This is one of the most common questions I am asked by Baby Boomers in Buffalo when I am brought in as a guest expert speaker for retiree seminars at well-known Employers, you would know by name, like M&T Bank, MOOG, Rich Food Products, Kaleida Health, and even most school districts across Erie County.

To be honest, the correct time for you to sign up for Medicare depends on your unique situation and circumstance. What you must do to sign up, and how you must submit your application, has changed dramatically and drastically. Everything is different now.

The general answer and advice I could give you without actually knowing what you have going on is to understand you do NOT sign up for Medicare when you need it to begin, but BEFORE you need it to begin. In fact, many months before.

Folks who make the smart choice to come into my office and sit down with me to share their situation, are given a custom and personalized myMedicare SmartPath Penalty Prevention Planner I create --- for FREE --- to take home. You can think of this like a blueprint to follow, with your exact timeline and “to-do” list plotted out, step-by-step, from start to finish, so no mistakes are made and nothing is ever missed or messed up.

I realize, though, that not everyone is going to want me to hold them by the hand, so I have shared with you an adequate, but abridged version of the planning I do in-person with all participants who qualify to use the free, nationally-recognized Medicare SmartStart Program™️ I manage for Erie County.

Just know, the entire Medicare application process is no longer simple, but I will do my best to make it simpler for you.

SCENARIO #1: If you are planning to retire at the traditional age of 65…

…and will not receive any sort of retiree healthcare coverage, then Medicare becomes your only option. You will sign up during the time called your “Initial Enrollment Period,” or I.E.P.

Your I.E.P. is a 7-month window which includes the 3-months before your birth month, your birth month, and the 3-months after your birth month. Example: John was born in July, his I.E.P. would consist of the 3-months [April, May, June], his birth month [July], and the 3-months [August, September, October].

There are, of course, significant complexities to your specific I.E.P. requirements than just the 7-month period that bookends your birth month, such as what day of the month you were actually born on, when you need, or want, your benefits to begin, if you’ll keep working, do you even need to sign up for Medicare at all, or can you wait, or does it make more financial sense to sign up for Medicare despite you still working because it’s less expensive for better coverage (which is true for most people, most of the time).

Where people make a costly mistake when applying in their I.E.P. is they often start their application process only 1 month before turning 65.

Totally legal to do, but you’ll get yourself in trouble waiting to the last minute, and doing things too late like this, because you are asking the Government to get done in 30 days, what they take 3 months to do.

They don’t work that fast and never have. They’ve always been slow as molasses and become even slower now. The the entire processing period is taking much longer because 12,000 Baby Boomers are turning 65 EVERY SINGLE DAY through 2030, and the majority of them are all applying at the same time, meaning applications are piling up, they can’t keep up with demand, and there can be very long, drawn out, delays.

When I was serving in the U.S. Air Force, we had a saying “If you are early, you are on time. If you’re on time, you’re late.”

You should think the same way about applying for Medicare. The EARLIER you submit your Medicare application paperwork, the better it will be for you.

SCENARIO #2: If you are planning to keep working past 65…

...you technically do not need to sign up for Medicare at age 65 if you will remain with “creditable coverage” through your Employer Group Healthcare Plan offered to you as active employee.

However, there have been critical new changes to what the Government accepts as “creditable coverage” from Employer Group Healthcare Plans. Many people are not being told about, or not paying attention, to these changes creating a shocking surprise to find out when applying for Medicare after age 65.

When delaying your Medicare, and you apply for your Medicare benefits later in life, you will need to use what is called the “Loss Of Employer Group Health Plan Special Enrollment Period,” or LEGHP S.E.P.

You can only use this LEGHP S.E.P. if you had “creditable coverage,” so it is important to ask an expert and coordinate your eligibility BEFORE you turn 65 if you want to be protected from paying a permanent penalty for life applying later.

When using the LEGHP S.E.P., you are given a 2-month window counting backward from the last day of healthcare coverage provided by your Employer. Example: John worked until age 67 and will retire in December with last day of Employer healthcare coverage ending December 31. He would need his Medicare benefits to begin for January 1st, so his LEGHP S.E.P. would consist of the 2-months back [November, December] from his start date to submit his application.
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​** NOTE** The good news is, you don’t have to do anything with Medicare on your own. As the one and ONLY approved Certified Starting Medicare Specialist™️ for Erie County, my office does offer the benefit of Medicare SmartApp application services on-site where we are authorized to, not only complete and submit your Federal Medicare applications FOR YOU --- FREE, but we also have the ability to speed up the time it takes for approval, shortcutting the typical 2-3 months down to 2-3 weeks, sometimes as fast as 2-3 days. Let me take away the stress of you trying to tackle anything with Medicare on you own! We are always happy to help in any way we can, you just have to ask…

​Due to our reputation and popularity being voted #1 best Medicare planning service in the area for the last 6 years in a row, appointments are limited and fill up fast. To see if you qualify to use the free, nationally-recognized and 5-star rated, Medicare SmartStart Program™️ I manage, call my local office in Clarence right now at (716) 833-0252. (Really the only people I can't help and the ones who never call).