Frequently asked questions.

Your first chance is your Initial Enrollment Period, a 7-month window that starts 3 months before the month you turn 65. If you sign up in the 3 months before your birthday month, coverage starts on the first day of your birthday month. Our Medicare Enrollment Calendar lays out every window on one page.

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. You then have 8 months after the job or the coverage ends to sign up for Part B online. Ask your employer’s benefits office how your plan works with Medicare before you decide.

If you’re already getting Social Security or Railroad Retirement benefits at least 4 months before you turn 65, you’ll be enrolled in Part A and Part B automatically, and your Medicare card arrives in the mail about 3 months before your birthday. If you’re not getting benefits yet, you need to sign up through Social Security online, by phone or at a local office.

Yes, in some cases. You qualify after receiving Social Security disability benefits for 24 months. People with ALS get Medicare as soon as their disability benefits start, and people with end-stage renal disease can qualify too.

Most people get Part A without a monthly premium because they or a spouse paid Medicare taxes for at least 10 years. Part B has a monthly premium that’s set each year, and it’s higher if your income is above a certain level. Medicare Advantage, Part D and Medigap plans each have their own costs. See Medicare Costs at a Glance for this year’s amounts.

The Income-Related Monthly Adjustment Amount is an extra charge added to your Part B and Part D premiums when your income is above a set level. It’s based on your tax return from two years earlier. If your income has dropped because of a life-changing event like retirement, you can ask Social Security to lower it with form SSA-44, also in our forms & downloads.

Medicare Advantage (Part C) is an all-in-one alternative to Original Medicare offered by private insurers, usually with a provider network and often with drug coverage built in. Medigap (Medicare Supplement) works alongside Original Medicare to help pay costs like deductibles and coinsurance, and you add a separate Part D drug plan.

It’s optional. Medigap helps pay the deductibles and 20% coinsurance that Original Medicare leaves you with, which has no yearly limit. The best time to buy is your 6-month Medigap Open Enrollment Period, when insurers can’t turn you down or charge more for health conditions. Medigap doesn’t work with Medicare Advantage.

With Original Medicare, you can see any doctor or hospital in the U.S. that accepts Medicare. Medicare Advantage plans usually have a provider network, so check that your doctors are in the plan’s network before you enroll. We check this for you when we compare plans.

Original Medicare doesn’t cover most dental care, routine eye exams and glasses, hearing aids, or long-term custodial care such as help with bathing and dressing in a nursing home. It also covers very little care outside the U.S. Many Medicare Advantage plans include some dental, vision and hearing benefits.

Yes. During Annual Open Enrollment, October 15 to December 7, you can join, switch or drop a Medicare Advantage or Part D plan, with changes starting January 1. If you’re in a Medicare Advantage plan, you also get one change between January 1 and March 31.

Original Medicare covers very few outpatient prescriptions. Most people get drug coverage from a Part D plan or a Medicare Advantage plan that includes it. If you go 63 days or more without creditable drug coverage after your first window, you may pay a late penalty for as long as you have Part D.

Yes. Part D now has a yearly cap on out-of-pocket costs for covered drugs. Once you reach it, you pay nothing more for covered prescriptions for the rest of the year. You can also choose to spread your drug costs into monthly payments instead of paying all at once at the pharmacy.

You can start as early as 62, but your monthly benefit is permanently reduced. You get your full amount at your full retirement age, and every year you wait past that, up to age 70, increases your monthly benefit.

It depends on the year you were born. It’s between 66 and 67 for people born from 1943 to 1959, and 67 for anyone born in 1960 or later.

You can apply online at SSA.gov, by phone at 1-800-772-1213, or at a local Social Security office. You can apply up to 4 months before you want your benefits to start.

Your benefit is based on your highest 35 years of earnings and the age you start collecting. The easiest way to see your estimate at different ages is your free my Social Security account at SSA.gov.

Most people are paid on a Wednesday based on their birthday: the second Wednesday if born on the 1st–10th, the third if born on the 11th–20th, and the fourth if born on the 21st–31st. See the 2027 payment schedule for exact dates.

They can be. Depending on your total income, up to 85% of your benefits may be subject to federal income tax. You can have tax withheld from each payment by filing IRS form W-4V.

Usually. Benefits get a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) to keep up with inflation. It’s announced each October and starts with your January payment.

Yes. Before your full retirement age, Social Security holds back part of your benefit if your earnings go over a yearly limit, and adds it back once you reach full retirement age. After full retirement age there’s no earnings limit.

Yes. A spouse can receive up to half of the other spouse’s full retirement benefit if they claim at their own full retirement age. A divorced spouse may qualify too if the marriage lasted at least 10 years.

If you were both getting benefits, you keep whichever of the two is higher. Widows and widowers can start survivor benefits as early as 60, or 50 if disabled. A surviving spouse or child may also get a one-time $255 payment. Report the death to Social Security as soon as possible.

Yes. The Social Security Fairness Act repealed the Windfall Elimination Provision and Government Pension Offset, which used to reduce benefits for many teachers, police officers and other public workers with pensions. Most people affected have already had their benefits increased.

It’s free. In many cases you can request a replacement card online through your my Social Security account. Otherwise, you can apply at a local Social Security office. Never pay a website that charges for a replacement card.

If you already get benefits, you can update your address and direct deposit online in your my Social Security account, or call 1-800-772-1213.

If you retire after 65 and leave employer coverage, you have 8 months to sign up for Part B without a penalty. Planning your Medicare start date around your last day of work helps you avoid a gap in coverage.

Yes. Traditional IRA and 401(k) withdrawals and Roth conversions count toward the income used to set IRMAA, so a large withdrawal in one year can raise your Part B and Part D premiums two years later.

Required minimum distributions from traditional IRAs and most workplace plans start at age 73, or 75 if you were born in 1960 or later. Roth IRAs don’t require withdrawals during the owner’s lifetime.

You can choose how much federal tax is withheld from pension and annuity payments, and from IRA withdrawals, using IRS form W-4P, also in our forms & downloads.