Medicare 2026

Medicare enrollment windows for Part B and Part D in Vancouver

VANCOUVER, Wash. — Most Medicare mistakes can be fixed. Missing your Part B or Part D enrollment window is not one of them. The penalties for signing up late can follow you every month for the rest of your life — and many people don't learn that until the bill arrives.

Here's what Vancouver-area readers need to know about these deadlines, who they apply to, and how to sidestep a lifetime surcharge.

Why these penalties exist

Medicare is built on the idea that healthy and sick people pay in together. If you could wait until you got sick to sign up, premiums would spiral. So Congress attached late-enrollment penalties to Part B (doctor visits and outpatient care) and Part D (prescription drugs) to encourage people to enroll on time — or keep other qualifying coverage until they do.

The key phrase is "qualifying coverage." If you delay Medicare because you have creditable coverage from an employer or a spouse's employer, you generally won't be penalized. If you delay for any other reason, the clock is already running.

How the Part B penalty works

Your Initial Enrollment Period is a seven-month window around your 65th birthday — the three months before, your birthday month, and the three months after.

If you miss it and don't have other creditable coverage, Part B adds 10% to your monthly premium for every full 12 months you were eligible but not enrolled. That surcharge doesn't go away. It sticks to your premium for as long as you have Part B.

A person who waits three years to enroll, for example, would pay 30% more every month — for life.

Part B also has limited sign-up windows. Outside your Initial Enrollment Period, you generally have to wait for the General Enrollment Period, January 1 through March 31, with coverage starting the month after you enroll.

How the Part D penalty works

The Part D penalty is smaller per month but works the same way — it never expires.

Medicare calculates it as 1% of the "national base beneficiary premium" for every full month you went without Part D or other creditable drug coverage after you were first eligible. That amount is then added to your Part D premium every month, and it's recalculated each year as the national base premium changes.

Even people who take no prescriptions today can get hit. The rule is based on whether you had coverage, not whether you needed it.

The "creditable coverage" rule that protects you

If you're still working at 65 — or covered under a spouse's active employer plan — you may be able to delay Part B and Part D penalty-free. The plan must be "creditable," meaning it's expected to pay at least as much as standard Medicare coverage.

Two tips that save people a lot of grief:

• Get it in writing. Ask your employer or plan for a creditable coverage notice each year and keep it.
• Don't rely on retiree coverage or COBRA to protect you from the Part B penalty. They usually don't count. When active employment ends, you generally get an eight-month Special Enrollment Period for Part B — use it.

What this looks like in Vancouver

Vancouver is in Clark County, where Medicare beneficiaries have a range of stand-alone Part D plans and Medicare Advantage plans with drug coverage to choose from during the Annual Enrollment Period, October 15 to December 7. Availability is set at the county level by the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), not by city.

A few 2027 program-level facts worth knowing as you compare drug coverage:

• Part D out-of-pocket costs are capped at $2,100 for the year.
• The maximum Part D deductible is $615.
• The old coverage gap, or "donut hole," is gone — Part D now has three simpler phases.
• The Medicare Prescription Payment Plan lets you spread your drug costs across the year in level monthly payments instead of paying big amounts at the pharmacy counter.
• IRMAA income-related surcharges kick in above $109,000 for a single filer in 2026.

How to avoid a lifetime penalty

A short checklist:

1. Mark your Initial Enrollment Period on the calendar the year you turn 64. 2. If you plan to keep working, confirm in writing that your employer coverage is creditable for both Part B and Part D. 3. When you leave that job, use your Special Enrollment Period right away — don't wait. 4. Even if you take no medications, enroll in a Part D plan (or a Medicare Advantage plan that includes drug coverage) when you're first eligible to lock in penalty-free status. 5. Review your coverage every fall during the Annual Enrollment Period.