If you’re like me, important Medicare enrollment dates are something you put on your calendar.
I do it because I want to make sure you don’t miss out on any important dates when you can enroll in Medicare or make changes to your current Advantage Plan or Medicare Supplement.
You need to do it because missing an important date can lead to you facing a penalty and paying a higher Medicare premium for the rest of your life.
Critical Medicare Enrollment Dates 2023
If you didn’t enroll in Medicare in time last year, you can sign up for Part B from January 1 to March 31. Signing up during the GEP means you’ll have to pay a Part B late enrollment penalty.
To calculate your Part B penalty, add 10% per year to your regular Part B cost for each full 12-month period you didn’t have credible coverage and didn’t enroll in Part B.
For example, let’s say you chose not to enroll in Part B for four years even though you didn’t have other coverage through an employer or spouse. Add 40% (10% per year x 4 years) to the cost of your monthly premium – for as long as you have Medicare Part B.
Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period: January 1 – March 31
During this open enrollment period you can make changes only if you have a Medicare Advantage Plan. You can switch to a different Medicare Advantage Plan or Original Medicare, with or without drug coverage. You can’t make any changes during this period if you already have Original Medicare.
Annual Notice of Change: September
Private plans (Advantage and Medigap) are required each fall to send you a notice if you’ll have any changes in coverage, cost, or service area. If there are changes, they won’t take effect until January 1 of the following year.
Open Enrollment Period: October 15 – December 7
Medicare Advantage and Part D prescription drug plans begin accepting applications for the upcoming year. After this open enrollment ends, new plans go into effect January 1.
This period is the time to switch plans if you already have an Advantage Plan or Medicare Supplement insurance policy and don’t like it. Keep in mind that if you switch plans, you’ll probably have to undergo medical underwriting since your new plan doesn’t have to issue you a policy because of pre-existing medical conditions.
The agent selling you your new plan must make this clear to you when you apply for coverage.
Flu Season: November – April
Medicare Part B covers 100 percent of the cost of a flu shot once every flu season without a Part B deductible payment requirement.
Don’t forget that Part B also pays 100% for COVID-19 vaccines and shingles vaccines (both shots) in 2023.
For many seniors, the most important of all the Medicare enrollment dates is the Initial Enrollment Period.
Your Initial Enrollment Period (IEP) is the seven-month period, including the three months before, the month of, and the three months after your 65th birthday. During these seven months, you can enroll in Medicare.
For example, if your birthday falls in July, you have the three months before your birthday (April, May, June), the month of your birthday (July), and the three months after your birthday (August, September, October) to enroll in Medicare for the first time.
It’s important to know that your effective date of coverage will either be the first day of your birth month if you enrolled in the three months before it, or the 1st of the following month if you enrolled in your birth month or the three months after it.
Using the July birthday example above, if you enrolled in April-May-June, your effective date of coverage would be July 1. If you enrolled in July-August-September-October, your coverage would begin the first of the month following the day you enrolled.
For example, If you were to sign up for Medicare on August 9th, your coverage would begin September 1.
If you have questions concerning these dates, don’t feel bad. Medicare enrollment dates are confusing. Just drop me your question in the Comment box below or check out Medicare.gov.
Whatever you do, don’t guess when you should enroll. Those late enrollment penalties can get very expensive.
