One of the biggest misconceptions when it comes to Medicare is thinking you can change plans after joining your Medicare plans.
In this email, I want to get clear on what the Medicare rules are to change plans once you’ve already picked your Medicare plan.
The reality is, they are not the same rules as they are in the Affordable Care Act. For example, with the Affordable Care Act, you can change plans every year regardless of your pre-existing conditions. But Medicare is different.
The key thing to know is that there are two main Medicare programs to go down.
- Original Medicare with Medigap plan and a Medicare Part D prescription plan.
- Medicare Advantage
The Medicare rule says that you can change Medicare Advantage plans every year during Medicare’s open enrollment period, which is from October 15th through December 7th.
If you decide to change plans during Open Enrollment, that new plan will become effective January 1st of the following year.
This also is the same for Medicare Part D prescription drug plans.
The critical thing to understand here is that, under Original Medicare, you will have a Medigap Plan, and Medigap plans have insurability rules.
What that means is in most states, when you first join Medicare, you have a six-month window where they’re required to accept you in these Medigap plans no matter what your pre-existing conditions are.
However, if you apply for a Medigap Plan out of that window, or if you try to change companies or letters, these insurance companies can ask you for your medical history. And if you’re not healthy, they don’t have to approve you.
For example, if you join Medicare with Medicare Advantage, and then you try to change in the future to Original Medicare, you can get denied coverage due to insurability rules.
That is why you can’t assume that you can change plans at any point in the future.
Unfortunately, most people don’t realize this critical mistake until they’re sick or have health issues. The thing is, once you’re sick, you’re usually uninsurable.
This is why I recommend that when you first join Medicare, you’re very thoughtful about the program, the plan and the companies that you want, and the options that you have in the future when it comes to changing plans, because you might not be able to change plans in the future.
To easily make the right Medicare decision you can CLICK HERE to sign up for our Medicare Enrollment Concierge.
