Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period (MA-OEP):
January 1 — March 31, 2022

Starting in 2022, there’s an additional Medicare holiday to consider.

With the Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period, you can make a one-way change to your plan at the start of the year.

This enrollment period is great for people who lost benefits in 2022, or just want to do better than the plan they chose during October’s old enrollment period.

What Can You Do During the new Medicare Open Enrollment Period?

• Move from one Medicare Advantage plan (Medicare Part C) to another Advantage plan – but only one time.
• Move from Medicare Advantage to Original Medicare (Medicare Part A and Part B) – with the possibility of Medicare Supplement.
• Join or leave your Medicare Part D prescription drug coverage entirely – provided you already had Medicare Advantage before January 1.

What CAN’T You Do During the Medicare Open Enrollment Period?

• Move from Original Medicare to Medicare Advantage.
• Move from one Medicare Part D prescription drug plan to a different RX drug plan.

When Are Medicare Open Enrollment Changes Effective?

When you leave a Medicare Advantage plan during your MA-OEP, your Part C plan lasts through the end of the month. For instance: if you request to leave your Medicare Advantage plan on January 27, your last day on the plan will be January 31. Your new Medicare Advantage plan would start on February 1.

It’s also easy to cancel a Medicare Advantage plan during your MA-OEP.

Can You Change Multiple Times?

During the October Annual Election Period, you can make as many coverage changes as you want. During the January MA-OEP, you can only change once. You may still use a Special Enrollment Period or next year’s Annual Election Period to change coverage once more.

Extra Part A & B Coverage After Your MA-OEP

You can add a Medicare Supplement plan (which pays your out-of-pocket costs) to your Original Medicare if you use the Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period.

You may be subject to medical underwriting – meaning you are not guaranteed automatic enrollment or the lowest possible rate. However, you can avoid underwriting if you were on Medicare Advantage for less than a year.

Standalone Medicare Part D After Your MA-OEP: If you used the Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period to leave your Medicare Advantage plan, then you can join a standalone Medicare Part D RX drug plan during this time. Medicare Part D helps pay for your prescriptions. This is available to you even if your coverage didn’t include Part D before you left.

Getting a Medicare Quote from a Licensed Agent

HealthCare.com will connect you to a licensed, independent Medicare agent. They’ll fully explain your Medicare options, and show you a personalized set of coverage choices.