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Share of Cost, Medicare’s General Enrollment Period Provides Important Opportunity for QMB and Part D Extra Help Coverage

Wednesday, Feb. 25th 2015 7:02 AM

Medicare’s General Enrollment Period (GEP) for Parts A and B is from January 1st – March 31. This is a particularly important time for Californian’s with low-incomes who are eligible and not yet enrolled in Medicare Part A. During this time, these individuals can apply for Medicare Parts A and/or B and the Qualified Medicare Beneficiary (QMB) program. QMB pays one’s Medicare Part A premium (if they do not qualify for premium-free Part A – which is $407 per month in 2015), Part B premium ($104.90 per month in 2015), and one’s Medicare deductibles and coinsurance. In addition, qualifying for and applying for QMB will automatically trigger a beneficiary’s entitlement to the full Part D Low-Income Subsidy (LIS), also referred to as Extra Help.

California does not have a Medicare Part A Buy-In Agreement that allows individuals to enroll in Medicare Part A at any time during the year in order to become eligible for Medicare cost-sharing benefits under QMB. Therefore, beneficiaries who don’t currently have Medicare Part A, must enroll in Part A before March 31, 2015 in order to be entitled to QMB benefits in 2015.

 

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Posted on Wednesday, Feb. 25th 2015 7:02 AM | by Share of Cost | in Social Security | Comments Off on Share of Cost, Medicare’s General Enrollment Period Provides Important Opportunity for QMB and Part D Extra Help Coverage