Decision May Be Ahead During Medicare Open Enrollment Period

Last week the NRLN emailed messages asking: Do You Know Whether Your Medicare Advantage Plan Will
Continue in 2025? The reason for the question is that four Medicare Advantage Insurance companies have
announced they will drop over 1 million enrollees across the nation in 2025.

In addition to discontinuing MA plans, news articles have reported that many MA plans will raise premiums,
drop some benefits and increase the amount of out-of-pocket costs.

If you have an MA plan it is important to learn whether it will continue next year. If it will continue be sure to
check whether everything will be the same as it was in 2024 or what will change.

Anyone interested in shopping for and possibly changing an MA plan can do so during Medicare’s Open
Enrollment Period which begins October 15 and continues through December 7. MA plan enrollees may also
switch to original Medicare. (There’s another Open Enrollment period from January 1 to March 31 just for
people in MA plans who want to switch plans or switch to Traditional Medicare.)

If your plan is going to end on December 31, 2024, you should be sure to obtain a letter or email from your MA
plan provider that states, as federal law requires, that you have a Guaranteed Issue Right (GIR) to get another
MA plan or go into original Medicare.

If your MA plan is not being discontinued and you want to shift from MA to original Medicare and purchase a
supplement plan (Medigap), Philip Moeller, an author who writes about Medicare, recommends “look at
Medicare’s Plan Finder [www.medicare.gov] and the Medicare supplement plans there. Then, get in touch with
them [the insurer] and find out: Would you cover me if I switch and what would you charge me?”