Medicare 2026

How San Bernardino residents avoid Medicare Part B, D penalties

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. — Two of the most expensive mistakes in Medicare have nothing to do with picking the wrong plan. They happen when people miss the deadlines to sign up for Part B (doctor visits and outpatient care) and Part D (prescription drugs). Miss those windows without a good reason, and Medicare can add a penalty to your monthly premium — often for as long as you have coverage.

Here's how the late-enrollment penalties work, who they hit hardest, and how to steer clear of them.

Why these penalties exist

Medicare is designed to work when healthy and sick people are both in the pool. If you could wait until you were sick to sign up, premiums for everyone else would climb. So Congress built in penalties for people who delay enrollment without a valid reason, like still being covered by an employer plan.

The catch: many people don't realize they were supposed to sign up until the bill arrives — with a penalty already attached.

The Part B penalty, in plain English

If you don't sign up for Part B when you're first eligible, your monthly premium can go up 10% for each full 12-month period you could have had Part B but didn't enroll. In most cases, you'll pay that higher premium for as long as you have Part B.

Example: If you waited three full years to sign up and had no other qualifying coverage, your Part B premium would be 30% higher — every month, likely for life.

Your Initial Enrollment Period (IEP) is the 7-month window that starts three months before the month you turn 65 and ends three months after. Signing up during that window is the cleanest way to avoid a penalty.

If you don't enroll during your IEP and don't qualify for a Special Enrollment Period, you'd typically have to wait for the General Enrollment Period (January 1 – March 31) to sign up, with coverage starting the month after you enroll.

The Part D penalty works differently

The Part D late-enrollment penalty kicks in if you go 63 or more days in a row without "creditable" prescription drug coverage after your Initial Enrollment Period ends.

"Creditable" means drug coverage — from an employer, union, VA, or other source — that Medicare considers at least as good as a standard Part D plan. Your plan administrator has to tell you each year whether your coverage is creditable, so hold on to those notices.

The penalty is roughly 1% of the "national base beneficiary premium" for every month you were uncovered, rounded to the nearest 10 cents. It's added to your Part D premium and, like Part B, usually stays with you for as long as you have Part D coverage.

The Special Enrollment Period that saves a lot of people

If you kept working past 65 and had health coverage through your job (or your spouse's job), you generally don't need to sign up for Part B right away. When that job coverage ends, you get an 8-month Special Enrollment Period to sign up for Part B without a penalty.

The mistakes that trip people up:

• Assuming COBRA or retiree coverage counts as active employer coverage — usually it doesn't for Part B purposes.
• Waiting until COBRA runs out to enroll in Part B, then discovering the 8-month clock started when the job ended, not when COBRA ended.
• Not realizing Marketplace (ACA) coverage doesn't protect you from a Part B penalty.

If any of that sounds like your situation, talk to Medicare or your local SHIP counselor before you make a move.

What this looks like locally

San Bernardino is in San Bernardino County, where a range of Medicare Advantage and stand-alone Part D plans are available during the Annual Enrollment Period (October 15 – December 7). But no matter how many options are on the table, none of them can undo a late-enrollment penalty already tied to your record. That's why the enrollment dates matter more than the shopping.

Heading into 2027, a few program-level figures are worth keeping in mind as you plan:

• The Part D out-of-pocket cap is $2,100.
• The Part D maximum deductible is $615.
• The coverage gap (the old "donut hole") is gone — Part D now has three phases.
• The Medicare Prescription Payment Plan lets you spread drug costs across the year in monthly installments if you choose.
• IRMAA income-based surcharges begin above $109,000 for a single filer.

How to avoid a penalty in the first place

A short checklist: 1. Mark your 7-month Initial Enrollment Period on the calendar as soon as you're close to 65. 2. If you're still working, confirm in writing whether your employer coverage is creditable for both Part B and Part D. 3. If you lose job coverage, act inside the 8-month Special Enrollment Period for Part B and the 63-day window for Part D. 4. Keep your creditable coverage notices. If Medicare ever asks you to prove you had drug coverage, those letters are your evidence.