Navigating the Medicare Advantage open enrollment period

Medicare participation continues to grow, offering much-needed health coverage and support for our aging population. As existing beneficiaries know, Medicare has many great benefits and options. Yet for those new to it, navigating the deadlines and different enrollment periods can feel challenging at times.

The most important thing to keep in mind is that Medicare has four enrollment periods:

• Initial enrollment period. This enrollment period typically starts three months before your 65th birthday and ends three months after the month you turn 65. If your birthday falls on the first day of the month, your initial enrollment period will begin and end earlier — starting four months before you turn 65 and ending two months after the month you turn 65.
  

• Annual enrollment period. Between Oct. 15 and Dec. 7, you can join, switch or drop a plan to better suit your needs. Enrollees are invited to review their current plan and new plans that might provide more benefits or be less costly, and switch to whatever plan they choose.
  

• Medicare Advantage open enrollment period. If you’re enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan, you can switch to a different Medicare Advantage plan or switch to Original Medicare (and join a separate Medicare drug plan) once from Jan. 1 to March 31 each year.
  

• Special enrollment periods. You can make changes to your Medicare Advantage and Medicare prescription drug coverage when certain events happen in your life, such as you moving or losing other insurance coverage. Rules about when you can make changes and the type of changes you can make are different for each special enrollment period.

Understanding the Medicare Advantage open enrollment period

Many times, during the initial, special or annual enrollment periods, Medicare Advantage plan members may sign on for a plan that their doctor doesn’t accept. Sometimes, the benefits included are not what the enrollee understood them to be. To accommodate these situations, Medicare offers the Medicare Advantage open enrollment period from Jan. 1 to March 31 each year.

The Medicare Advantage open enrollment period is only for current enrollees in a Medicare Advantage plan. If you’re in a Medicare Advantage plan (with or without drug coverage), you can switch to another Medicare Advantage plan (with or without drug coverage). Or you can drop your Medicare Advantage plan and return to Original Medicare. You’ll also be able to join a separate Medicare drug plan. (Your coverage will start the first day of the month after you ask to join the plan.)

However, during the Medicare Advantage open enrollment period, you cannot:

• Switch from Original Medicare to a Medicare Advantage plan

• Join a Medicare drug plan if you're in Original Medicare

• Switch from one Medicare drug plan to another if you're in Original Medicare

Other Medicare Advantage enrollment opportunities

If you enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan during your initial enrollment period, you can change to another Medicare Advantage plan (with or without drug coverage). You can also go back to Original Medicare (with or without a drug plan) within the first three months of enrolling in Medicare.

Learn more by signing up for a personal Sharp HealthCare Medicare phone consultation.