We have always heard it said that one should start the Medicare enrollment process 3 months before the applicant's 65th birthday. My wife's birthday is in August. So, in early-May we initiated the process. I started an online application, but because she has no work history and is enrolling based upon my work history, we had to abandon the online process (that scenario is not allowed to be submitted online) and we had to phone them. We got to someone very quickly, who then set us up an appointment for an actual enrollment interview. The earliest appointment available was about 3 weeks out. So, on May 29th we attended the enrollment appointment (they phoned us) and the guy (located down in Savannah) was super-helpful, super-friendly, got everything in the system for us. Because she is enrolling against my work history, and because she is a naturalized citizen, we had to take the ORIGINAL marriage certificate and her ORIGINAL naturalization certificate (they made sure to stress that they had to be originals, not copies) to the nearest Social Security office, which we took them to them that same day... May 29th.

That was 7 weeks ago, and we are still waiting for her application process to be completed. Today is July 17th. July 31st is exactly 2 weeks away. Her Medicare coverage is supposed to begin on August 1st. The SSA system says it can take up to 30 days for the application process to be completed. We're obviously way past that. I have heard (the insurance guy who is handling our Part G policy application told us) that applications have been taking as much as 6 weeks as of late. We're past that, too.

Just bringing this up for if/when you may be looking to apply. Don't let time slip past you. Be absolutely sure to start the enrollment process 3 months before your/your spouse's 65th birthday.

thanks for the info....sadly not surprising to hear. Can you start even before 3 months?

annual enrollment is considerably easier, possibly even an effective and efficient process. I wonder how much of the delay is based on her relying on your history and being a naturalized citizen vs. just general red tape everyone would experience.

(07-17-2024, 12:53 PM)Replying to Milldawg thanks for the info....sadly not surprising to hear. Can you start even before 3 months?

I thought about that as well. But, per my understanding, the three-month head start is supposed to have lots of cushion built in.

We still have two more weeks. We're already over the 30-day estimate. I guess we'll see what happens.

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(07-17-2024, 01:03 PM)Replying to Concourse E annual enrollment is considerably easier, possibly even an effective and efficient process.  I wonder how much of the delay is based on her relying on your history and being a naturalized citizen vs. just general red tape everyone would experience.

When you say "annual enrollment"... are you saying that people have to re-enroll every year? Honest question, as I do not know. I didn't think that to be the case, though.

I also thought about the naturalized citizen part, and her enrolling against my work history. We did make all of that perfectly clear when enrolling, and we went to the SSA office the very same day and they made copies of those two documents we brought.

On the SSA website (her online portal, for her account) it says that step 2 of 3 in the application process is in currently ongoing... if that gives any indication of where they are, and why it is going so slow.

As I mentioned, the guy who I am working with for her supplemental plan did tell me that he is working with other people who have had theirs take 6 weeks. So, there does seem to be a big slowdown going on at the present.

( Can you start even before 3 months? )

I don't think so.

To avoid penaltys, if I remember right, you have the three months prior to your birth month, your birth month, and three months after your birth month to enroll.

After that you're penalized every month for the rest of your life.

(07-17-2024, 01:59 PM)Replying to samjo ( Can you start even before 3 months? )

I don't think so.

To avoid penaltys, if I remember right, you have the three months prior to your birth month, your birth month, and three months after your birth month to enroll.

After that you're penalized every month for the rest of your life.

This brings to mind a question.... We have "enrolled". We're waiting for our application to be processed. If, for some odd reason, they don't get everything processed before August 1st, even though record shows that we began the process in early-May, with our phone interview and document submission having taken place on May 29th, can they somehow penalize us? We got our completed application (document scans included) in the system more than 2 months before her birthday.

(07-17-2024, 01:49 PM)Replying to RockmartDawg

(07-17-2024, 12:53 PM)Replying to Milldawg thanks for the info....sadly not surprising to hear. Can you start even before 3 months?

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When you say "annual enrollment"... are you saying that people have to re-enroll every year? Honest question, as I do not know. I didn't think that to be the case, though.

It's like annual open enrollment for benefits at your employer. If you don't do anything, you keep what you had the previous year. I review my mother's Rx plan every year because the premiums change and the amount covered changes. That's also the time you would elect to go on an Advantage plan if you were on standard Medicare and wanted to change that, or if you didn't like your Advantage plan and wanted to change it. 

The Medicare site lets you enter in all your prescriptions and then figure out which plan gives you the lowest out of pocket expense.

Four years from now.

(07-17-2024, 05:00 PM)Replying to Concourse E

(07-17-2024, 01:49 PM)Replying to RockmartDawg

(07-17-2024, 12:53 PM)Replying to Milldawg thanks for the info....sadly not surprising to hear. Can you start even before 3 months?

i have been on Medicare for 2 years.  Haven't had to enroll again

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When you say "annual enrollment"... are you saying that people have to re-enroll every year? Honest question, as I do not know. I didn't think that to be the case, though.

It's like annual open enrollment for benefits at your employer. If you don't do anything, you keep what you had the previous year. I review my mother's Rx plan every year because the premiums change and the amount covered changes. That's also the time you would elect to go on an Advantage plan if you were on standard Medicare and wanted to change that, or if you didn't like your Advantage plan and wanted to change it. 

The Medicare site lets you enter in all your prescriptions and then figure out which plan gives you the lowest out of pocket expense.

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(07-17-2024, 01:59 PM)Replying to samjo ( Can you start even before 3 months? )

I don't think so.

To avoid penaltys, if I remember right, you have the three months prior to your birth month, your birth month, and three months after your birth month to enroll.

After that you're penalized every month for the rest of your life.

I started my process about 2.5 months ahead of time.. Got processed witb no problems.  Regular Medicare with no special considerations needed

Rockmart, I don’t see how they could possibly penalize you for being late when you started the process so early and it’s their fault you’re running late. Keep copies of everything though, we are dealing with the government.

(07-17-2024, 12:53 PM)Replying to Milldawg thanks for the info....sadly not surprising to hear. Can you start even before 3 months?

I don't think so. I did mine by phone and it went as smooth as a baby's bottom.

(07-17-2024, 10:56 PM)Replying to gulfportdawg

(07-17-2024, 12:53 PM)Replying to Milldawg thanks for the info....sadly not surprising to hear. Can you start even before 3 months?

I don't think so. I did mine by phone and it went as smooth as a baby's bottom.

The guy who phoned us also made everything super-easy. He entered everything into the system. We just had to take two documents to a local SSA office so they could make copies, which we did that the very same day. I think processing is rather slow right now, across the board, per what I was told by the guy who is handling the supplemental plan we're getting. He said someone else had theirs take 6 weeks. We're now just past 7 weeks.

I get an average of 500 phone calls, text messages, and emails reminding to update my Medicare plan each year, not to mention the Joe Namath commercials incessantly begging me to call this 800 number to update my Medicare plan.