Your Medicare Community - MedicareFAQ

Guide to Medicare Enrollment Periods

November 13, 2020 Lindsay
Your Medicare Community - MedicareFAQ
Guide to Medicare Enrollment Periods
Show Notes Transcript

If you find the different enrollment periods within Medicare confusing, don't go anywhere. In today's video, we'll go over every part of Medicare and the enrollment periods that come with each.

My name is Lindsay Engle, and I'm the Medicare expert for Elite Insurance Partners and MedicareFAQ.com.

Medicare comes with many different parts and plans. Each one has a specific enrollment period, and some have multiple. In this video, I discuss which enrollment periods fall under each part.

First, we'll discuss Part A and Part B. Part A is your inpatient coverage, and Part B is your outpatient coverage. These parts come with two different enrollment periods:
• Initial Enrollment Period: When you can first enroll in Parts A and B. Begins 3 months before your 65th birthday, lasts the month of, and continues 3 months after your 65th birthday
• General Enrollment Period: If you miss your Initial Enrollment Period, this is the next time you can enroll in Parts A and B.  It occurs annually between January 1 and March 31. Your coverage will start on July 1
– If you have a change of circumstance, you can qualify for a Special Election Period (example: having creditable group coverage through your employer)

Next, we'll discuss the different enrollment periods that come along with Medicare Advantage plans.
• Initial Coverage Election Period (ICEP): Begins three months before your 65th birthday and when it ends is dependent on when your Part B becomes effective
• Annual Enrollment Period: If you miss your ICEP, the next time you can enroll is during the Annual Enrollment Period (AEP), which occurs each year between October 15 and December 7
• Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period: If you're enrolled in an Advantage plan, and you want to make changes, you can do so annually between January 1 and March 31
– You could also qualify for a Special Election Period due to a change in circumstance

Part D prescription drug coverage also comes with similar enrollment periods.
• Initial Enrollment Period: During this time, you can also sign up for Part D
• Annual Enrollment Period: If you miss your Initial Enrollment Period, the next time you can enroll is during the Annual Enrollment Period
– You can also qualify for a Special Election Period, just like Parts A, B, and C (Advantage)

Now, let's go over when you can enroll in a Medigap plan.
• Medigap Enrollment Period: This is your only enrollment period for Medigap. It lasts six months and begins once you enroll in Part B – it isn't annual like the others
– Outside of the Open Enrollment Period, you can enroll in a Medigap plan at any time of the year as long as you have Part B – the only difference is you will have to answer health questions

A common misconception is that you can enroll in a Medigap plan during the Annual Enrollment Period without having to answer any health questions. This is not true unless it overlaps with your Medigap Open Enrollment Period.

The last enrollment period we'll go over today is for those eligible for Medicare due to a disability.
Initial Enrollment Period: You become eligible for Medicare once you collect Social Security Disability Income for 24 months. After 24 months, your Initial Enrollment Period will begin. This is the same 7-month window we discussed at the beginning of the video
Second Initial Enrollment Period: In addition to your Initial Enrollment Period, you get a second one when you age in at 65

Thank you so much for watching! If you'd like more information on the different enrollment periods mentioned, make sure to check out our enrollment period playlist.

Make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel if you found this video helpful and turn notifications on, so you know as soon as we upload a new video.

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If you find the different enrollment periods confusing with Medicare, don't go anywhere. In today's video, we're going to go over each part of Medicare and the different enrollment periods each part comes with. Hi everyone. My name is Lindsey Engle and I'm the Medicare expert for Elite Insurance Partners and MedicareFAQ.com. Medicare comes with many different parts than plans. Each one have specific, and some multiple enrollment periods. In today's video, I'm going to discuss the different parts and what enrollment period will fall under each one. First, we're going to go over the different enrollment periods that come along with Part A and Part B. Part A is your inpatient coverage and Part B is your outpatient coverage. Your Initial Enrollment Period is when you can first enroll in Part A and Part B. Your Initial Enrollment Period begins 3 months before your 65th birthday, will last the month of and continued 3 months after your 65th birthday. If you happen to miss your Initial Enrollment Period, the next time you can enroll in part A and Part B is during the General Enrollment Period. The General Enrollment Period occurs annually between January 1st and March 31st. Your coverage will start July 1st. Outside of these two enrollment periods, you could qualify for a Special Enrollment Period due to a change in circumstance. An example would be if you delayed enrolling into Part B because you had creditable coverage through group employer insurance. This would qualify you for a Special Enrollment Period once you left the group employer insurance. In this case, you would be eligible for an eight-month Special Enrollment Period that would allow you to enroll in Part B without being penalized for not enrolling when you were first eligible. So to summarize, Part A and Part B comes with two different enrollment periods, your Initial Enrollment Period, and the General Enrollment Period or if you have a change of circumstance, you could qualify for a Special Election Period. Next, we'll discuss the different enrollment periods that come along with Medicare Advantage plans. Just like Part A and Part B, Part C or Medicare Advantage comes with an Initial Election Period or your ICEP. Your ICEP will also begin 3 months before your 65th birthday. When it ends is dependent on when your Part B becomes effective. If you miss your Initial Coverage Election period the next time you can enroll in Part C is during the Annual Enrollment Period. This occurs every year between October 15th and December 7th. Medicare Advantage also comes with its own unique enrollment period. This is known as the Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period. If you're currently enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan and want to make changes, you can do so annually during January 1st in March 31st during the Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment period. Also, like Part A and Part B, you could qualify for a Special Enrollment Period due to a change in circumstance. To summarize Medicare Advantage Enrollment Periods up for you. It comes with 3 different enrollment windows. Your Initial Coverage Election Period, the Annual Enrollment Period, the Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period, and then you could also qualify for a Special Enrollment Period due to a change in circumstance. The next part of Medicare is your prescription drug coverage or Part D. Part D also comes with similar enrollment periods. During your Initial Enrollment Period along with Part A and Part B, you can also enroll in Part D. If you happen to miss your Initial Enrollment Period for Part D, the next time you can enroll is during the Annual Enrollment Period in October. Just like Part A Part B and Part C, you could also qualify for a Special Enrollment Period due to a change in circumstance. To summarize Part D, you have two different enrollment periods. The Initial Enrollment Period, and the Annual Enrollment Period or you could also qualify for a Special Enrollment Period just like Part A Part B and Part C. Now, let's go over when you can enroll in a Medigap plan. Unlike Part A, Part B, Part C, and Part D. Medigap plans do not come with an Annual Enrollment Period. You have one open enrollment period that is dependent on when you enroll in Part B. Once you enroll in Part B, your 6-month Medigap Open Enrollment Period will begin. This is when you can enroll in a Medigap plan without having to answer any health questions. Outside of your open enrollment period you can technically enroll in Medigap plan at any time of the year, as long as you have Part B. The only difference between enrolling during your Medigap Open Enrollment Period and any other time of the year is that you will have to answer some health questions during the enrollment process. One common misconception about the Annual Enrollment Period is that you can roll in a Medigap plan without having to answer any health questions. This is not true. Now Yes, you can still enroll in a Medigap plan during the Annual Enrollment Period, but unless it overlaps with your Medigap Open Enrollment Period you'll still have to go through Medical Underwriting. To summarize your Medigap Open Enrollment Period, you only have one. It is not annual like the other enrollment periods. It is dependent specifically on when you enroll in Part B. The last enrollment period we're going to go over today is for those who are eligible for Medicare due to a disability. You become eligible for Medicare once you've been collecting Social Security Disability Income for 24 months. After 24 months your Initial Enrollment Period will begin. This is the same 7-month window we discussed in the beginning of the video. In addition to your Initial Enrollment Period, you'll get a second Initial Enrollment Period when you age in at 65. To summarize, if you're eligible for Medicare due to a disability, you'll have two Initial Enrollment Periods. The first one will begin after collecting Social Security Disability Income for 24 months. Your second one will begin once you age in at 65. Thank you so much for watching today's video. If you would like more information on the different enrollment periods mentioned make sure to check out our enrollment periods playlist. If you found this video helpful, make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel. Don't forget turn your notifications on so you notified every time we upload a new video. We also have a fantastic Medicare community on Facebook. Well make sure to include a link in the description so you can join. Until next time. Bye.