October is approaching, and that means it’s time to start thinking about Open Enrollment Period, otherwise known as AEP.

Open Enrollment Period runs every year from October 15^th thru December 7^th. It is the only time of year that you make changes to your health insurance coverage, including adding, dropping, or changing your Medicare Supplement, Medicare Advantage and Medicare Part D coverage for next year.

Even if you are happy with your current health and drug coverage, Fall Open Enrollment is the time to review what you have, compare it with other options, and make sure that your current coverage will meet your needs for the coming year. Every year the insurance companies make changes to existing plans, so it’s important to be on the lookout for updates that come directly from your carrier.

You can make as many changes as you need to your Medicare coverage during Open Enrollment including:

1. Switching from Original Medicare to a Medicare Advantage Plan
2. Switching from a Medicare Advantage Plan to a Medicare Supplement Plan
3. Changing your Prescription Drug Coverage
4. Changing Insurance carriers

The most important things we tell our New York Medicare clients when considering plan changes for Open Enrollment are:

• Your access to your current doctors and health providers
• Your access to your preferred pharmacy
• Your access to preferred services and benefits
• The total costs for insurance premiums, deductibles, and cost-sharing amounts

Original Medicare changes are published every year on Medicare.gov. You can review them at any time to understand changes to 2023 Original Medicare. If you have a Medicare Advantage Plan or a stand-alone Part D plan, you will receive an Annual Notice of Change (ANOC) and/or Evidence of Coverage (EOC) from the insurance carrier that will review changes to

• The plan’s costs
• The plan’s benefits and coverage rules
• The plan’s formulary (list of drugs your plan covers)

Additionally, make sure that your drugs will still be covered next year and that your providers and pharmacies are still in the plan’s network. If you are unhappy with any of your plan’s changes, call the New York Medicare agents at Plan Medicare, to review your options.