse.
- Birthday monthYour Medigap open-enrolment window opens the first month you are 65 and enrolled in Part B, and runs six months. This is the only guaranteed-issue period you get.
- The following autumnReview in the Annual Enrollment Period, 15 October to 7 December. Formularies and networks change annually; the plan that fit last year may not fit this one.
What we check before naming a plan
- Are you still covered by active employer coverage with 20 or more employees?
- Is your employer drug coverage creditable, in writing?
- Do you have an HSA? Contributions must stop before Part A begins, and Part A can backdate six months.
- Do you split the year between states, or travel for months at a time?
- Are any of your prescriptions brand-name with no generic equivalent?
- Do you have a specialist relationship you would not give up for a network?
Where this goes wrong
Assuming COBRA counts as active coverage
It does not, for the purpose of delaying Part B without penalty. Neither does most retiree coverage. This is the single most expensive misunderstanding in Medicare.
Letting the Medigap window lapse
Six months from your Part B start, once. People choose an Advantage plan without being told that going back to a supplement later may require passing underwriting.
Skipping Part D because you take nothing
The late-enrolment penalty is permanent and recalculates annually. A low-premium plan now is cheap insurance against that.
Contributing to an HSA after Part A starts
Part A enrolment can backdate up to six months, which can make recent HSA contributions excess contributions. Stop them in good time.
The coverage lines that usually apply
Medicare Advantage (Part C)
Network plans from private carriers that bundle Parts A and B, usually Part D, and often dental, vision and hearing.
Compare coverage
Medicare Supplement (Medigap)
Standardised policies that pay the deductibles and coinsurance Original Medicare leaves behind, with no network at all.
Compare coverage
Part D prescription drug cover
Standalone drug plans, formulary tiers, the coverage stages, and the penalty for waiting.
Compare coverage
Dental, vision and hearing
Standalone cover for the three things Original Medicare does not pay for at all.
Compare coverage
Questions at this stage
Yes. If you were born on the first, Medicare treats you as eligible the month before, which shifts your entire seven-month window one month earlier. Our calculator handles that case.
If your employer has 20 or more employees and the plan is creditable, you can usually delay Part B and enrol later through a Special Enrollment Period. Get the creditable-coverage letter each year and keep it.
No. They are separate decisions with different optimal timing. Our Social Security page covers claiming age, and delaying Social Security does not delay Medicare.
Nothing. We are compensated by the carriers whose plans we place. Your premium is the filed rate whether you enrol with us or on your own.
Call and ask us anything. Nothing is sold on the phone.
Twenty minutes with someone who will ask for your doctor list before naming a plan. If the right answer is the plan you already have, that is what you will hear.
(727) 555-0241Mon - Thu 8:30 am - 5:30 pm · Friday 8:30 am - 3:00 pm · TTY 711 · Se habla español
No cost to you, ever. We are compensated by carriers, not by the people we advise.