Medicare

I recently applied for Medicare and last Friday I received my Medicare card in the mail. The eligibility age for Social Security has been rising but it is still 65 for Medicare. You have a 7 month window to apply starting the third month before the month you turn 65. So I could have applied back in July but I didn't get around to filing my application until September 30.  

The application process was fairly easy, I was able to apply online through the account that I had already set up. The government has resumed the two factor authentication system that caused me problems before but now can send the security code by email (as an alternative to a text message to my non-existent cell phone). As I recall there were just a couple of tricky parts to the application. The application asked when my current health insurance started. I was pretty sure this was the same day as my employment started (which was in fact the case) but thought I should double check with my employer. Then for some reason I had trouble entering the date on the form and eventually gave up and put it in the additional notes section at the end. The other tricky part of the application was that it asked for the exact form of my name on my social security card which required a trip to my safe deposit box to check.

I quickly got an acknowledgement which stated at least five days would be required for a decision. According to some discussion of this I found on the web five days is optimistic and in fact the note accepting my application was dated October 15. Since I expect my case was about as straightforward as possible it appears you should allow at least two weeks. The acceptance note was posted to my online account and said a letter would follow. The letter arrived October 24 and the card sent separately arrived October 25. It appears from the card that my coverage actually started at the beginning of October (as opposed to the day I turned 65).

So it takes almost a month to get your card even when everything goes well. This didn't matter much in my case but if you need coverage as soon as you turn 65 or if you suspect your decision might be held up for some reason I would recommend getting your application in as soon as possible.

Since I am still working with medical insurance from my employer it seemed best to just apply for Medicare Part A which is free. When I stop getting coverage from my current employer I will have an eight month window to sign up for the other parts without penalty (otherwise there is a penalty in the form of higher monthly premiums depending on the length of the coverage gap as the government doesn't want you waiting until you get sick to sign up).