It is still possible to join the Medicare Drug plan. The next open enrollment period will be from November 15 to December 31, 2006. Those newly eligible (during or after March 2006), however, have an individual enrollment period that mirrors that for Part B. To join without penalty, new members will have a seven-month period that includes the three months before the month of eligibility, the month of eligibility, and three months after the month of eligibility.
The penalty for late enrollment is a premium increase of at least 1% per month for every month that the applicant waited to join. This premium increase is permanent - as long as the member has Medicare drug coverage.
-Adapted from Boston Senior Home Care Newsletter, May 2006 and from http://www.medicarerights.org/101.html .05/06