Ask the Expert: Timing your enrollment in Medicare Parts A and B

If you reach age 65 and are still working for a large company with full healthcare coverage, is there any penalty for waiting to sign up for Medicare Part A (hospital care) or B (doctors’ visits) until you retire? At full retirement age (say 67), can you apply for Social Security, collect your full benefit, continue to work and NOT apply and pay for Medicare?

The answers depend on your Medicare enrollment deadline — and there isn’t a one-size-fits-all deadline.

If you’re covered by a workplace plan when you turn 65, your penalty-free Medicare enrollment window depends on whether that plan covers 20 or more employees, or fewer than 20.

If you miss your enrollment window, your Medicare premiums are permanently higher. What’s more, you must wait for Medicare’s next general enrollment period to sign up. In the worst-case scenario, that means you could be uninsured for up to six months.

If your workplace plan covers fewer than 20 people, your Medicare enrollment window starts three months before your 65th birthday and ends three months after your birthday.

It sounds as if you’re in a plan that covers 20 or more workers. If so, your Medicare enrollment deadline isn’t until eight months after you leave your job or your workplace coverage ends, whichever comes first. But some companies require their Medicare-eligible employees to sign up for Part A, which is free for most people. The advantage: Part A becomes secondary to your workplace plan for hospital coverage.

At your full retirement age, you can collect your full Social Security benefit while working, regardless of the amount you earn. And if you’re still covered by that big workplace plan, there’s no penalty for not yet being enrolled in Medicare.

The bottom line

It’s extremely important to double-check your Medicare enrollment deadline.

More information

bit.ly/medicareworkingpast65

bit.ly/medicareandinsurance