Medicare DeadlinesGet my dates

Medicare enrollment calculator

Enter your birth date to see your first Medicare sign-up window, the last day to sign up for coverage from your birthday month, and when your Medigap window closes. It works in your browser; nothing you type is sent anywhere.

Work out your sign-up window

What's your date of birth?

Every deadline is counted from it.

How the window works

  • Your first window, the Initial Enrollment Period, lasts 7 months: it starts 3 months before the month you turn 65 and ends 3 months after it.
  • Sign up before the month you turn 65, and coverage starts on the 1st of that month. Sign up in that month or later, and it starts the 1st of the month after you sign up.
  • Born on the 1st of a month? Medicare counts you as turning 65 the month before. Medicare’s own example: born June 1, your window runs February to August and coverage can start May 1.

Source: Medicare.gov: When can I sign up? · Medicare.gov: When does Medicare coverage start?

When your dates are different

  • Already getting Social Security? You’re signed up for Parts A and B automatically, and your Medicare card arrives about 3 months before your birthday.
  • Still working? Health coverage from your own or your spouse’s current job, at an employer with 20 or more employees, may let you wait to sign up for Part B. You then get 8 months after the job or the coverage ends. COBRA doesn’t count.
  • Medicare through a disability, ESRD or ALS has different rules, and this calculator doesn’t cover it.

Source: Medicare.gov: When does Medicare coverage start? · Medicare.gov: Your Medicare card · Medicare.gov: Working past 65

If you miss it

Without coverage that lets you wait, your next chance is the General Enrollment Period, January 1 to March 31, with coverage from the month after you sign up. Part B then costs 10% more for each full 12 months you could have had it, for as long as you have Part B.

Source: Medicare.gov: When does Medicare coverage start? · Medicare.gov: Avoid late enrollment penalties

Your plans have windows too

You can join a Medicare Advantage or drug plan during this same first window. Medigap, the supplement that goes with Original Medicare, has its own 6 months, starting the first month you’re 65 or older and have Part B. After that, your options may be limited and the policy may cost more.

Source: Medicare.gov: Joining a plan · Medicare.gov: When can I buy Medigap?

Get every date for your situation

Answer a few questions and get your Medicare deadlines on one page: when to sign up, when to stop HSA contributions, and your Medigap and drug-plan windows. Free, and your answers never leave your device.

Work out my dates

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