Your Medicare checklist, month by month.

Get your information together

• Write down your current coverage.Through your job, your spouse’s job, COBRA, an individual plan, or none.
• List your prescriptions and doses.You will use this list to compare Part D drug plans.
• List your doctors, hospitals and pharmacy.Networks matter if you look at Medicare Advantage.
• Check whether you already get Social Security benefits.If you do, you are usually enrolled in Part A and Part B automatically, and your Medicare card arrives in the mail.

Your Initial Enrollment Period opens

• Sign up for Part A and Part B if you are not enrolled automatically.You can apply through Social Security. Your seven-month window runs three months before your birthday month, that month, and three months after.
• Still working?If you have group health coverage through your own or your spouse’s current job, you may be able to delay Part B without a penalty. COBRA does not count. Confirm before you skip Part B.
• Decide between Original Medicare with a Supplement and Medicare Advantage.They work very differently. See the side-by-side comparison.

Your Medigap Open Enrollment Period starts

• Apply for a Medicare Supplement during these six months if you want one.Companies cannot turn you down or charge you more because of your health during this window.
• Choose a Part D drug plan, if you are going with a Supplement.Going 63 days or more without Part D or other creditable drug coverage after you are first eligible can add a late enrollment penalty for as long as you have drug coverage.
• Keep your Medicare card and plan cards together.You will show them at the doctor and the pharmacy.

Read your Annual Notice of Change

• If you have a Part D or Medicare Advantage plan, look for the notice from your plan.It lists changes to costs, covered drugs and networks for January 1.

Annual Enrollment Period

• Recheck your drug plan against your current prescriptions.Plans change their drug lists and prices each year.
• Join, switch or drop a Medicare Advantage or Part D plan if something better fits.Changes start January 1.

Kentucky’s birthday rule

• If you have a Medicare Supplement, compare prices a few weeks before your birthday.For the 60 days that start on your birthday, you can move to the same plan with a different company without health questions.

Want to walk through it together?

Call Mike at (270) 302-0524. It costs nothing, and there is no obligation.