Every year, there are certain times when y'all can sign up for Medicare coverage or brand changes to the coverage yous already have.

These enrollment periods happen at the same times each year and let multiple chances to evaluate your healthcare coverage.

Go along reading to learn more about specific Medicare enrollment periods, including the changes you can make and when your new coverage begins.

In the months before and afterwards your 65th birthday, you have a 7-month initial enrollment period to sign upwardly for Medicare Part A (infirmary insurance) and Medicare Part B (medical insurance). This period includes:

  • iii months before your 65th birthday calendar month
  • the month of your 65th altogether
  • iii months later your 65th birthday month

For instance, if your birthday is August 29, 1957, your initial enrollment period runs from May 1, 2022, through November 30, 2022.

If you miss the 7-month window of your initial enrollment menstruation, you may have an opportunity to sign upwardly for Medicare during a special enrollment period (SEP). Yous may be eligible for a SEP if:

  • Through your current employment, y'all're covered under a group health plan, allowing you to sign up someday exterior of your initial enrollment period for Medicare parts A and/or B. Y'all qualify for this SEP if y'all or your spouse (or, if you are disabled, a family member) is working and, based on that piece of work, you're covered by a group health plan through the employer.
  • Your employment or the group health plan from that electric current employment ends, in which case you have an 8-month SEP starting the month following those terminations. COBRA and retiree health plans are not considered coverage based on current employment, so you're non eligible for a SEP when that coverage ends.
  • You have a health savings account (HSA) with a high-deductible wellness plan that is based on your or your spouse's employment. Although you can withdraw money from your HSA after enrolling in Medicare, you should stop contributing to your HSA a minimum of 6 months prior to applying for Medicare.
  • You're a volunteer serving in a strange country, for which yous may qualify for a SEP for Medicare Function A or Part B.

Every twelvemonth from October 15 to December vii, an open up enrollment makes it possible to alter coverage within Medicare. For instance, you lot can:

  • change from original Medicare (parts A and B) to a Medicare Advantage (Function C) plan
  • change from a Medicare Advantage programme to original Medicare
  • bring together, drib, or switch Part D (prescription drug plan)
  • switch from 1 Medicare Advantage plan to another

If you make changes to your Medicare coverage during the annual open enrollment, your old coverage will end and your new coverage volition start on January 1 of the following year.

This means if y'all made a modify on November 3, 2021, that change will take upshot on January one, 2022.

If you sign up for Medicare Part A and Medicare Office B during your initial enrollment period'south outset 3 months, your coverage volition start on the first day of your birthday month.

  • Example: If your 65th birthday is June 27, 2022, and you sign upwardly for Medicare in March, Apr, or May 2022, your coverage volition begin on June i, 2022.

If your birthday falls on the kickoff day of the month, your coverage starts on the outset day of the month earlier your birthday month.

  • Instance: If your 65th altogether is September one, 2022, and y'all sign up for Medicare in May, June, or July 2022, your coverage will begin on Baronial 1, 2022.

If you practise not sign upwards for Medicare parts A and B during your initial enrollment period, hither are some examples of when your coverage will start based on when you lot sign up:

  • If y'all sign upwardly in the month of your 65th birthday, your coverage volition outset 1 month after you lot sign upward.
  • If y'all sign up in the month after your 65th altogether month, your coverage will commencement 2 months subsequently you sign up.
  • If you sign upwardly 2 months after your 65th altogether month, your coverage will start 3 months later on you sign up.
  • If you sign up 3 months afterward your 65th altogether month, your coverage will start 3 months later on you lot sign upwardly.

There are four main Medicare sign upwards periods:

  1. Initial enrollment period: a 7-calendar month period outset 3 months before your 65th birthday calendar month and including your 65th birthday month through iii months subsequently your 65th birthday month
  2. Special enrollment menstruation: based on circumstances such as an employer-based group wellness plan or volunteering in a foreign land
  3. General enrollment menstruum: January through March every year for people who missed their initial enrollment menses
  4. Open up enrollment menstruation: mid-October through early December, for people needing to alter coverage within Medicare