Medicare Annual Enrollment: What to Know

Medicare's Annual Enrollment Period (AEP) runs every year from October 15 through December 7. During this window, anyone enrolled in Medicare can review their current coverage and make changes for the following calendar year. Outside of this period, most people's options to switch plans are limited, which is what makes AEP worth paying attention to even if you think your current plan is working fine.

What can change during AEP

During this window, you can switch from Original Medicare to a Medicare Advantage plan (or the reverse), move from one Medicare Advantage plan to another, join, switch, or drop a standalone Prescription Drug Plan (Part D), and change your prescription drug coverage if your medications or their costs have changed.

Why plans are worth reviewing every year

Medicare Advantage and Part D plans commonly change their provider networks, covered medications (formularies), and out-of-pocket costs from one year to the next. A plan that fit your needs last year may look different this year, especially if your health needs, prescriptions, or preferred doctors have changed. Reviewing your plan annually — rather than assuming it will auto-renew the way you'd like — is one of the simplest ways to avoid coverage surprises.

Common mistakes people make during AEP

Some of the most common issues we see are missing the window entirely and having to wait almost a full year for another chance to change coverage, switching plans without checking whether current doctors and preferred hospitals are in the new plan's network, and not checking whether current prescriptions are covered — and at what cost — under a new plan's drug formulary.

How to prepare

Before AEP opens, it helps to gather your current plan's renewal notice (if you received one), a list of your current medications and dosages, and a list of the doctors and facilities you want to keep seeing. Bringing this information to a review conversation makes it much easier to compare your options side by side.