Patty Duke and her TV family rehearse for a video announcing an online application for Medicare that will become available early next year. Photo courtesy Social Security Administration

Ready for Medicare but not for Social Security? Starting early next year, you can enroll in the health care plan online.

People who are already collecting Social Security benefits are enrolled automatically in Medicare when they become eligible at age 65. But those retiring after 65 have had to complete a Medicare application over the phone or in person at a Social Security office.

“We’re seeing more and more people wait until after they turn 65 to file for Social Security,” says spokesman Mark Lassiter, especially now that the eligibility age for full benefits is 66 (and eventually 67). This year, about 500,000 people are expected to apply for Medicare only, up from 218,000 since 2005.

With nearly 80 million boomers becoming eligible for Social Security and Medicare in the next two decades, the shift to online applications is a priority for the government. Last year, the agency debuted an online retirement calculator to help people decide when to begin drawing Social Security. And in January, an updated Social Security application became available on its website. The percentage of retirees applying online is now 34 percent, up from 19 percent last year.

As with the updated Social Security application, the online Medicare application will be touted by celebrity spokesperson Patty Duke. In the ads she will reprise her roles from the 1960s television series The Patty Duke Show, along with all the surviving cast members.

Michelle Diament is a freelance writer based in Memphis, Tenn.