Some job-based insurance plans offer creditable drug coverage. If you are eligible for Medicare Medicare is the federal government health insurance program that provides health care coverage if you are 65 or older, are under 65 and receive Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) for 24 months, begin receiving SSDI due to ALS/Lou Gehrig’s Disease, or have End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) no matter your age. You can receive health coverage directly through the federal government (see Original Medicare) or through a private company (see Medicare Advantage). and enrolled in Creditable Coverage Creditable coverage is used in two different ways. In general, it is coverage that gives you the right to buy or switch health insurance coverage without penalty, restriction, or waiting period. Different types of health insurance have different creditable coverage requirements. For Medigap policies, certain health insurance coverage you had within 63 days of securing a new policy can be used to shorten the waiting period for pre-existing conditions. This type of coverage that shortens the waiting period would be called creditable coverage. For Part D, creditable coverage is prescription drug coverage that is evaluated by an actuary and determined to be as good as or better than the basic Part D benefit. If you have creditable drug coverage, you can delay enrollment without penalty. Medicare Part A and Part B enrollment is NOT affected by prior creditable coverage.  from your current employer, you can delay Part D Part D, also known as the Medicare prescription drug benefit, is the part of Medicare that provides prescription drug coverage. Part D is offered through private companies either as a stand-alone plan, for those enrolled in Original Medicare, or as a set of benefits included with a Medicare Advantage Plan. Enrollment Enrollment is joining Original Medicare or becoming a member of a Medicare Advantage Plan or Part D plan.  without incurring a late enrollment penalty (LEP). When you decide to enroll in Part D, you will have a two-month Special Enrollment Period (SEP) Special Enrollment Periods (SEPs) are periods of time outside normal enrollment periods when you can enroll in Medicare or change your health and/or drug coverage. One example is the Part B SEP, which allows you to enroll in Part B without penalty while you have job-based insurance and for eight months after you lose the insurance or stop working. SEPs triggered by specific circumstances may also allow you to switch or disenroll from Part D and Medicare Advantage Plans. For example, if you moved out of your plan’s service area, you would receive an SEP to switch to another plan. .
Even if your drug coverage is not creditable, you may want to keep it as a form of Secondary Insurance Secondary insurance is health insurance that pays after primary insurance on a claim for medical or hospital care. It usually pays for some or all of the costs left after the primary insurer has paid (e.g., deductibles, copayments, coinsurances). If your primary insurance denies coverage, or if you do not have primary insurance, your secondary insurance may make little or no payment for your health care costs. See also: Primary Insurance. , and enroll in a Part D plan as Primary Insurance Primary insurance is health insurance that pays first on a claim for medical and hospital care. In most cases, Medicare is your primary insurer. See also: Secondary Insurance. . Having secondary insurance may help lower the cost of Part D-covered drugs when you are in the coverage gap (donut hole). Contact your plan to learn whether it coordinates with Part D coverage. You should also consider whether the cost of your monthly  for the plan is offset by the coverage it provides, or whether you are better off disenrolling and only keeping Part D.
In some plans, you cannot drop drug coverage without losing your health benefits or vice versa. Also keep in mind that your spouse or dependents are not eligible to use your Medicare coverage and may need other insurance if you drop your job-based insurance. Contact your benefits administrator to learn more about your job-based insurance before making Part D enrollment decisions.
If your drug coverage from current employment is not creditable, you can still delay enrollment into Part D. You will have the previously mentioned two-month SEP to enroll in a Part D plan. However, this SEP does not eliminate the Part D LEP. To avoid the LEP, you need to enroll in Part D when you are first eligible.