Medicare recently announced that beneficiaries who qualify for Extra Help under the Medicare Part D prescription drug plan may enroll after the May 15, 2006 deadline without incurring the premium penalty. Medicare beneficiaries who receive Medical Assistance or have been on one of the Medicare savings programs have been eligible to enroll or change Part D plans after May 15 all along. (Medicare savings programs are where your Medicare Part B premium of $88.50 is not deducted from your Social Security check.) 

This new extension of the enrollment period for the Part D drug program affects people who qualify for Part D Extra Help because they submitted an application to Social Security; it also applies to people on SSI (low-income people who have not worked enough years to receive regular Social Security). If you qualify for Extra Help and missed the May 15 enrollment deadline, this new policy offers you a special ongoing enrollment period so that you don’t have to wait until Nov. 15, 2006 to enroll. 

Extra Help paying for Part D prescription drug coverage is available to single beneficiaries with annual incomes of less than $14,700 and assets of less than $11,500. If you are a married couple living together, Extra Help to pay for Part D drug coverage may be available if your income is below $19,800 and your assets are below $23,000. If you fall into these income and asset categories, but have not applied for Extra Help, call the Senior Federation’s Health Plan Information Center at 651/783-5045 to find out how to apply.

If you apply and qualify for Extra Help, but do not enroll in a Part D plan right away, Medicare will choose one and enroll you. Whether Medicare enrolls you or you sign up yourself, people who receive Extra Help may make one plan change between May 15 and Nov. 15, 2006. The next regular enrollment period, where everyone may enroll or change plans, begins Nov. 15, 2006 and runs through the end of the year.

Regardless of when you enroll, all of the new Part D plans go into effect on the first day of the month after the month that you enroll.    

Contact the Health Plan Information Center at 651/783-5045 if you have questions or think that you may be eligible for this option.