Individuals are generally able to sign up for Medicare at age 65. If you are already receiving Social Security benefits, you’ll automatically be enrolled in Medicare. Otherwise, you’ll be eligible to sign up 3 months before your 65th birthday. You could sign up earlier if you have a disability, End-Stage Renal Disease, or Lou Gehrig’s disease.
However, if you plan to continue working and will be taking advantage of your employer’s health insurance then you might want to consider only signing up for Medicare Part A. Most individuals that have been working for more than 10 years (have earned 40 credits) already paid into Medicare so there should be no extra charge for Part A. Part A is considered “Hospital Insurance” and helps cover inpatient care in hospitals and a few other items.
As for Part B, “Medical Insurance” and Part D, “Drug Coverage” these areas would be generally covered by your employer health insurance if you are still working.
Part C, “Medicare Advantage” is an alternative to “Original Medicare” plan above. This will be covered in more detail in a different post.
These decisions can be daunting especially if you have lots of other things going on. Seek qualified help in working through these issues, especially since missing some of the deadlines can cause life-long financial penalties.
Be aware that these are general guidelines.
Have I mentioned you should seek qualified help in making these decisions?
A good resource to use medicare.gov – lots of great information.