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When can I sign up for Medicare?

Your first chance is the seven months around your 65th birthday. After that, each window has its own dates and its own job. Here they all are.

Updated September 3, 2026 · 4 min read · by Gerino Alejos

Your first chance is the seven month window around your 65th birthday. After that, the main windows are an eight month Special Enrollment Period when job coverage ends, Annual Enrollment from October 15 to December 7, and General Enrollment from January 1 to March 31.

Each window does a different job. Most confusion comes from using the rules of one window during another. Here they all are.

Initial Enrollment Period, for turning 65

The Initial Enrollment Period is seven months long: the three months before your birthday month, your birthday month, and the three months after. Medicare explains when coverage begins on medicare.gov.

Sign up in the first three months and coverage begins on the first day of your birthday month. Wait until your birthday month or later and coverage starts later, which can leave you with a gap. See the detail on this window.

If you are coming up on 65 and want to know which path to choose, get your Medicare options from a licensed agent. Enter your ZIP code and we call you back, usually the same business day.

Special Enrollment Period, for leaving employer coverage

A Special Enrollment Period is a window that opens because of an event in your life. Say you delayed Medicare past 65 because you had real coverage from a job. When that job or coverage ends, you get eight months to sign up for Part B, the part that pays for doctor visits, with no penalty.

Part D, the drug coverage, has its own shorter window of two months. People clear the Part B deadline and still walk into a drug penalty, an extra charge added to the premium for signing up late. Handle both at once.

Annual Enrollment, October 15 to December 7

This is the window most people know. Anyone already on Medicare can change plans for the following year. You can join, drop or switch a Medicare Advantage plan, and join, drop or switch a Part D plan. Changes take effect January 1.

This is not a window for joining Medicare for the first time. See what to do during Annual Enrollment.

Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment, January 1 to March 31

This window is only for people already in a Medicare Advantage plan, a private plan that delivers your Medicare benefits. You can switch to a different Advantage plan, or go back to Original Medicare (Part A and Part B on their own) and add a drug plan. See what this window allows.

You cannot use this window to move from Original Medicare into an Advantage plan. It works in one direction only.

General Enrollment, January 1 to March 31

This is the cleanup window for people who missed everything else. You can sign up for Part A and Part B, and coverage begins the month after you sign up.

By the time you need this window, a penalty has usually already attached.

Medigap Open Enrollment, six months from your Part B start

This window is separate from all the others, and it is the most valuable one in the program. It runs six months from the month your Part B starts, once you are 65 or older.

A Medigap policy, also called a Medicare Supplement, pays the share of the bill that Medicare leaves to you. During those six months you can buy any Medigap policy sold in Texas, and no company can turn you down or charge you more because of your health history. After the window closes, companies in Texas can ask health questions and say no. See how the Medigap window works.

Special Enrollment Periods that open any time

Some events open a window at any time of year.

• Moving out of your plan's service area, the counties where the plan is sold.
• Losing Medicaid, or losing Extra Help (the program that lowers prescription costs for people with limited income).
• Your plan leaving the area or losing its contract with Medicare.
• Moving into or out of a nursing facility.
• Qualifying for Extra Help or a Medicare Savings Program, which helps pay Medicare costs for people with limited income.

If any of these happened to you recently, you may be able to change plans right now instead of waiting for October.

Find the window you are in, then mark its last day on a calendar. If you are not sure which one applies to you, we can tell you. Call our McAllen office at (956) 687 3334, or enter your ZIP code in the plan pricing box on this page.

Gerino Alejos

Licensed insurance agent · License 3128710 · NPN 18243381

Owner of McAllen Insurance Group, an independent agency on North 10th Street in McAllen. Works with clients across Hidalgo, Cameron and Starr counties on Medicare, Marketplace health, life and auto coverage. Se habla español.