What is the Medicare General Enrollment Period?
The Medicare General Enrollment Period (GEP) is only one of the several enrollment periods in the Medicare program. It is a time to enroll in Part A and Part B when a client has missed their Initial Enrollment Period (IEP). The General Enrollment Period runs from January 1st to March 31st every year.
However, there is more to know about the General Enrollment Period than the dates alone. When someone has to wait until the General Enrollment Period to enroll, they can experience late penalties and delayed coverage.
Who is the Medicare General Enrollment Period for?
Beneficiaries have to wait until the General Enrollment Period to enroll in Medicare Part A and Part B when both of the following occur:
- They miss their Initial Enrollment Period
- They don’t qualify for a Special Enrollment Period
When a client waits until the General Enrollment Period to enroll in Medicare, they are risking late penalties and delayed coverage. Although they enroll between January 1st and March 31st, their coverage doesn’t start until July 1st. Therefore, if they don’t have coverage to last until June 30th, they could end up going several months without health coverage, as well as being charged late enrollment penalties.
Late Enrollment Penalties
For Part A, penalties can increase by 10% for twice the number of years that you decided to opt-out of coverage. So, if you did not sign up for Part A coverage during your IEP and waited two years, you might have to pay a 10% penalty for four years.
If you delay for Part B, the premium penalty goes up 10% for every 12 months you were eligible but did not sign up. If you delayed signing up by two years, you would pay a 20% enrollment penalty for as long as you are enrolled in Part B going forward.
The Part D penalty is calculated by taking 1% of the national average Part D premium (about $41 in 2021) and multiplying it by the number of months delayed. The penalty is added to your Part D plan premium. For example, if you delayed Part D for 36 months, your penalty would be $14.76.
