Medicare Open Enrollment: Dates and What You Can Change

Your plan generally renews itself — at next year’s prices and rules, not this year’s. Premiums, copays, the out-of-pocket maximum, the drug list and the provider network can all change each January, and the plan tells you how in the Annual Notice of Change it mails every fall. Doing nothing is a real choice; it just means you accept a plan you haven’t read yet.

No. If you’re already in a Medicare Advantage plan, the Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period runs January 1 to March 31 and lets you make one change: switch to a different Advantage plan, or go back to Original Medicare and join a separate Medicare drug plan if you do. The new coverage starts the first day of the month after the plan receives your request — not January 1.

No — that window is only for people already enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan. There is a different January 1–March 31 period, the General Enrollment Period, but it’s for people who never signed up for Part A and Part B when they were first eligible, and coverage starts the month after you sign up. If you’re on Original Medicare and want to change your Part D drug plan, your window is the fall period, October 15–December 7, unless a life event gives you a Special Enrollment Period.

Not automatically — this is the trap that costs people the most. Open enrollment lets you drop the Advantage plan, but outside a guaranteed issue right a Medigap insurer is allowed to use medical underwriting, and can charge you more or turn you down based on your health. Federal trial rights exist for people in their first year of Advantage, and some states grant broader rights, so check with your State Insurance Department before you drop anything.

Yes, and this is exactly what open enrollment is for. A plan can change its premium, copays, yearly out-of-pocket maximum, covered drug list, and which doctors and hospitals are in network from one January to the next. The Annual Notice of Change your plan sends each fall spells out what’s moving — read the drug list and network pages first, since those are where a free plan usually gets expensive.

Changes made during the fall Open Enrollment Period take effect January 1, and the plan has to receive your enrollment request by December 7. A change made during the January 1–March 31 Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period works differently — it starts the first day of the month after the plan gets your request. Nothing takes effect the day you call.

Your Medigap policy needs nothing — standardized Medigap policies renew automatically every year as long as you pay the premium, and the company can’t drop you for having health problems. Your Part D drug plan is the piece to review, because its premium, deductible and covered drug list can change every January. That comparison is the whole job for most Medigap households.

No — Medicare doesn’t cold-call to sell you anything. The FTC warns that scammers get more active around the October 15–December 7 window, often claiming to be Medicare and asking for your Medicare, bank or card number. For free, unbiased help comparing plans, call your State Health Insurance Assistance Program or 1-800-MEDICARE — and use Medicare.gov to compare, not a number from a postcard.