Your IEP is a seven-month window to first enroll in Medicare Parts A and B. It usually covers the three months before your 65th birthday month, your birthday month, and the three months after. Signing up in the early months generally gives you the earliest Part B start date.

Medicare treats a 1st-of-month birthday as if you turned 65 in the prior month. Your eligibility can begin on the 1st of the month before your birthday, and your entire seven-month IEP shifts one month earlier.

Under rules in effect since 2023, if you enroll in any of the three months before your eligibility month, Part B usually starts on the 1st of that eligibility month. If you enroll in your eligibility month or in any of the three months after, Part B usually starts on the 1st of the month after you enroll.

Medigap open enrollment is a six-month window that generally begins the month you are 65 or older and enrolled in Part B. During that window you can buy a Medigap policy sold in your area without medical underwriting. This tool estimates that window from your earliest Part B start date.

You can usually enroll during the General Enrollment Period, which runs January 1 to March 31 each year. Coverage then starts the 1st of the month after you enroll. If you have qualifying employer group coverage, a Special Enrollment Period may apply instead.

If you or your spouse have coverage from a current employer with 20 or more employees, you may be able to delay Part B and later use an eight-month Special Enrollment Period after employment ends or the group coverage ends, whichever comes first, without a Part B late enrollment penalty.

Yes, in some cases. People who have received Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) for 24 months generally become eligible for Medicare. ESRD and ALS follow different rules. This calculator can estimate an SSDI-based window when you provide your SSDI start date; call Will for ESRD or ALS timing.