When can I sign up for Medicare?
Every Medicare enrollment window on one page, so you can find which one you are in and what it lets you do.
Medicare has several enrollment windows and they do different jobs. Most confusion comes from people applying the rules of one window to another. Here they all are.
Initial Enrollment Period, for turning 65
Seven months around your 65th birthday: the three months before your birthday month, the birthday month, and the three months after.
Enroll in the first three months and coverage begins 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.
Special Enrollment Period, for leaving employer coverage
If you delayed Medicare because you were working past 65 with real employer coverage, you get eight months to pick up Part B after that employment or coverage ends, with no penalty.
Part D has its own shorter window of two months, which is why people clear the Part B deadline and still walk into a drug penalty. Handle both at once.
COBRA and retiree coverage do not create this window. The clock started when active employment ended, not when COBRA ends. This is the single most expensive misunderstanding in Medicare.
Annual Enrollment, October 15 to December 7
The one most people know. This is when anyone already on Medicare can change plans for the following year. 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 enrolling in Medicare for the first time. See what to do during Annual Enrollment.
Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment, January 1 to March 31
Only for people already in a Medicare Advantage plan. You can switch to a different Advantage plan or drop back to Original Medicare and add a drug plan.
You cannot use this window to move from Original Medicare into an Advantage plan. It only works in one direction.
General Enrollment, January 1 to March 31
The cleanup window for people who missed everything else. You can enroll in Part A and B, and coverage now begins the month after you sign up.
By the time you need this window, a penalty has usually already attached.
Medigap Open Enrollment, the one nobody mentions
This is separate and it is the most valuable window in the whole program. It runs six months from the month your Part B starts, once you are 65 or older.
During those six months you can buy any Medicare Supplement policy sold in Texas and no company can turn you down or charge you more for your health history. After it closes, in Texas they can ask health questions and decline you.
This window opens once and does not come back. People who choose an Advantage plan at 65 and want a supplement years later often find they no longer qualify for one. Know that before you choose.
Special circumstances that open a window any time
- Moving out of your plan's service area
- Losing Medicaid or Extra Help eligibility
- Your plan leaving the area or losing its contract
- Moving into or out of a nursing facility
- Qualifying for Extra Help or a Medicare Savings Program
If any of these happened to you recently, you may be able to change plans right now rather than waiting for October.
Common follow-up questions
I turn 65 next month and I am not drawing Social Security. Will I get a card automatically?
No. Automatic enrollment only happens if you are already receiving Social Security. Otherwise nothing arrives until you apply.
Can I sign up for Medicare during Annual Enrollment in October?
Not for the first time. October 15 to December 7 is for changing plans, not for joining Medicare. First time enrollment uses the Initial, Special or General windows.
I missed my window. What now?
General Enrollment in January through March is the fallback. Read what happens when you miss the deadline first, because there may be a better option.
Want this looked at properly?
We are an independent agency in McAllen serving Hidalgo, Cameron and Starr counties. No cost to talk it through.
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Medicare Annual Enrollment in South Texas: dates, rules and what to do
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