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Medicare Advantage Disenrollment Period
What You Need To Know!
Jan. 1 through Feb. 14 is the annual Medicare Advantage Disenrollment Period. This is when you can disenroll from a Medicare Advantage plan and then get your Medicare Part A and Part B through Original Medicare. But it’s important to know that disenrolling could lead to penalties or leave you without the coverage you need — both potentially costly mistakes.
Important!
- 1- If you choose to disenroll from the MA-PD plan and do nothing else, you will have Original Medicare only and not have prescription drug coverage.
- 2- You may want to add a Medicare Supplement (also called “Medigap”) health insurance plan to cover health care costs that Original Medicare doesn’t cover, but if you do, you may be subject to underwriting. This means you could pay a higher premium, have a waiting period or be denied coverage.
- 3- You will need to purchase a standalone prescription drug plan in order to replace the prescription coverage you had under your MA-PD plan. Medicare Part D has a penalty if you go without prescription drug coverage for longer than 63 days in a row, and it can be costly. So if you disenroll from a MA-PD plan, don’t delay in finding a replacement prescription drug plan.
- 4- Enrollment needs to be completed by Feb. 14.
5- If you disenroll from your Medicare Advantage plan it goes into effect the first of the month after making the request.
What You Can’t Do!
- Switch from Original Medicare to a Medicare Advantage Plan.
- Switch from one Medicare Advantage Plan to another.
- Switch from one Medicare Prescription Drug Plan to another.
- Join, switch, or drop a Medicare Medical Savings Account (MSA) Plan.
Go to http://www.InsuredMeds.com for more articles and information.
