I signed up for Medicare at 65. You have 7 months to do so, three months each before and after birthday month and the birthday month itself. Then I suspended part B because I was covered by husband’s insurance. My understanding is that there will be a lifetime penalty for failing to sign up during that window.
Medicare Part A is free. I would recommend he do so - his ‘initial enrollment’ is 3 months before he turns 65 through until 3 months after.
It will have him ‘in the system’ for the eventual time to get onto Part B once he no longer has health coverage through employer.
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I do not think this is correct. If you have private insurance, there is no penalty. At least this is what the Medicare website says:
“ Special situations include:
You have health insurance through a job and still working — You can sign up for Part A and Part B any time as long as:
- You have
group health plan coverage.
- You or your spouse (or a family member if you’re disabled) is working for the employer that provides your health coverage.
You also have 8 months to sign up after you or your spouse (or your family member if you’re disabled) stop working or you lose group health plan coverage (whichever happens first).”
I had to google it just now. I signed up as I remember there was a penalty for not taking part A within a time frame. But the site says something different now, per Bunsen’s post above.
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I googled some more. Here is some helpful info:
“ How do I use the Part B SEP?
To use this SEP you should call the Social Security Administration at 1-800-772-1213and request two forms: the Part B enrollment request form (CMS 40B) and the request for employment information form(CMS L564). You’ll complete the Medicare enrollment application and give the request for employment information form to the employer to fill out. You want to request additional copies of form L564 from Social Security if you’ve been covered through more than one job-based plan since you qualified for Medicare.
If an employer is unable to fill out the form, Social Security may accept the following items as evidence you had job-based coverage:
- Income tax forms showing you paid health insurance premiums;
- W-2s or pay stubs showing pre-tax medical insurance premiums withheld;
- health insurance cards with a policy effective date;
- explanations of benefits; or
- statements or receipts showing you paid health insurance premiums.”
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We just went through the same situation. My husband is 65 and we have good coverage through his employer. I spoke to a Medicare broker who assured us that as long as we have proof of his insurance, there will not be a penalty for signing up later.
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Thank you all for the helpful comments.
Be careful with a general rec that anyone covered by an employer insurance should sign up for Part A when they turn 65. One cannot have Medicare and a Health Savings account.
An employed person covered under a HD/HSA plan cannot just sign up for Part A as that would be a secondary coverage and therefore run afoul of the HSA plan rules (one HD plan, no secondary coverage).
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I wish I had contacted our local SSA office and saw this information back in May/June/July timeframe – electronically submission and subsequent contact/submission/some erroneous information with DH’s SSA electronic file so messed up that he still does not have his Medicare B card, which should be dated Sept 2021. We had insurance coverage for him through my employer through Sept and we have paid for supplement and drug plan starting Oct1. If his Medicare B card comes saying Sept, Oct or Nov we will take it!!! He has had no medical interaction except for prescriptions which are being filled/paid under his drug plan. We are concerned as the time goes on, as no Medicare B means his supplement plan won’t pay until Medicare B is in place. SSA can give back date and bill us. That is fine. We are not drawing his SS now and we will be paying the monthly Medicare B out of our joint checking account once we get billed.
I paid the billing for my Medicare B (3 months) - and my first SS check also is paying the Medicare B. I was told SSA will see the monthly payments and will refund me the overpayment. I am more concerned about DH’s Medicare B. SSA probably has a form for us to process if our refund doesn’t come during the next few months.
With the delaying Medicare after age 65 because you have employer provider insurance. Are you absolutely sure that you don’t still have to sign up, but then delay or suspend Medicare?
There is no option to delay or suspended Medicare as far as I looked into this. As soon as you sign up, the wheels are put in motion. In my husband’s case, the employer pays for the super duper PPO coverage with a low deductible; going on part B would cost us more… the only reason he did not sign up for A is “allergy to dealing with the government.” Lol.
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I did this just 2 years ago. Applied for and got part A, and just took part B to start this month, November with retirement in October. No suspension needed. But I did not have a HSA, which sounds like it would have added another level of complexity.
@BunsenBurner your husband will have to deal with the bureaucracy of getting Medicare at some point. Assuming he doesn’t have a HSA, getting part A now will make getting Part B much easier when he feels like doing it.
I know! But I can’t make the horse drink the water even if I lead him to the river. 
He is incredibly busy setting up his new group, so I quit nagging.
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I understand after our current fiasco the ‘allergy to dealing with the government’. It gets so difficult to clear up simple things! Back in the day, we use to be able to talk to a knowledgeable person with IRS but that changed to where you submit things you believe are correct and then ‘wait and see’.
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Here’s the link to the Lifecycle funds… Lifecycle Funds | The Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) The links for each fund show the fund returns and allocations. H won’t retire before 2028 (age 67), and quite possibly a bit later than that. We have funds in L2030, 2035 and 2040. When the funds reaches its target date, it goes to 100% L Fund. Depending on how much we’re drawing and fund performance, we could always re-allocate on the ladder.
We weren’t thrilled about the idea of taking a single large distribution and putting it into the market all at once upon retirement in a R/O IRA. The fund expense for TSP is comparable or better than even Vanguard, and now that the plan has been amended to allow flexible distributions, I think we’ll be keeping it in the TSP.
I have a small pension that started at 60 which includes an additional small Social Security supplement that ends at age 62. After 62, the company assumes you’ll apply for SS and you just get the pension piece after that. The company didn’t allow lump sum distributions, so it’s the only piece of my retirement savings that isn’t in my R/O IRA. The payments I’m getting now are going straight into savings. Don’t get excited – the amount is equivalent to our basic cable/internet bill. 
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Hey - in the DC area that cable bill is probably pretty expensive! I haven’t had our Verizon Fios adjusted for many years, and we pay a ridiculous amount, if you ask me. (My husband “must” have The Big 10 channel). I’m going to call competitors in the next several days to see what I can do to bring cable bill down.
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It’s under $200, no extra packages and basic internet. Ridiculous. Our electric and gas bills are that high only in peak months!
H would be thrilled to drop cable and just buy a couple streaming services, but I don’t want to give up my sports.
You can get sports on an as needed basis via Sling…that’s what we do.
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Me, too. I was going to post that as well.