The advertising is obnoxious, constant, and downright ridiculous! During the Medicare Annual Enrollment Period the only advertisement you see on television is for Medicare insurance of some sort or the other. You even get random phone calls from people and companies you've never heard of trying to sell you something over the phone. Thankfully we get a reprieve after the new year. What is interesting, there is an enrollment period that you can take "advantage" of that is happening right now.
The "Annual Enrollment Period" runs October 15th - December 7th. The Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period runs between January 1st - March 31st. Let's talk about the difference between these enrollment periods and how they affect you and your Medicare insurance products.
The Annual Enrollment Period, which we'll refer to as the "AEP" from this point forward, is the period that every Medicare beneficiary has to change certain Medicare plans. During the AEP you can change your Medicare Part D drug plan, you can change your Medicare Advantage Plan, you could terminate your traditional Medicare supplement, and Medicare Part D Plan, and switch to a Medicare Advantage Plan. During the AEP, you can in fact change plans as many times as you want, however the last plan you enroll in will be your plan for the following year.
The enrollment period that we are currently in is the "Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period." We'll refer to this as MA-OEP. During this period if you are enrolled in a Medicare Advantage Plan, you can chose to enroll in another company's plan. This enrollment period is helpful for those who missed out on their opportunity to have their plan reviewed during the AEP and are unhappy or dissatisfied with their current plan.
For those that are on "original Medicare" and have a Medicare supplement, you can change your plan at any time of the year. Medicare supplements are not regulated by any kind of enrollment period as they are private insurance plans that purely supplement Medicare.
The MA-OEP will be ending March 31st; if you would like to change your plan for 2022, now is the time!