Key Takeaways
- Medicare’s open enrollment runs from Oct. 15 to Dec. 7, 2026, but it doesn’t start Part B for someone who skipped it at 65.
- Someone who missed signing up at 65 without other coverage has to wait for the General Enrollment Period, which runs January 1 to March 31.
- Missing two full 12-month periods adds 20% to the Part B premium. At 2026’s $202.90 premium, that’s $40.58 a month, or $486.96 a year.
- Medicare usually charges the penalty for as long as you have Part B, and each year of further waiting adds another 10%.
Medicare’s open enrollment runs from Oct. 15 to Dec. 7 this year. If you skipped Part B at 65, it’s easy to see all the enrollment reminders and assume this is your chance to fix that.
It isn’t.
Take a hypothetical 67-year-old who passed on Part B at 65. She had no coverage from a job and no Special Enrollment Period to fall back on, and now she wants in.
This fall can’t get her there. And when she does sign up, the wait will have raised her premium for good. At 2026’s premium, the increase comes to $486.96 a year.
The window she needs opens in January
Medicare gives you a first window to sign up that lasts 7 months. It starts 3 months before you turn 65 and ends 3 months after the month you turn 65.
Miss that window without other coverage, and Medicare.gov says the next one is the General Enrollment Period, January 1 to March 31, every year.
Open enrollment sits between those two on the calendar, and it does a different job. It’s when people who already have Medicare change their coverage for the coming year. For our 67-year-old, that means the earliest she can sign up for Part B is January 1.
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Two missed years means 20%
Waiting has a price. Medicare charges an extra 10% on the Part B premium for each full 12-month period you could have signed up and didn’t.
Our hypothetical retiree has missed two full periods by the time she can sign up, so her penalty is 20%.
The penalty also doesn’t wear off. Medicare.gov says it’s usually charged for as long as you have Part B, and for most people that means the rest of their lives.
The math
CMS set the standard Part B premium at $202.90 a month for 2026.
The penalty is a percentage of that premium, so the math is short:
- 10% for each of two full periods comes to 20%.
- 20% of $202.90 is $40.58 a month.
- That’s $243.48 a month in total, against $202.90 for someone who signed up on time.
Over 12 months, the extra $40.58 a month adds up to $486.96.
And she pays it again every year.
Because the penalty is a percentage of the premium, its dollar amount moves whenever the premium does. The $486.96 is the 2026 figure. When she starts paying, her 20% will be charged on whatever the premium is that year.
Another year of waiting costs more
Say she lets January 1 to March 31 slip by. Her next chance would be the following January, and by then she’d have missed a third full 12-month period.
That makes the penalty 30%. At 2026’s premium, that’s $60.87 a month, or $730.44 a year: $243.48 a year more than the 20% she’d pay by signing up this winter. She’d also go another full year without Part B.
So the facts for anyone in her spot are simple:
- This fall’s open enrollment won’t start Part B.
- The General Enrollment Period, January 1 to March 31, will.
- Each full 12-month period that passes before signing up adds another 10% to the premium, usually for life.
The same rule matters for anyone still approaching 65. Signing up within the 7-month window around the birthday avoids the penalty entirely.
My take: if you skipped Part B and had no job coverage, circle January 1. The two years already gone have set your penalty. Whether it turns into three is still up to you.
Of course, the dollar figure will change. CMS published 2026’s premium on Nov. 14, 2025, and I’d expect 2027’s to land around the same time this year. When it does, her 20% will apply to that new number, and the $486.96 will move with it.
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Disclaimer:
Please note that the articles on TIKR are not intended to serve as investment or financial advice from TIKR or our content team, nor are they recommendations to buy or sell any stocks. We create our content based on TIKR Terminal’s investment data and analysts’ estimates. Our analysis might not include recent company news or important updates. TIKR has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading, and happy investing!
