Medicare Advantage Plans
Medicare Advantage Plans, also known as Medicare Part C, are offered by private insurance companies to provide your Part A hospital benefits, your Part B medical benefits and often times your Part D prescription drug benefits. Medicare Advantage Plans can be enrolled during certain periods only. First is when you become eligible for Medicare known as the Initial Enrollment Period (IEP) where you have a 7 month window to enroll including 3 months before, the month of, and 3 months following your Part B effective date.
The second time frame to enroll is during the Annual Enrollment Period (AEP) which occurs annually from October 15th to December 7th.
The third time frame to enroll is during a Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period (OEP), from January 1 – March 31. During OEP, if you’re in a Medicare Advantage Plan and want to change your health plan, you can either: 1) switch to a different Medicare Advantage Plan with or without drug coverage; or 2) return to Medicare Part A and B and, if needed, also join a separate Part D drug plan.
If you don’t fall into one of these three enrollment periods, you may still qualify for a Special Enrollment Period (SEP), which is based on factors such as moving counties or states, losing current health care coverage or certain income limits which allow you to make quarterly changes. Each Medicare Advantage plan offers different benefits and is specific to your County.
If you need more information from Medicare about this program, please click the button below.