Yes. Medicare is not only for people turning 65. If you receive Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI), Medicare generally begins after a 24-month waiting period, and those 24 months do not have to run consecutively.

The two exceptions to the wait

ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease): there is no five-month SSDI wait and no 24-month Medicare wait. Parts A and B are set up for you as soon as your disability benefits start.

ESRD (kidney failure): this follows its own timeline rather than the standard 24-month path.

Bridging the wait

The gap between leaving work and Medicare starting is the hard part. COBRA's disability extension runs roughly 29 months, and because the SSDI wait plus 24 months comes to about the same, that extension can carry you most or all of the way. It is worth working out the dates on paper before you assume there is a gap.

Why South Carolina is different — and this is the part to read twice

Federal law does not require insurers to sell a Medicare Supplement (Medigap) to people under 65. Each state decides, and the three states The Jordan Insurance Agency serves have taken three different positions:

  • South Carolina: no law requires private insurers to sell Medigap to people under 65. Access runs through the state pool.
  • North Carolina: state law requires insurers to offer Plan A, and Plan D or G if they sell those at 65.
  • Tennessee: insurers selling Medigap at 65 and over must offer the same plans under 65.

So in South Carolina, Original Medicare plus a Supplement is the path with the most friction. That does not make it impossible, and it does not make the alternatives automatically right — it means the comparison is a different one here than it would be across the line in North Carolina.

What that leaves you

Under 65 in South Carolina, the realistic paths are Original Medicare with a drug plan, a Medicare Advantage plan, or — if you also have Medicaid — one of the four Dual Eligible Special Needs Plans available in South Carolina. With Original Medicare alone you pay 20% of most Part B services with no annual cap. Medicare Advantage plans must set a yearly maximum out-of-pocket for in-network care, which is one reason people under 65 look hard at them.

Turning 65 resets things

Your Medigap Open Enrollment Period is the six months starting the first month you are 65 and enrolled in Part B. At 65 you get a genuine fresh start, including your first guaranteed shot at a Supplement in many cases. A decision made now is not your last one, which is worth knowing if the options in front of you today feel thin.

Alongside this, what Medicare costs under 65 in South Carolina puts numbers to the decision, Medicare Advantage under 65 here covers the route most people end up weighing, and turning 65 on disability explains the window that resets everything.