What is the Medicare Annual Election Period? 

The Medicare Annual Election Period (or AEP) is a period of time between October 15 to December 7 of each year when you can make changes to your Medicare coverage. The changes that you make during this time period will go into effect on January 1 of the coming new year.

If you are participating in AEP, it is likely that you have had Medicare coverage for at least some time now. Maybe you have had wonderful coverage all year, or maybe your coverage was not as good as it could have been. Either way, it is important to review your coverage with your licensed insurance agent to insure that you are receiving the best coverage possible.

Why does AEP matter?

Medicare provides this time period of open enrollment to beneficiaries each year because Medicare Advantage Plans (MAPDs) and Medicare Part D (prescription drug) Plans review and sometimes change coverage. Things that can change are copays, drug plan formularies, participating providers in the network, premium costs, etc.

If you have a Medigap (Medicare Supplement) plan, your Medigap coverage will not change from year to year. However, your Medigap premium can increase yearly.

Some of these changes may seem insignificant, however, if you could be spending less or receiving better coverage, wouldn’t you want to?

What can you do during AEP?

The Annual Election Period has specific rules of the changes that you can make to your Medicare coverage. During AEP you can:

• Change to a Medicare Advantage Plan from Original Medicare.
• Change from a Medicare Advantage plan to Original Medicare.
• Change from one Medicare Advantage plan to another.
• Enroll in a Part D prescription drug plan.
• Change from one Medicare prescription drug plan to another.
• Opt-out of Medicare prescription drug coverage completely

If you have been denied Medicare benefits or a Part D Plan you can now enroll in either or both. It is important to remember that you must receive benefits from Medicare Part A and Part B in order to qualify for a Part D Plan. If you did not sign up for a Part D Plan when you were first eligible you may receive a Part D penalty if you did not have creditable coverage.

The penalty for not having prescription drug coverage is 1% of the national base beneficiary premium. The national base beneficiary premium is the national average of the premium cost. The national base beneficiary premium for 2019 is $33.19. The monthly penalty is rounded to the nearest $0.10 and added to the monthly Part D premium. You will receive a penalty for every month that you did not have creditable coverage.

How to prepare for AEP

Each year, insurance plans send out an Annual Notice of Change in September. It is important to review this document so you are aware of the changes that will be made to your current plan. If you are confused or unhappy with these changes, it is important to bring your concerns to your licensed insurance agent so they can review your plan and advise you on how to move forward during AEP.

If you have had any health or prescription changes throughout the previous year, it is important to review your current plan to see how those changes will affect next year’s coverage, and most importantly, what you will be paying during the coming year.

It is important to review your coverage early on into AEP. It is easy to forget or brush this to the side, however, if you wait too long and AEP is over, you will likely have to wait until next year to make any changes to your coverage.

Having these documents ready for AEP will help make this process easier for you and your licensed insurance agent:

• The Annual Notice of Change from your current insurance provider
• Your Medicare (red, white and blue) card
• Your current insurance plan’s cards
• A list of your current doctors or health care providers
• A list of your current prescriptions

Making changes to your coverage does not have to be a difficult and daunting process. Our agents at Promise Peak are always willing to provide our free services to those in need. Please give us a call to receive a free consultation with one of our experienced licensed insurance agents. We are here to answer your Medicare-related questions and help make this a smooth transition for you. As always, Promise Peak is a promise you can keep.

Our Services are 100% FREE.

(800) 579-9492