Initial Enrollment Period (IEP)
Also called: IEP, Medicare IEP, turning 65 enrollment window
The Initial Enrollment Period (IEP) is a seven-month window around a person's 65th birthday month (the three months before, the birthday month and the three months after) when they can first sign up for Medicare.
Every person turning 65 has their own IEP, so for agencies it works like a rolling calendar rather than a season. Someone turning 65 in June starts their window in March.
This is why turning-65 marketing is built on dates: the right message depends on how many months a contact is from their birthday month, not on what time of year it is.
An agency that knows each contact's IEP dates can reach them before the window opens instead of after a competitor already has.
"Our turning 65 sequence sends the appointment invitation three months before each contact's IEP starts."
When should insurance agents start outreach before a client's Initial Enrollment Period?
Before the window opens. Many agencies start education about a year out and invite contacts to an appointment a few months before the IEP, so the plan is chosen early in the window.