Cancel My Medicare Plan
Can I Cancel My Medicare Plan after the Annual Election Period?
Cancel My Medicare Plan … what you need to know if you have a Medigap Plan
Cancel my Medicare plan is something we occasionally hear from people. Why do they want to change? More often than not, we have found they were surprised to learn how their plan actually worked when compared to their other choices.
Other issues that can come up include: all of the persons medications are not covered by the plan; their preferred doctors/hospitals are not in the plan’s network; they were not aware of other Medicare Advantage plans available to them with lower premiums and/or copays for covered services AND they were not aware of Medigap plans.
If the initial choice was a Medigap plan you have a 30-day review period after you receive your policy to get this done. Call us for guidance.
If you have had your Medigap (Medicare Supplement plan) for more than 30-days, it is an easy process to change plans. If you simply want to return to Original Medicare, just notify your insurance company of your wishes and they will cancel your plan. If you want to enroll in a different Medigap or Medicare Advantage plan call us. We can guide you through the process. Do not cancel your existing Medigap plan before you know what you want to do and are aware of the enrollment period rules for the plan you wish to join.
Cancel My Medicare Plan … Be aware of Medicare’s New Open Enrollment Period (OEP); this is exclusively for people with a Medicare Advantage plan.
If you decided you made a mistake enrolling in a Medicare Advantage plan AND the time period is between January 1 thru March 31, take advantage of the new special enrollment period called the ‘Open Enrollment Period’ (OEP). This is different from the ‘Annual Election Period’ (AEP) which runs from October 15 thru December 7th. OEP is designed for people that have a Medicare Advantage plan and want to:
- Change to a different Medicare Advantage plan;
- Return to Original Medicare (Part A and/or B); if you choose this path, you can also enroll in a Medigap plan and/or a Stand Alone Prescription Drug Plan (PDP).
If you want help understanding the rules or options, call us.
How to cancel your Medicare Advantage plan when you are outside your enrollment period(s)
The easiest way to do this is to enroll in a Part D plan (prescription drug plan). If you are presently enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan that includes prescription drug coverage and you wish to terminate this plan simply enroll in a Part D plan. Medicare will disenroll you from your Medicare Advantage plan with prescription drug coverage. They will notify your insurance company for you too. There are 28 Part D plans in Idaho in 2021. Call us if you want help selecting the right plan.
Cancel My Medicare Plan … Other options to be aware of
You can make changes to your Medicare Advantage and Medicare prescription drug coverage when certain events happen in your life, like if you move or you lose other insurance coverage. These chances to make changes are called Special Enrollment Periods (SEPs). Rules about when you can make changes and the type of changes you can make are different for each SEP. Learn more about Medicare ‘special enrollment periods’ here.
Cancel My Medicare Plan …. what to do about your Prescription Drug Coverage
Be aware of your enrollment periods for changing/dropping prescription drug coverage. First, we suggest you read your evidence of coverage document current plan sent to you. This will have information that will be pertinent. Additional information is available here.
Cancel My Medicare Plan … other resources/examples that may be useful
To learn more about Medicare’s enrollment rules download and read Chapter 2 of the Medicare Managed Care Manual found here. If you download this information and store it, remember this document is updated as need be. Always get a current copy of this document if you are going to familiarize yourself with Medicare’s enrollment rules. A general word of advice, if you are going to read this, remember the typical audience of this document is one that is familiar with Medicare and it rules.
Below are some of the more common situations that Medicare permits people to cancel their current Medicare Advantage plan. This list is not complete. You can review the above-mentioned document to learn more or if you feel you have a good reason to terminate your current plan, call the Idaho SHIBA office on 1-800-247-4422 to learn if it is permissible to do so.
Situation: You have decided you made a mistake enrolling in a Medicare Advantage plan AND the time period is between January 1 thru March 31. In Medicare-speak, this is known as the Open Enrollment Period (OEP). This is different than the ‘Annual Election Period (AEP) which runs from October 15 thru December 7th. OEP is designed for people that have a Medicare Advantage plan and want to either return to change to a different Medicare Advantage plan OR return to Original Medicare (Part A and B)…and perhaps enroll in a Medigap plan and/or a ‘Stand Along Prescription drug plan. If you want help with this, call us.
Situation: Medicare Advantage (MA) eligible individuals who elect a Medicare Advantage plan (other than an MSA plan) during the initial enrollment period (IEP) for Part B surrounding their 65th birthday have an SEP. This “SEP65” allows the individual to disenroll from this MA plan and elect the Original Medicare plan anytime during the 12-month period that begins on the effective date of coverage in the MA plan. Reference section 30.4.5 of the above-mentioned document.
Situation: If there has been a significant Change in Provider Network of Medicare Advantage plan a special election period exists for situations in which CMS determines that changes to an MA plan’s provider network that occur outside the course of routine contract initiation and renewal cycles are considered significant based on the effect or potential to affect, current plan enrollees. Read section 30.4.6 of the above-mentioned document.
Situation: Individuals may disenroll from a Part D plan (including PDPs and MA-PDs) to enroll in or maintain other creditable drug coverage (such as TriCare or VA coverage). The effective date of disenrollment is the first day of the month following the month a disenrollment request is received by the Part D plan. Additionally, individuals enrolled in an MA-PD plan who have or are enrolling in other creditable coverage may use this SEP to disenroll from the MA-PD plan by enrolling in an MA-only plan.
Situation: The time period is October 15 through December 7th, . This period is known as the Medicare Annual Election Period (AEP). During the AEP, Medicare Advantage eligible individuals may enroll in or disenroll from a Medicare Advantage plan. The last enrollment request made, determined by the application date, will be the enrollment request that takes effect. Read section 30.1 of the above-mentioned document for additional information.
Cancel My Medicare Plan … do you want help thinking this through?
Call us if you have a valid reason to terminate your current Medicare Advantage plan and would like to discuss your other insurance options. We are here to help.
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