Medicare controls when you are allowed to change your current Medicare coverage during certain times of the year. In this article we are going to cover the following scenarios:
Your Medicare supplement can be changed anytime throughout the year as long as you can pass medical underwriting and be accepted with a different insurance carrier. Medicare’s rules state that the first time you enroll in Medicare Part B you have a 6 month window to choose a Medicare supplement without having to answer underwriting questions. This allows everyone a fair chance to get whatever coverage they want no matter their current health condition.
Once you decide to change your Medicare supplement coverage the insurance carriers are allowed a chance to determine if they want to insure you or not. If your health prevents you from being accepted by a new insurance carrier you are guaranteed to be able to keep your original Medicare supplement coverage for life as long as you continue to pay the monthly premiums.
If you are able to switch your Medicare supplement coverage there a couple of steps you need to take. First, you apply with the new insurance carrier. Only after you are accepted by the new Medigap plan should you call to cancel the coverage from your old Medigap (or Medicare Supplement) plan.
Again, the regulations allow you to switch your Medicare supplement coverage throughout the year as long as you can pass the medical underwriting questions.
Because Medicare heavily subsidizes the Prescription Drug Plans on an annual basis they do not want you to switch your coverage mid-year. You are only allowed to switch your Prescription Drug Plan during the annual enrollment period from October 15th through December 7th. During the annual enrollment period you are allowed to pick a plan for the following calendar year. Your current coverage continues up until midnight on December 31 and the new coverage begins on January 1st.
By enrolling in a new prescription drug plan Medicare knows to automatically cancel your previous coverage the following January 1st. You do not need to call to cancel that coverage. Medicare will cancel the coverage for you automatically.
If you currently have Original Medicare, a Medicare supplement and a prescription drug plan and want to switch to a Medicare Advantage plan you need to make that change during the annual enrollment period from October 15th – December 7th. Your new Medicare Advantage plan will begin to cover you on January 1st of the following year.
In order to switch to a Medicare Advantage plan there are no health underwriting questions. You simply need to complete an application for a Medicare Advantage plan and that plan becomes effective on January 1st. Because Medicare either subsidizes a Prescription Drug Plan or a Medicare Advantage Plan for each person they will know to automatically cancel your current prescription coverage for you on January 1st—no need to call anyone.
You will need to call your Medicare Supplement insurance carrier and notify them that you will be cancelling your coverage on January 1st. Medicare does not notify the Medicare Supplement insurance carrier and leaves that responsibility to you.
Medicare heavily subsidizes the Medicare Advantage insurers on an annual basis. Because of this they only allow you to switch your Medicare Advantage coverage to a different carrier during either the annual enrollment period from October 15th – December 7th or the open enrollment period between January 1st – March 31st. If you change your coverage during either of these time periods your prior Medicare Advantage coverage will be automatically cancelled when the new plan becomes effective. You do not need to call or do anything to have the prior coverage cancelled.
If you currently have a Medicare Advantage plan and would like to switch to Original Medicare, a Medicare Supplement and Prescription Drug Plan there are two steps that you need to take. The first step is to apply with a Medicare Supplement Insurance carrier during either the annual enrollment period from October 15th – December 7thor during the open enrollment period from January 1st – March 31st to see if you are accepted for coverage. Once you are accepted for coverage with a Medicare Supplement Insurance carrier you can then enroll with a Prescription Drug Plan electing the same effective date as your Medicare supplement.
You need to switch your coverage in that order (first Medicare Supplement then Prescription Drug Plan) since you first need to know if you will be accepted in to the Medicare Supplement plan. Getting into the Prescription Drug Plan is guaranteed for everyone during those two enrollment periods so that will automatically occur.
Enrollment into a Prescription Drug Plan will automatically cancel your Medicare Advantage plan coverage on the effective date that you have chosen.
Medicare allows people to switch from Medicare Advantage to original Medicare during the open enrollment period from January 1 to March 31 in order to give people a second opportunity during the year to make this change. If you are accepted by a Medicare Supplement insurance carrier you are given the opportunity to elect a prescription drug plan to replace your Medicare Advantage plan during this time period.
If you have any further questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us. We are happy to assist you.