Timing Your Enrollment for Medicare’s Part A & B is a very important first step before even thinking about Medicare supplement or prescription insurance….
When Should I Contact Social Security to Sign Up for Part A andPart B? During this past week, I’ve had two cases where enrollment in Part A and Part B required important timing steps in order to meet the requested Medicare coverage dates for both clients.
CASE STUDY: Client A turns age 65 in February 2012. Client B(spouse) turns age 65 in April 2012. The Clients requested Medicare coverage to begin on May 1st. In order for this to occur, client A (Husband) needs to sign up for Part A (Hospital) in February, and wait to sign up for Part B (Doctors) in March. Since both are signing up for Medicare during their IEP (initial election Period) which is a 7 month period beginning 3 months prior to their 65th birth month, and 3 months after,).. their Part A (Hospital) effective date will be the first day of their 65th birthday month, but both of them want Part B’s effective date to occur on May 1st . Achieving this goal will depend on when they apply for Part B due to the coverage delay rules for Part B.
In order for both of them to have the same May 1, 2012 Medicareeffective coverage for Part B (doctors), and avoid premium duplication with their group coverage which will end on May 1st, Client A (Husband) will need to sign up for Part A (Hospital) during February, and then wait to sign up for Part B (Doctors) in March. And, client B (spouse) will need to sign up for both Part A and Part B in April of her 65th birth month.
If one signs up for Part B (doctors) during their 65th birthday month, there will be a delay of one month before Part B is effective. If one signs up during the second month following their 65th birthday, there will be a two month delay before Part B is effective. Or if one waits to sign up for Part B in the third month, there will be a three month delay. (review the example in the attachment).
Bottom line: Even though enrollment for Part A and Part B areavailable on line, I always recommend that each client make an appointment with their local Social Security office at least two months prior to their 65th birthday, to make sure that their effective coverage dates will co-inside with the last day of coverage upon leaving their group or individual private medical insurance.
Or, if all this gave you a headache, call THE MEDICARE COACH..that’s me and I’ll figure it out for you. Fortunately the clients were referred to me by one of my Associates and I was able to be on top of it. A conference call has been scheduled for this afternoon to make sure that our clients follow all of the Part A and B enrollment timing steps to insure that they get the effective coverage dates as requested.
This situation will occur if both spouses turn age 65 during the sameIEP (initial Election periods) 3 months prior to their 65th or 3 months after, and want to have the same effective dates for their Part B coverage.
Coach
