I hope you had a wonderful Holiday Season.I thought I would give a few reminders on some Medicare rules.

January 1 - March 31 is the General Enrollment Period for Medicare. This is a time for anyone who is not on Medicare, but is eligible, to enroll. It’s possible you delayed getting on Medicare because you didn’t want to pay the premium for Part B or you were using VA benefits and thought that would be enough. If this sounds like your situation, you are able to enroll in Medicare during the General Enrollment Period. Remember, you will likely have a Late Enrollment Penalty for delaying enrollment in Parts A, B and D.

If you delayed enrollment in Medicare and are worried about the Late Enrollment Penalty, please note that the longer you put off enrolling in Medicare, the larger the penalty grows. Please call me to help understand how this penalty works.

The first quarter of the year is also the Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period. This is a time when folks who started the year on a Medicare Advantage Plan can make a one time plan change. Here are some examples of why you might take advantage of this time period. If you switched plans and your MD no longer takes the plan you switched to, you can change to another Medicare Advantage Plan that your MD does accept. If you heard about another insurance company who had benefits that were appealing to you, you could make a change. You can also leave a Medicare Advantage Plan and go to Original Medicare, add a Prescription Drug Plan, and if you’d like, also add a Medicare Supplement.

A lot of times we think we are stuck in our plan but there is a little bit of grace for Medicare Advantage Plan enrollees in this first quarter of the year.

If you have questions, please reach out. I can help.