Turning 65 in Arizona: Your Medicare Checklist

Start about six months before the month you turn 65. Your Initial Enrollment Period is seven months long: the three months before your birthday month, the birthday month itself, and the three months after. If you sign up during the first three months, coverage starts the first day of your birthday month. In that window you decide whether to take Part B now, choose between a Medicare Supplement and a Medicare Advantage plan, and pick drug coverage. Arizona has no yearly Medigap switching window, so the supplement decision at 65 deserves real care. Use this checklist to keep it in order.

Six months before your birthday month

• Confirm your dates. If your birthday is on the first of the month, Medicare treats you as turning 65 in the previous month, so everything shifts a month earlier.
• Find out whether you will be enrolled automatically. If you already collect Social Security, your card should arrive about three months before your birthday month. If not, plan to sign up through Social Security.
• If you are still working, ask HR how many employees the company has and whether the group plan pays first or second once you have Medicare. That answer decides whether you need Part B right away.
• If you contribute to a Health Savings Account, plan when to stop. Contributions must end once Medicare starts, and Part A can be backdated up to six months when you enroll after 65.
• Write down your doctors, specialists, hospitals and prescriptions with doses. You will use this list for every comparison.

Three months before: your window opens

• Sign up for Part A and Part B now if you need them, so coverage starts on the first day of your birthday month.
• Compare the two paths: Original Medicare with a Medicare Supplement and a Part D plan, or a Medicare Advantage plan.
• If you lean toward a supplement, line it up now. Your six-month Medigap Open Enrollment Period starts the month you are 65 and enrolled in Part B. During it, companies cannot turn you down or charge more because of your health.
• Check whether your doctors accept the plans you are considering, and run your prescriptions through each plan's formulary.
• Come to one of our Medicare workshops, online or in Chandler, if you would like to see the options laid out before you decide.

Your birthday month and the three months after

• If you sign up in your birthday month or later, coverage starts the first of the month after you sign up, so there can be a gap after employer or Marketplace coverage ends.
• Make sure your drug coverage starts when Medicare does. Going 63 days or more without Part D or other creditable drug coverage after your Initial Enrollment Period ends can mean a penalty for as long as you have Part D.
• If you had a Marketplace plan through HealthCare.gov, end it so it stops when Medicare starts. Premium tax credits generally stop once you are eligible for premium-free Part A.
• Keep your red, white and blue Medicare card safe even if you join a Medicare Advantage plan; you will use the plan card for care.
• When your new plan cards arrive, check the names, start dates and plan numbers, and take them to your next doctor and pharmacy visit so the offices update your records before the first bill.
• Set a calendar reminder for late September each year, when your plan mails its Annual Notice of Change, so you can review before the Annual Enrollment Period opens on October 15.

The deadlines that carry penalties

Why Arizona makes the first choice matter

Many states give people a yearly chance to change Medigap policies without health questions. Arizona does not. According to the NAIC state chart (as of May 11, 2026), Arizona has no Medigap birthday rule. Outside your six-month Medigap Open Enrollment Period and a few federal guaranteed-issue situations, a company can ask health questions and may decline you.

That does not mean a supplement is right for everyone. It means the decision is not easily reversible. If you are drawn to a Medicare Advantage plan, ask about the federal 'trial right': if you join a Medicare Advantage plan when you first get Medicare at 65 and leave within the first 12 months, you can buy a Medigap policy without health questions.

What is available locally for 2027

If you are turning 65 now, you are shopping for plans that start in 2027. According to the CY2027 CMS Landscape file, Maricopa County has 52 Medicare Advantage plans from 13 insurance companies, and Pinal County has 47 plans from 10 companies (not counting Special Needs Plans). Arizona also has 9 standalone Part D plans for 2027. What matters is not how many plans exist but how each one handles your doctors and your prescriptions.

Questions to bring to your first Medicare conversation

Whether you meet with us, call SHIP or read through Medicare.gov on your own, these questions get to the answer quickly:

• Which doctors, specialists and hospitals do I want to keep, and do they work with Original Medicare, a given Advantage network, or both?
• Which prescriptions do I take, at what dose, and how often? Which pharmacy do I use in Chandler or nearby?
• Do I travel or spend part of the year outside Arizona?
• How much could I comfortably pay in a bad health year, and would I rather pay more each month to avoid that?
• Will I have employer, retiree, VA, TRICARE or CHAMPVA coverage alongside Medicare?
• Is my income likely to put me in an IRMAA bracket, or has it dropped recently because I retired?
• Do I want dental, vision or hearing coverage, and is it better inside a plan or as a separate policy?

Forms and help

Our Resources page links the official Medicare and You handbook and the forms people most often need: CMS-40B for enrolling in Part B outside your first window, CMS-L564 for proof of employer coverage, and SSA-44 if a life change such as retirement lowered your income and you want to ask Social Security to reconsider an IRMAA surcharge.

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The bottom line

Mark three dates: six months before your birthday month to gather information, three months before to enroll and choose, and the end of your Initial Enrollment Period as the last safe day for Part B and Part D. In Arizona, treat the Medigap decision at 65 as the one that is hardest to change later. Call us or stop by our Chandler office if you would like a second set of eyes on your timeline.