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Can I drop my Medicare Advantage plan during the Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period (MA-OEP)?

Category: Medicare Plan Disenrollment
Updated: Jan, 29 2024


Yes.  The Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period (MA-OEP) runs from January 1st through March 31st.  During the MA-OEP, you are allowed to drop your Medicare Advantage plan (MAPD or MA), return to Original Medicare Part A and Medicare Part B coverage , and join a stand-alone Medicare Part D prescription drug plan (PDP).

During the MA-OEP, you can also change your Medicare Advantage plan coverage - however, you are not able to add Medicare Advantage plan coverage if you are not currently enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan.

As noted by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the Medicare Advantage OEP will allow people,
"enrolled in an MA plan, including newly MA-eligible individuals, to make a one-time election to go to another [Medicare Advantage] plan - or to leave their Medicare Advantage plan, join a stand-alone Medicare Part D plan, and return to Original Medicare Part A and Part B."
"For example, an individual enrolled in an MA-PD plan may use the MA-OEP to switch to:
(1) another MA-PD plan;
(2) an MA-only plan; or
(3) Original Medicare [Part A and Part B] with or without a [stand-alone Medicare Part D prescription drug plan] PDP.

The MA-OEP will also allow an individual enrolled in an MA-only plan to switch to:
(1) another MA-only plan;
(2) an MA-PD plan; or
(3) Original Medicare with or without a PDP.
"
"However, this enrollment period does not allow for [Medicare] Part D [PDP] changes for individuals enrolled in Original Medicare, including those with enrollment in stand-alone PDPs."



Question:  How do I use the MA-OEP to drop of change Medicare Advantage plans?

Call a Medicare representative at 1-800-Medicare (1-800-633-4227) and the representative will be able to change your Medicare Advantage plan or drop your Medicare Advantage plan.  Be sure to record the date of your plan change or disenrollment along with any confirmation number provided by the Medicare representative. 

Reminder about the timing of your change of enrollment or dis-enrollment during the MA-OEP

When you disenroll from your Medicare Advantage plan, the dis-enrollment begins the first day of the next month after dis-enrollment. 

So, if you disenroll from your Medicare Advantage plan on February 10th, your Original Medicare Part A and Part B coverage begins on March 1st. You can also join a stand-alone Medicare Part D prescription drug plan at the same time and your new prescription drug plan will also start on March 1st.

Reminder about your Social Security check premium deductions

The Social Security Administration (SSA) will probably need a little time adjusting your Social Security check deductions if you decide to use the MA-OEP.

So, if you dropped (or changed) your Medicare Advantage plan in January during the MA-OEP and joined another Medicare Advantage plan or a stand-alone Medicare Part D plan (PDP), you may still see payments for your old Medicare Advantage plan deducted in February and maybe even March, then in April (or so), any over-payments (or under-payments) from the February and March Medicare Advantage plan premiums will be reversed and the February and March premium payments for your newly chosen Medicare Advantage or Medicare Part D plan deducted from your Social Security check.


Historical note: More about the old MADP (now replaced by the MA-OEP)

Before 2019, you could drop your Medicare Advantage plan (MA or MAPD) during the annual Medicare Advantage plan Disenrollment Period (or MADP) that ran from January 1st until February 14th of each year.  Similar to the MA-OEP, during the 2018 MADP, you still were allowed to drop the Medicare Advantage plan, return to Original Medicare Part A and Part B and join a stand-alone Medicare Part D prescription drug plan (PDP) - even if you had a Medicare Advantage plan that did not provide prescription drug coverage (MA).

Please remember:
  • During the MA-OEP,  if you were enrolled in a stand-alone PDP, but not enrolled in an MA plan, you could not make any change to your current PDP plan or choose to enroll in an MA plan during the MA-OEP unless you could use a Special Enrollment Period.

  • During the MA-OEP, people who left a Medicare Advantage plan (MA or MAPD) may have chosen to enroll in a Medicare Supplement or Medigap policy providing the person qualified under the terms of the Medicare Supplement policy they wished to purchase.

    Please note: As noted in more detail below, if a person used the MA-OEP to disenroll from a Medicare Advantage plan, they may not have had a Guaranteed Issue right to join a Medicare Supplement (meaning that they may be rejected or subject to medical underwriting with pre-existing condition exclusions) - Guaranteed Issue rights will vary between states.

    Reminder about: The Medicare Supplement Trial Right

    If you joined a Medicare Advantage plan or Programs of All‑inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) when you were first eligible for Medicare Part A at age 65, and within the first year of joining, you decide you want to switch to Original Medicare - you will have a you have a guaranteed issue right to join any Medicare Supplement that is available in your state.

    . . . and the Trial Right (Part II)

    You have a Medicare Supplement guaranteed issue right if... You dropped a Medigap policy to join a Medicare Advantage Plan (or to switch to a Medicare SELECT policy) for the first time, you have been in the Medicare Advantage plan less than a year, and you want to switch back to your Medicare Supplement (or Medigap plan). You have the right to buy the Medigap policy you had before you joined the Medicare Advantage Plan or Medicare SELECT policy, if the same insurance company you had before still sells it.  (If your former Medigap policy is not available, you can buy Medigap Plan A, B, C, F, K, or L that’s sold in your state by any insurance company.)






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