When Do You Become Eligible For Medicare Prescription Drug Plans?
When you become eligible for the original Medicare plan [2], you become automatically eligible for the Medicare prescription drug plan. However, for you to enroll into this plan, you must have been enrolled into the original Medicare plan. As stated before, this plan is optional and you can decide not to enroll after getting the original Medicare plan. It is advisable that you enroll into this plan even if you are not on medication.
When you become eligible and you want to get enrolled, you have to make sure you get enrolled at the right time. Initial enrollment period occurs about 3 months before your 65th birthday and 3 months after. If you are eligible and you are not 65 years old, you should watch out for the open enrollment period that happens between 15th of October and the 7th of December. Late enrollment attracts penalties.