How To Sign Up for Medicare & When (step-by-step)

now how do I sign up for Medicare and when I'm going to walk you through this step by step are you just getting started in researching Medicare and you need to know how to apply for Medicare when you can apply for Medicare or even how to delay your Medicare enrollment this video covers all of that and includes changes in enrollment made during the pandemic as well as changes implemented in 2023. so stay with me hi I'm Matthew Claussen with medigapseminars.org we are an independent insurance broker helping people with their Medicare and retirement needs in 49 states from Hawaii to Virginia and Alaska down to the Florida Keys we are a true independent insurance broker and that means we work with all of the major insurance companies and offer all Medicare supplement plans we also offer the prescription drug plans and Medicare Advantage plans from coast to coast most of all we represent your best interest not that of any insurance company and our services are free to you the consumer check out our five star ratings and then contact us you'll be glad you did so question of the day how do I sign up for Medicare and when as soon as you turn 64 years of age you should start researching Medicare the first step is to learn how to apply for Medicare and when to sign up for Medicare you'll also need to know whether you can qualify to sign up for Medicare online or are qualified to delay your Medicare without penalty so let's start with the easy part first there are two groups of people who will automatically be enrolled in Medicare everyone else will need to apply for Medicare coverage the first group are those under 65 and on Social Security disability income your Medicare enrollment will be automatic on the 25th month of receiving that income the second group includes those who are not disabled but decided to start taking their social security income early before the age of 65. if you've been receiving your social security income for at least four months prior to the month that you turn 65 you too will be automatically enrolled in Medicare in either case you'll be provided with the option to opt out if you choose there will be an opt-out card in your welcome packet from Medicare everyone else must physically enroll in Medicare to receive benefits what I'm going to cover first is how and then when to enroll now I've also created a clickable menu system in the video information box that's below and I'm going to display it on one side or the other here on occasion display the menu so that those watching on TV can see it and move backward and forwards as they choose I'd like to watch my YouTube on TV and there's no access to the information that we have down below so let's start with what is Medicare of course we cannot discuss how to sign up for Medicare without using some of medicare's terminology so let's start by briefly reviewing what you need to know about Medicare to answer the question what is Medicare when you apply for Medicare you will receive a red white and blue card as proof of your enrollment and no my name's not John Doe and this though shows your enrollment in both Medicare part A and or Medicare Part B and we'll cover Medicare part A and B very shortly one of the most confusing features of Medicare is the terminology Medicare is made up of parts and those parts are referred to by a letter the Medicare part A is inpatient coverage Medicare Part B is outpatient services and there's Medicare Part D for prescriptions there's also a Medicare Part C which is more commonly known as a Medicare Advantage plan that's a privatized replacement of Medicare Parts A and B and that's important part C Medicare Advantage plan replaces part A and B and part C again is known as a Medicare Advantage plan so in this video we will focus solely on applying for Medicare part A and Part B also known as original Medicare your prescription drug coverage is separate and I have details on your part D prescription drug coverage at my website Part D shopper.com Medicare part A is your inpatient coverage it is the part of Medicare that helps you pay for your care whenever you are an inpatient in a hospital or other medical facility now I'm sure as you've worked over the years you've noticed that Medicare payroll tax deduction on your paycheck that tax deduction has paid for your Medicare part A if you or your spouse have worked for at least 40 quarters during your lifetime and paid that tax for those 40 quarters you're eligible for Medicare part A premium free it's already paid for Medicare Part B is your health insurance for outpatient and physician care any outpatient services and durable equipment are covered under Medicare Part B basically if your health care is not covered under part A it's should be covered under Part B keep in mind medicare's intent is to cover everything that is medically necessary and they rely on your doctor to determine that need Medicare Part B has a monthly premium Now most people will pay the standard monthly premium which changes every year it doesn't always increase in fact the Medicare premium decreased in 2012 and is expected to do so again in 2023. higher income beneficiaries will pay an extra surcharge your Medicare Part B costs the government more than six hundred dollars per month the higher your income the closer you get to paying that full amount I have an entire video and blog on the Medicare surcharge called income related monthly adjustment amount or Irma and I've linked that video description here above my left shoulder and there'll also be a link below you can also find my detailed description of Medicare part A and Bart Part B there as well I will leave you to explore that on your own in order to keep this video brief when you're ready to enroll in Medicare go to the Social Security website Medicare law is a subset of Social Security Law keep in mind you do not have to take social security income to get your Medicare and what I'm about to go through is how to enroll in Medicare alone without enrolling in Social Security here's what's important about your enrollment period And the fact that Medicare part A is already paid for if you are eligible for Medicare part A premium free means you've paid for it from your payroll taxes there's no penalty for late enrollment in part A technically there's no late enrollment in part A and I would get more into that in a moment plus you can enroll in part A only and if you qualify delay Part B indefinitely generally we encourage people to enroll in Medicare part A even if you will delay enrolling in Your Part B your part a cost nothing and it'll work with your other health insurance to increase your insurance coverage we'll have more on that in a moment Medicare Part B however does have a premium and you can be penalized if you do not enroll when you're supposed to unless you're disabled under 65 the earliest your Medicare can start is the first day of the month that you turn 65. Medicare always and only starts on the first day of a month the period of time that you need to enroll in your Medicare is called your Medicare initial enrollment period it's a seven month window includes your 65th birthday month the three calendar months prior to your birthday month and the three calendar months after your birthday month seven months in total there is one exception to the rule there's always an exception if your birthday lands on the first day of a month then your entire enrollment period is moved forward by one month I have an enrollment calculator on my website that I will link here and down below but let's do a quick example an initial enrollment example for example if your birthday is April 20th the first day your Medicare can start is April 1st you can apply for Medicare as early as January 1st three calendar months prior to the start of your Medicare the last day you can apply for Medicare during your initial enrollment period is July 31st the last day of the third month after your birthday month in this example the person applying for Medicare prior to April 1 will have a Medicare start date of April 1. if the application was submitted in April then Medicare will start May 1. if the application is submitted in May it will start June 1 and so on this is new as of 2023. if you saw video or read an article that referenced a Time penalty for enrolling after your birthday month during your initial enrollment period that time period or that time penalty no longer exists as of 2023. so now referring to that one exception that if your birthday was April 1st the first day of the month instead of the 20th then the entire process will move forward by one month your Medicare can start no earlier than March 1. and your initial enrollment period starts the prior December 1st and ends June 30th now as you start this enrollment process please keep in mind that it takes time for Medicare to get that red white and blue card out to you in fact it typically takes about 30 days after you apply to get your card in hand if your Medicare starts before you receive a card no worries your Medicare benefits exist whether you have that card or not everything will simply be rebuilt once you receive your card and of course your Medicare number so now for how to enroll in Medicare to enroll in Medicare you go to ssa.gov stands for socialsecurityadministration.gov so you want ssa.gov forward slash Medicare but before I walk you through this step by step I would like to ask you a favor please please press the like button below if you're watching this on YouTube and please let me know in the comments if you find this information helpful and if you like the menu system so when you like comment and share with this video you're helping me and you're helping YouTube know that this video is worth watching that way other people just like you who also have questions about the Medicare start dates we'll find this video so let's take a look here at the ssa.gov forward slash Medicare it starts with a brief discussion on the parts of Medicare and an even more Brief Review of Medicare supplements and Advantage Plans this time penalty period will be gone or should be gone as of 2023 because that time penalty is gone and what you're looking for is this bright blue button click this if you're enrolling in both Medicare part A and Medicare Part B during your initial enrollment period it's very simple as long as you already have a my socialsecurity.gov access where you check your estimated Social Security income you'll have to create a my Social Security account if you don't already again this does not mean that you're signing up to receive Social Security checks we're not doing that here if you delayed enrolling in Medicare until after your initial enrollment scroll down just a little bit more to already enrolled in Medicare follow these directions if you already have Medicare part A or if you are applying for Part B because you're leaving employment you're retiring but you had delayed Your Part B these instructions are very straightforward forms cms-40b is your application the form l564 is your it's for your employer to sign a testing that you had creditable coverage you fill out part of it and your employer fills out the rest and of course you want them to attest to having creditable coverage so that you are not subject to a latent enrollment penalty it then gives you the information that you need to deliver these forms to the Social Security office so what if you can't get your employer to sign the form l564 that is covered here as well you simply have to go through some extra Hoops to show that you had group health insurance and by the way if you are intending on delaying your Medicare because of employer coverage you should receive from your employer a letter annually attesting to the fact that your employer coverage is creditable now this would be for both Medicare Part D and Part B you should keep a copy of these letters it will help if there's any issues when applying for Medicare so the question will I be penalized for not signing up for Medicare at age 65. if you fail to enroll in Medicare Part B during your initial enrollment period and you do not have creditable coverage you can expect to pay a 10 penalty for every 12 full months that you went without Part B this penalty is to be paid actually with every Part B premium payment for the rest of your life the 12-month countdown starts the day your Medicare would have started if you enrolled when you were supposed to credible coverage is health insurance that Medicare deems to be generally equal to Medicare and equally to to the benefits that you would have received with the Medicare Parts A and B in fact I have a cheat sheet I have a cheat sheet on what is or is not creditable coverage and that's going to be linked below and possibly up there and of course it's on my website so employer group health insurance is generally accepted as credible coverage there's some exceptions we'll cover in a second if you your spouse have employer Group Health Care that you prefer over Medicare you can then delay you can then delay enrolling in Medicare without the risk of a penalty you can delay Medicare indefinitely as long as you have creditable coverage however there are some important rules and some caveats that you must be aware of first creditable coverage can be either yours or your spouse's if you're participating in their insurance second your Group Insurance must be from a group of at least 20 employees if you are 65 or older if the company that you work for has fewer than 20 employees Medicare does not consider it to be creditable and you must enroll in both Medicare part A and Part B if you are under 65 it must be a group of at least a hundred employees third if you retire but your employer provides health care benefits after you stop working those benefits are not considered creditable you have to be actively working fourth Cobra currently Cobra is not creditable coverage that said our industry associations are aggressively working to change that law so that Cobra becomes creditable there's no reason for it not to be but as of this video published date it's not lastly Tricare if you have Tricare for Life along with your Medicare Parts A and B you're all set I have a separate video that you must watch to avoid a serious mistake with your Tricare and that should be linked above and again below so again to ask the question who can delay enrolling in their Medicare Part B the answer is anyone who has credible coverage through their own or their spouse's insurance policy they can delay Medicare Part B indefinitely so let's look at three other questions if you delay Part B because you have employer coverage when can you enroll in Part B how do you do so and do so so that you're not penalized if you lose your employer coverage how long do you have to enroll in Part B before being penalized and what about HSA accounts health savings accounts why is your part a start date important if you have an HSA account now these are the questions that I will be answering here next but first please if you haven't already do press a like on this button that helps spread this video out for others who are looking for answers on their Medicare and if I miss something ask a question below and please let me know if you like the workings of the new menu system that allow you to shortcut right to the subjects you're most interested in thank you in advance for helping me so here's the situation you are over 65 you delayed your Medicare because you preferred your creditable employer coverage how do you start Part B without being penalized easy you can start your part B any month you choose you'll create your own special enrollment period by simply choosing which month to start your Medicare and submitting the application along with that form L6 l564 that I mentioned earlier simply have your employer sign the form or follow the instructions online if you cannot get your employer to sign the form that's it it's that simple so what if you lose your employer coverage or quit first without enrolling in Part B when you're over 65 and you lose your creditable coverage you have eight months to enroll in Part B the eight month period Begins the month after your creditable health plan ends warning this is a big warning the eight-month period refers to Medicare Part B outpatient services you will have only 63 days to enroll in a new Part D prescription drug plan 63 days from the end of that part D coverage um I didn't design this system or all these enrollment periods so don't shoot the messenger what about party if you started your part A when you turned 65 then there's no big deal but if you didn't and you start your part A and it's after you're enrolling in your initial enrollment period so after your initial enrollment period part A has a curveball your Medicare part A start date will be six months retroactive to when you enroll in Part B so if this is October and you want your part B to start in November your part A will start last May 1. six months retroactive to your application if you have an HSA account and you're contributing to your HSA account the retroactive start date of part A can get you into tax trouble you cannot contribute to an HSA account when you have active Medicare and that is why if you are past your initial enrollment period you need to stop contributing to your HSA six months before you'll start your Medicare full-time I also have an HSA cheat sheet hand it over there and that too is going to be linked below it is also on my website and that's going to help you determine you know when do you stop your HSA contributions so there you have it that is what you need to know to sign up for Medicare now it's your turn I make these videos for you to help you make an informed decision please leave me a comment below and let me know what part of this video that you found most informative if you like this video share it I would love to see this shared on social media and if you have a question that I did not answer ask it below and I'll do my best to respond I'm Matthew Claussen with medigapseminars.org thank you for watching

Channel: MedigapSeminars.org

Views: 90,253

Keywords: where to sign up for medicare, how to sign up for medicare, medicare enrollment information, how to apply for medicare step by step, when to sign up for medicare, medicare online, how do i sign up for medicare online, how to enroll in medicare, enroll in medicare online, how to apply for medicare online, medicre enrollment 2023, how to sign up for medicare part a, when to enroll in medicare, Medicare 2023, medicare part a, What is medicare, medicare, Medicare changes 2023

Id: PTPrifNpU5A

Length: 22min 58sec (1378 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 17 2022