• Special Enrollment Period—A person may decide to wait to sign up
for Part A and/or Part B because he or she is covered by a group health
plan based on his or her own or a spouse’s current employment (or if
disabled, a family member’s current employment). Someone in this
situation can sign up for Part A and/or Part B at any time while he or she
has group health plan coverage based on current employment or during
the 8-month period that begins the month after the employment ends, or
the group health plan coverage ends, whichever happens first. Note: This
Special Enrollment Period doesn’t apply to people with ESRD.
• Special Enrollment Period for international volunteers—A person
who waited to sign up for Part A and/or Part B because he or she had
health insurance while volunteering in a foreign country has a special
opportunity to sign up.
Medicare Part A and Part B premiums
Most people don’t have to pay a monthly premium for Part A because they
or a spouse paid Medicare taxes while they were working. This is called
“premium-free Part A.” Most people do pay a premium each month for
Part B.
Late enrollment penalties
A person who doesn’t sign up for Part A when he or she is first eligible may
have to pay a penalty equal to 10% of the Part A premium. The 10%
premium penalty applies no matter how long someone delays Part A
enrollment. The person will have to pay the premium penalty for twice the
number of years he or she could have had Part A, but didn’t sign up.
A person who doesn’t sign up for Part B when he or she is first eligible may
have to pay a late enrollment penalty. The monthly premium for Part B may
go up 10% for each full 12-month period that the person could have had
Part B, but didn’t sign up for it. The person will have to pay the premium
penalty for a long as he or she has Medicare
