I missed the Medicare Open Enrollment Period, what can I do now?
The Open Enrollment period is the time when senior citizens and disabled persons on Medicare are able to determine whether or not their current Medicare coverage is working for them.
If you are currently enrolled in a Medicare plan and feel that you may receive adequate or better health care at a lower premium by switching your plan, you can change your plan during the Open Enrollment period. Also persons who are eligible for Medicare, but are currently not enrolled in a Medicare plan, have during the open enrollment period the opportunity to enroll in a plan.
The Medicare open enrollment period for 2022 was from October 15th through December 7th, 2021. If you missed your annual window of opportunity, you need to wait until the next open enrollment period from October 15th through December 7th, 2022.
But there are some exceptions. If you are currently enrolled in a Medigap plan, read here what you can do to switch the plan. If you are currently enrolled in da Medicare advantage plan, you can find more information on switching the plan here.
You can see that re-evaluating your current health care coverage regularly can be advantageous. Rather than staying in a plan with less benefits or a higher premium compared to other Medicare choices, it might be beneficial to search for other options.
Re-evaluating your current health care needs should be your first step before you compare the Medicare advantage or prescription plans that are currently on the market. Checking our plans from different insurance companies will then allow you to find out which options are available to you and to select the one that is right for you.
Medicare advantage plans and prescription drug plans available to you will vary based upon geographic area. Policies that offer basically the same or similar benefits may be priced differently by the providers.
You can see why it is important, especially if you have not made changes to your Medicare plan in the past, to start evaluating the different plan options that are available each year. This is how you can save money on your Medicare premium, or get better coverage for your current medical situation – for example when you just started to need expensive medication.
The Medicare enrollment period is your chance to take advantage of the many different Medicare plan options available to you, in order to gain control over high health care costs.
