One of the most common questions that I get is, how do I enroll in Medicare?
In this blog post, I want to walk you through exactly how you can enroll in Medicare because people waste a ton of time getting these steps wrong. Let’s clarify what you can do to enroll in Medicare Part A and Medicare Part B easily.
It’s critical to remember that joining Medicare Part A and Medicare Part B is the FIRST step of enrolling in Medicare. There are other steps you have to do to also sign up for Medicare.
Now, there are three ways to enroll in Medicare Part A and Medicare Part B.
As a reminder, Medicare Part A is your hospital coverage. Most of you will pay nothing for Medicare Part A.
Medicare Part B is most of your medical coverage, which, as of now, has a standard rate of $144.60 a month.
When you are ready to join Medicare, I am assuming that you are joining Medicare at 65. (Note: If you’re joining Medicare either before 65 or after 65, it’s a different process.)
You Are Auto-Enrolled In Medicare
The only people who are auto-enrolled in Medicare are those who are drawing Social Security four months before their 65th birthday.
These can be Social Security benefits, it can be a widow or a spouse’s or SSDI.
Any of those things will automatically have you enrolled in Medicare.
You’ll receive your card a couple of months before your 65th birthday.
When you get that card on there, it will confirm that you’re so that your Medicare starts the first day of your 65th birthday month.
Enroll in Medicare online via Social Security Account.
If you google “enroll in Medicare online,” you will be directed to the “My Social Security Account” page. On this page, you will need to create a “MySSA” account.
From there, you will be able to enroll in Medicare Part A and Medicare Part B.
Some people cannot enroll online, either because they’ve had identity theft fraud, which has a flag on your Social Security account, or any other glitch that’s happening in this system.
So if you can’t enroll online, that is when you have to enroll through your Social Security Office.
Enroll at your local Social Security Office
You can either go to the office if they’re open and give them the piece of paper to enroll, or you can fax it to them as well.
With all that said, there are three different ways to enroll in Medicare; one is automatic, two is online, and third, the last resort is doing it at the Social Security office.
Remember, just because you have Medicare Part A and Medicare Part B, that’s fantastic, but you ARE NOT DONE. There are other programs pick from like Medicare Advantage, Medicare supplement plans, Medicare Part D, all of those things you have to do to enroll in Medicare completely.
To easily make the right Medicare decision the first time, you can CLICK HERE to sign up for our Medicare Enrollment Concierge.
