Month, day, and year on which a group’s or individual’s health insurance coverage starts. Also called coverage effective date .

Amount the beneficiary must pay every year to get a Medicare-approved drug discount card.

1. Time in which individuals may apply for life insurance or health insurance. 2. Time in which individuals may choose either to re-enroll in an existing managed care plan or change to a competitor’s plan. See also open enrollment period, federal open enrollment , and group enrollment period . 3. Specified time when an individual can sign up for Medicare benefits. The period for general enrollment is January 1 through March 31 of each year for Medicare supplementary insurance. 4. Certain period of time when an individual can join a Medicare health plan if it is open and accepting new Medicare members. If a health plan chooses to be open, it must allow all eligible people with Medicare to join.

Recruitment rules of an insurance plan for establishing eligibility.

During four time periods an individual can enroll in Medicare Part A: initial enrollment period (IEP), general enrollment period (GEP), special enrollment period (SEP), and transfer enrollment period (TEP).