To enroll in Medicare Part D prescription drug coverage, a beneficiary must:

Why A is correct

Medicare Part D eligibility requires the beneficiary to be entitled to Medicare Part A and/or enrolled in Medicare Part B. Because Part D is a voluntary benefit open to people already in the Medicare program, the Part A and/or Part B requirement is the sole eligibility gate. Age and employment status are irrelevant to Part D eligibility, and neither exhaustion of Part A reserve days nor the purchase of a Medigap policy is required. Option A correctly states the eligibility condition for Part D enrollment.

Why the other options are wrong

• B) Part D is available to Medicare beneficiaries regardless of age or work status; being under 65 and working describes the wrong population for Part D eligibility. Part D eligibility is defined by Medicare entitlement, not by age or employment status.
• C) Lifetime reserve days concern Part A hospitalization after day 90 within a benefit period; exhausting them has nothing to do with Part D enrollment eligibility. Lifetime reserve days are a Part A hospitalization feature and are irrelevant to Part D.
• D) Medigap is a separate product and is not a prerequisite; many beneficiaries enroll in Part D without ever purchasing a Medigap policy. Medigap is never a prerequisite for enrolling in the Part D program.

Memory hook

Part D's only ticket: Part A and/or Part B. No age test, no Medigap test, no reserve-day test.