A late enrollment penalty (LEP) may apply if a consumer did not enroll in a Medicare Part D plan when first eligible or lacked creditable prescription drug coverage for how many continuous days?

• A. 63 or more continuous days
• B. 30 or more days
• C. 15 or more days
• D. 90 or more days

Answer: (A)

Late enrollment penalty is tied to gaps in prescription drug coverage. If you don’t enroll in a Medicare Part D plan when you’re first eligible and you go without creditable drug coverage for a continuous stretch long enough to meet the threshold, the penalty can apply. The key idea is that the penalty is about the length of the uninterrupted period without creditable coverage, not just the act of delaying enrollment. Among the options, the correct choice is the one that describes a continuous period long enough to trigger the penalty; shorter gaps would not reach the threshold and wouldn’t incur LEP. Creditable coverage means having drug coverage that Medicare considers as good as Part D, such as certain employer or retiree plans, and if that coverage exists only for a short time, it may not trigger the penalty.