Open Enrollment Period

 

The Open Enrollment Period (OEP) is from January 1^st to March 31^st

Now is the time your clients are able to switch Medicare Advantage policies. Since this opportunity hasn’t been available for Medicare Advantage clients in a while (since 2011!) here’s some clarification of the OEP Rules:

If your client is enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan, they’ll have a one-time opportunity to:

• Switch to a different Medicare Advantage plan (Please remember: clients can only switch one time and the effective date would be the 1st of the month after which they apply)
• Drop their Medicare Advantage plan and return to Original Medicare, Part A and Part B
• Sign up for a stand-alone Medicare Part D Prescription Drug Plan (if they return to Original Medicare). Most Medicare Advantage plans include prescription drug coverage already. Usually the client can’t enroll in a stand-alone Medicare Prescription Drug plan if they already have a Medicare Advantage plan, but there are some situations where they can.
• Drop their stand-alone Medicare Part D Prescription Drug Plan

Please remember that the OEP is not the Annual Enrollment Period (AEP) and the agent cannot solicit or advertise the OEP to switch their client to another Medicare Advantage policy or back to regular Medicare.

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Want more details? Check out this article found on CMS.gov.