Part B – Signing Up

If you get benefits from Social Security or the RRB, you will automatically get Part B starting the first day of the month you turn age 65. If you are under age 65 and disabled, you will automatically get Part  B after you get disability benefits from Social Security or certain disability benefits from the RRB for 24 months. You will get your Medicare card in the mail about 3 months before your 65th birthday or your 25th month of disability. If you don’t want Part  B, follow the instructions that come with the card, and send the card back. If you keep the card, you keep Part B and will pay Part B premiums.

If you have ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, also called Lou Gehrig’s disease), you automatically get Part B the month your disability benefits begin.

If you have ESRD, you can sign up for Part B when you sign up for Part A.

If you aren’t getting Social Security or RRB benefits, and you want to get Part  B, you will need to sign up for Part B during your initial enrollment period (the period that begins 3 months before the month of your 65th birthday and ends 3 months after the month of your 65th birthday).

If you didn’t sign up for Part B when you first became eligible, you may be able to sign up during one of these times:

• General Enrollment Period -Between January 1-March 31 each year. Your coverage will begin on July 1. The cost of your Part B will go up 10% for each full 12-month period you could have had Part B but didn’t sign up for it, unless you qualify for a special enrollment period (see below). You may have to pay this late enrollment penalty as long as you have Part B.
• Special Enrollment Period -If you wait to sign up for Part B because you or your spouse is working and has group health plan coverage based on that work, or if you are disabled and you or a family member is working and has group health plan coverage based on that work. You can sign up for Part B any time while you have group health plan coverage based on current employment or during the 8-month period that begins the month the employment ends, or the group health plan coverage ends, whichever happens first.
• Special Enrollment Period for International Volunteers -If you waited to enroll in Part B because you had health insurance while volunteering in a foreign country. You can sign up during the 6-month period that begins the month you are no longer volunteering outside the United States, or the sponsoring organization is no longer tax exempt, or you no longer have health coverage outside the U.S., whichever comes first.

Usually, you don’t pay a late enrollment penalty if you sign up for Part B during a special enrollment period.