In this video we are going to review how to sign up for Medicare.
So by the end of this video you'll know how to sign up for Medicare, when you can sign up for Medicare
and whether or not you'll be eligible to sign up for Medicare online.
How to sign up for Medicare. By an independent Medicare insurance broker. MedigapSeminars.org 800-847-9680
Hi, I am Matthew Claassen with MedigapSeminars.org.
Not everybody turning 65 needs to enroll in all of Medicare. In fact under some circumstances
it may be in your best interest not to sign up for part of Medicare.
I'll explain that in detail here in a minute. But first, when you're signing up for Medicare what a signing up for?
When you sign up for Medicare you're going to be signing up for Medicare Part A and / or Medicare Part B.
Medicare Part A is that portion of Medicare that insures you for when you're in inpatient in a hospital, a nursing home, a hospice, or if you're
at home and you're unable to get to a medical facility in you need Home Healthcare.
Medicare Part A is your inpatient healthcare. I am not going to get into the details of the
deductibles and copays and all the nitty-gritty. That's for another video.
What I want you to understand for this video is that Medicare Part A is your inpatient healthcare.
It's not the Medicare that you use when you go see a doctor or you go and get lab tests.
Medicare Part A is that portion of Medicare that you payed for with your the payroll taxes.
That 1.45% that came out of your check for all those years.
As long as you or your spouse have payed that tax for at least 10 years
you're Medicare Part A is paid for. When you turn 65 and you sign up for Medicare Part A, there are no additional cost.
You're considered Medicare Part A eligible. Technically, if you're Medicare Part A eligible, you're not required to sign up for
Medicare Part A when you turn 65, and there's no real penalty for not enrolling. That's only if you're Medicare Part A eligible.
However,
it cost you nothing. It adds an extra layer of insurance, an extra layer of coverage. It doesn't interfere with any other insurance
There's really no reason not to sign up for Medicare Part A.
Medicare Part B is that part of your Medicare that covers Outpatient and Physician Services.
That is the portion of Medicare you use when you visit a doctor and when you get lab tests.
Medicare Part B is not free. You have to pay a monthly premium for your Medicare Part B.
Everybody pays for Medicare Part B no matter what your Medicare choices are later on.
How much you pay your Medicare Part B is income related. It depends on your income
It is based on your adjusted gross income two years ago.
As I make this video in 2017
if your income was $85,000 or less two years ago if you file individually, or $170,000 or less if you file jointly,
Then you'd pay just the Medicare Part B base rate.
If your income was higher than that then you're going to pay more. You're gonna pay an income adjusted premium.
To find out how much your premium is now, as you're watching this video. The best way to do that is to go to the website Medicare.gov,
and in the search bar type in "Cost for Medicare Part B" or the "Medicare income adjusted amounts". They can change yearly.
The monthly premium for Medicare Part B is typically deducted from your Social Security income.
If you're not yet taking your Social Security income, then Medicare will bill you for your
Medicare Part B premium. When they bill you, they will bill you on a quarterly basis.
If you're supposed to sign up for Medicare Part B and you don't, there is a penalty.
But not everybody needs to sign up for Part B during their initial enrollment period.
That's very important and I'm going to get to that moment.
Also, if you happen to have a Health Savings Account, if you're contributing to an HSA account as you turn 65
there are some important things we're gonna cover near the end of this video because you could get into an accidental tax trap.
I am going to cover that near the end of this video when I cover the final of Exceptions to Medicare rules and some Warnings.
So that's the "What" that you're gonna be signing up for; Medicare Part A & Medicare Part B.
Now we're gonna cover "When" you can sign up for Medicare, and "How". I know learning this part of Medicare can be a little bit
confusing. Medicare has a lot of rules. To help grasp this concept quickly, this is gonna be a brief video,
what I'm gonna do a separate out the Medicare rules with their exceptions.
As they say "Every rule has an exception." With Medicare it's those exceptions that can often lead to some confusion.
The Medicare rules apply to everyone. Everyone should understand the Medicare rules.
The exceptions only apply to certain groups of people. If you're not one of those groups of people then really don't have to worry about
that exception. Set it aside and focus on rules. So, Medicare rule number one -
You have a seven month window to enroll in Medicare.
It is called your "Medicare Initial Enrollment Period". This seven month window is focused on your birthday month. It's the calendar
month of your birth day. Three calendar months before your birthday month, and three calendar months after your birthday month.
Medicare rule number two!
Medicare always starts on the first day of a month.
If your birthday is in the middle of the month, it doesn't matter when you per day is, your Medicare will start on the first day of the month.
For example, using the Medicare initial enrollment period.
Let's say you birthday was April 20th.
That would mean that your Medicare can start April 1.
Your enrollment period is gonna be (you can sign of during your birthday month. If you do your Medicare will start ...May 01
If you sign up in April your Medicare can start on May 01.
Your windows also three months before April. So you can sign up in January and February or
March. If you signup in January, February or March; April 01 will be your Medicare starting date.
Your window also goes past your birthday month, so you have
May, June, and July. You can sign up in May, June, or July. If you do, your Medicare is not going to start the next month.
Medicare puts a delay in it. It may be two or three months down the road that your Medicare would start. It'll still be on the first of a month,
just not the next month. They do that to encourage you to sign up for your Medicare early. Now here's the first Medicare exception;
if your birthday is on the first day of the month you take your entire Medicare initial enrollment period and move it forward one month.
Going back to the April example; if your birthday April 01, then your Medicare can
start in March 01 and your initial enrollment period, instead of starting in January actually starts
the December before that. Your full seven month window moves forward by one month.
That's only for people whose birthday is on the first day of the month. Exception number two; if you are already on Social Security Income.
If you are already taking your Social Security income before you turn 65,
then you'll automatically be enrolled in Medicare Part A and Medicare Part B.
You'll have the option to opt-out of Medicare Part B
when they send you your Medicare welcome kit. I believe it is called the "Welcome to Medicare" kit.
You'll have a card in there which will allow you to opt-out of Medicare Part B if you choose.
Why would you choose? That leads us to exception number three. Exception number three for Medicare -
If you have employer group Health Insurance
and your employer is a company of at least 20 employees or more, and you're going
to continue on that insurance passed your Medicare initial enrollment period,
then you don't need it to sign up for your Medicare Part B.
And you probably shouldn't sign up for your Medicare Part B. That's important
To understand this concept best there is one term that we need you to understand.
That term is call "Creditable Coverage", as in you get credit for it.
When your Health Insurance, your group Health Insurance is roughly equal to what Medicare can provide
then it is called a "creditable coverage". As long as you have creditable coverage
you don't need to enroll in Medicare Part B. You can delay it. That will save you two things; one you won't have to pay for Medicare Part B
until you enroll. And two, all of your your guarantees that are associated with getting your Medicare plans, once you have your
Medicare setup, if you want to do more than just as you're A and B, or you wanna do
something else because you have a series of choices,
then your guarantees are anchored to the day that your Medicare Part B starts. It's called the Medicare Part B affective date.
If you enroll in Medicare Part B while you have group health coverage and you don't need to
make those choices until later on. And that could be indefinitely. It can be years ahead.
You may have automatically disqualified yourself from some of the choices that you can get in Medicare.
So if you have creditable health coverage or your spouse that you're you're getting from yourself or your spouse's employers, then you
can delay, and you should delay, getting your Part B.
Now, it's also this important to understand and that if you have done that with your creditable coverage
you can then enroll in Medicare Part B at any time. You have creditable coverage and you're beyond your initial enrollment, you can enroll in
Medicare Part B at any time. You get what is called a Special Enrollment Period (SEP).
You'll get another Special Enrollment Period
when you're creditable coverage comes to an end. Either way, those of the times were you enroll in your Medicare Part B.
Warning: COBRA is not a creditable coverage. That covers when you enroll. Now let's go in to
how you enroll. Then I will follow-up with some exceptions and a few warnings to help you avoid a couple pitfalls.
You sign up for your Medicare through Social Security. Medicare law is a subset of Social Security law.
So all of your application process is done via Social Security.
You can do so online at SSA.gov That's short for Social Security Administration.
I'm told it's a simple process and about 15 minutes.
On occasion you'll need additional documentation. You may need to bring in a
birth certificate or other documentation into a Social Security Office, or mail it in.
They will let you know as you go through that process online.
You can, of course, also go into the Social Security Office and sign up your Medicare there. One thing you may wanna know if
you've already signed up your Medicare Part A and you've delayed your Medicare Part B
and all you have left is your Part B to sign up for, you can't do that online. You actually have to go into a Social Security Office to get your
Part B if that is the case. Here are a few warnings;
If you live in an area the country with a lot of people retiring,
you may have to make an appointment with your Social Security Office. You may not be able to just walk in.
I know some places in Florida there is a three month waiting list to get an appointment and get into the Social Security Office.
So if you live in an area that has a lot of retirees it doesn't hurt to call the Social Security Office first and see if you need to make an
appointment. That's also a good time to ask them what documentation you need to bring when you're going to enroll in Medicare.
Don't assume you can just walk in about Medicare. It's always best to call first and find out.
Warning number two; if you're going into a Social Security Office and you have enrolled at that office
don't just assume everything is OK. It it seems like you're not getting your paperwork
documentation or Medicare card in time, don't sit around patiently waiting.
The reason for this is that many the Social Security offices all overwhelmed, and their human.
Human error happens. I've seen it happen
a lot more often than you would think where people have to go back into the Social Security
Office to make sure that the paperwork is processed properly.
At most I've seen people go back three additional occasions just to make sure that everything is done right. So don't
assume. If it's not being processed in a timely manner check up on it. Call the Social Security office
make sure everything is being done in a timely fashion.
Warning number three; HSA accounts.
I mentioned this earlier, if you have an HSA account there is a potential tax trap.
Here's where the tax trap can occur;
You're not allowed to contribute to an HSA account once you have Medicare.
You get tax penalty for that.
What happens on occasion however is people like their HSA accounts. They delay getting their Medicare Part A & their Medicare Part B
and they continue to contribute to the HSA beyond the age of 65.
Then at some point in the future they decide they will go ahead and get your Medicare
and you sign up for your Part A and as you sign up for Part A you stop contributing your HSA.
That's the problem because Medicare Part A; when you sign up for late starts six months before you sign up for it. It's a retroactive start
date. If you were contributing to your HSA during those six months leading up to when you enrolled in Part A
then your going to have a tax penalty. If that happens all in one calendar year, it's really easy to back out those contributions.
That shouldn't be a problem. I'm not tax accountant. I am not giving you tax advice.
I have seen that work very well. The problem is if it's straddles two tax years. That can be an issue.
If you have in HSA account you should strongly consider simply cutting that off as you turn 65 so you don't accidentally
get into one of those tax traps. I hope you found this video helpful. If so, please give me a thumbs up. Let me know what you liked about
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I am Matthew Claassen at MedigapSeminars.org
Thank you for watching! :-)
How to sign up for Medicare. Independent Medicare insurance brokers. Call us at 800-847-9680. Medigapseminars.org