Medicare makes sense once you can see how the pieces fit. This page sets out each part, the dates that matter and where to get official answers. Your personal guide then applies it to you.
We help people new to Medicare, and people already on it, understand what their choices are. Plain words, no sales, and one guide written for each person.
Medicare decisions come with deadlines, and a missed one can mean a gap in cover or a penalty that lasts. Knowing the basics early takes most of the worry out of it.
Whether you turn 65 next spring or have had Medicare for years, we explain your options, work out your dates and show you how to compare plans for yourself.
Parts A and B together are called Original Medicare. Part C is a different way to get them. Part D adds drug cover.
Helps pay for inpatient hospital stays, care in a skilled nursing facility after a hospital stay, hospice care and some home health care.
Helps pay for doctor visits, outpatient care, many preventive services and medical equipment such as walkers and oxygen.
An alternative way to get your Part A and Part B cover, through a private company that Medicare approves. Most of these plans include drug coverage too.
Helps pay for the medicines you take at home. It comes from private plans, either on its own beside Original Medicare or inside a Medicare Advantage plan.
Medicare Supplement Insurance, or Medigap, is sold by private companies and helps pay the deductibles, coinsurance and copayments that Original Medicare leaves to you.
It only works alongside Original Medicare, not with a Medicare Advantage plan, and it does not include drug cover, so most people pair it with a Part D plan. The six months that start when you are 65 and have Part B are usually the easiest time to buy one; after that, insurers in most states can ask about your health.
Outside these windows most changes have to wait, which is why the dates are the first thing your guide sets out.
Seven months: the three months before the month you turn 65, that month, and the three after. Sign up early in the window and cover can start on time.
Each year anyone with Medicare can join, switch or drop a Medicare Advantage or Part D plan. Changes start on January 1.
If you are in a Medicare Advantage plan you can switch to another one, or go back to Original Medicare, once during these three months.
Moving, losing coverage from a job, or leaving a plan's area can each open a window of their own outside the usual dates.
Still working at 65 with coverage from that job? You may be able to put off Part B without a penalty. Ask Social Security or your plan before you decide.
Sign up and a person on our team writes your guide within two working days. For official answers at any time, call 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227; TTY 1-877-486-2048).