Applying for Medicare: A Checklist

Insurance companies and agents across the state buy lists of people turning 65 and send marketing materials for the six months leading up to your birth month. You will be besieged.

The antidote is knowing the subject before the mail starts. Read through this section of our site. It is short, concise, and written in plain language, and it covers everything you actually need to decide.

• Read the plan descriptions so you know the difference between Plan G, Plan N, Plan F, and Medicare Advantage.

• Read the prescription drug plan page, because drug coverage is bought separately with a supplement.

• Skim the Medicare FAQs and write down anything still unclear. Bring the list to your appointment.

Three months before the month you turn 65, you can sign up for Medicare Part A and Part B. Apply early, because it normally takes about three to four weeks to get your new card.

Are you already receiving Social Security benefits?

Then you will be enrolled in Medicare Part A and Part B automatically, and your red, white and blue Medicare card will arrive around three months before your birth month. Nothing to do but watch the mailbox.

Not yet receiving Social Security?

Then you need to apply. You sign up for Medicare through Social Security rather than through Medicare, because Social Security is the agency that checks whether you are eligible, including whether you or another qualifying person paid Medicare taxes long enough to get Part A without a monthly premium. They also process Part B requests.

Applying online is the easiest and quickest way

• Go to the Social Security website and find Sign up for Medicare.

• Read the text and scroll down to the blue box in the center of the page, then click Sign up for Medicare.

• On the next screen, scroll to Sign up for Medicare and click Apply Online.

• Tick I Understand and Agree, then click Next. You are now on the Social Security website.

• Under Apply and Complete, click Start a new application.

• Answer a few questions, set up a username and password, and you are on your way.

Done. Your card arrives in about three to four weeks.

Prefer the phone?

Call Social Security nationally at 1-800-772-1213, or the local Social Security office at 1-866-695-6285.

The arrival of your red, white and blue Medicare card is the usual cue to call Hopper Insurance Services for an appointment. We need your Medicare number to submit a supplement or Advantage application. The plastic card does not have to come first, though: as soon as your enrollment is processed you can see and print your number from your account at Medicare.gov, or find it in your my Social Security account. If you have the number, call us and we can get started.

In about an hour we educate you on Medicare, explain every option, help you find the best value for your needs and budget, and complete the enrollment with you. There is never a charge for any of this. The insurance company pays the agent, and you pay the same premium either way.

• Bring your Medicare card, your medication list, and the names of the doctors you want to keep.

• We go over Plan G, Plan N, Plan F if you are eligible, and the Advantage plans available here.

• We set up automatic monthly premium payment from your checking account so a missed payment can never cancel you.