Enroll in Part A Only
Be sure if you are enrolling in Part A only, you are either still working and covered by your employer group health plan or are covered on your spouse's employer group health plan (20+ employees). Also, be sure you are not actively contributing to an HSA (health savings account) or contributions are being made in your name. This can complicate things at tax time since Medicare Part A disqualifies you from making pre-tax contributions to an HSA. This is because the deductible is not high enough. You are of course still able to keep the funds you already have in your HSA and use them. Also, if the HSA contributions are being made in your spouse's name, you are able to go ahead and get Part A.
One more thing- be sure to stop contributing to your HSA 6 months before you decide to enroll in Medicare if you are going to wait until after 65 to enroll in Part A. This is because they will automatically backdate Part A up to 6 months back (but not before you were eligible for Medicare).
Now with that out of the way, if you are still working and are not contributing to an HSA, it is a great benefit to go ahead and get Part A. For one thing, as long as you have worked long enough and paid Medicare taxes (40 quarters/ about 10 years) it will be $0 premium. It is extra coverage that will pay secondary after your employer plan if you are admitted into the hosptial, sent to a skilled nursing facilitiy, or need hospice care. In addition, you will already get your Medicare number which makes it much easier to get Part B when you are ready to retire in the future.
- First, create an account on ID.me or Login.gov. You will need this in order to log into your Social Security account online. Skip this step if you already have a Social Security online account.
- Go to https://www.ssa.gov/medicare/sign-up and click on the blue button that says “Start application”
- Read and agree to the application benefit terms of services and click “Next”
- Click “Start a New Application”
- Click “I am applying for myself" and answer the question about whether you already have a My Social Security Account; click “Next”
- The next page is where you would login if you already have a My Social Security Account (or Login.gov or ID.me).
- It takes you to another sign-in page where you will login.
- Once you log in, you will be able to answer the short questions to enroll in Medicare A & B. Make sure you say “no” to the question about if you want to add Part B.
- Make sure to enter your employer coverage information.
- You won’t need to add any comments unless you have some special situation like there was a problem with your birth certificate or something like that.