Health Insurance Guys: Does this Napan face a penalty for not signing up for Medicare?

Dear Tom, Alan and Kyle:

I have a problem I haven't seen mentioned in any of your recent columns. Being an independent sort (kind of like a hog on ice, as my mother used to say), I didn't see the need to sign up for a drug plan since I don't even take aspirin.

Anyway, my birthday is this month (68 but I really don't feel like it), and I'm thinking maybe just having Medicare A and B might not be enough.

Can I sign up for a supplement and a drug plan?

Also, what sort of penalties can I expect?

Stubborn

Tom: Here goes, as it stands now you would only pay a penalty for not enrolling in a Medicare Part D prescription drug plan when you turned 65. You are subject to the late enrollment penalty (LEP) for the time you were without "creditable coverage."

This is my estimate:

The penalty begins 63 days after your initial enrollment period (IEP). Your birth month is October. Your IEP is 3 months before, the month of, and 3 months after. Three months after October is January. From the end of January, you add 63 days. Beginning April of 2019, your penalty runs to December 31 of 2021. My math says 33 months.

Al: Ironically, the LEP is right at $.33 per month (actually $33.37). That comes out to $11. What they do to that 11 bucks is add it on to your monthly Rx premium. Forever.

So, if you sign up for a drug plan on October 15 and the monthly premium is, for example, $20, you will pay $31 beginning 1/1/2022.

Kyle: Apart from the drug plan, there is no penalty involved with your Medicare supplement. However, since the guaranteed issue time ended 6 months after your 65th birthday, you will have to answer all the medical questions on the application and could be declined.

Here's another consideration: since we are in the Annual Enrollment Period (AEP, AKA open enrollment) and the Medicare Part C Advantage plans are available, take a look at Kaiser, SCAN, Western Health Advantage, or one of the others available in our area. I believe most, if not all, advantage plans in our area include drugs, known as MAPD's...Medicare Advantage Prescription Drugs.

Tom: We're not allowed to do Kaiser senior products, but in the case of our reader, if Kaiser Senior Advantage is $100 per month, our reader would pay $111 (approximately). If SCAN Classic is chosen at $34 per month the premium would be $45. Finally, the MyCare (HMO) through WHA has a premium of zero, so Stubborn would pay $11.

Al: Once on an advantage plan, a subscriber can switch to any other advantage plan every year during AEP (10/15-12/7). The same goes for any Prescription Drug Plan (PDP). There is no similar open enrollment period for supplements. We do have the "California Plan" which is every year on your birth month you can go to same or lower supplement plan.