AEP (Annual Enrollment)

What AEP is

The Annual Enrollment Period is Medicare’s once-a-year window to change your coverage. It runs October 15 through December 7 every year, and the changes you make take effect January 1.

• During AEP you can:
  • Switch from one Medicare Advantage plan to another
  • Move from Original Medicare to a Medicare Advantage plan, or the reverse
  • Join, drop, or change a Part D prescription drug plan
• Changes made during AEP take effect January 1 of the new year.
• AEP is not a guaranteed window to buy or switch a Medigap (Medicare Supplement) policy — Medigap has its own underwriting rules separate from AEP.

Why your plan can change even if you do nothing

• Every fall your plan sends an Annual Notice of Change (ANOC) — it spells out next year’s premium, copays, drug formulary, and network.
• Plans change year to year: a drug can move to a higher tier, a doctor can leave the network, or the premium can jump — even when the plan name stays the same.
• Doing nothing means you keep the plan as it will be next year, not as it is today. AEP is your one easy chance to react.

How to use AEP well

• Read your ANOC when it arrives in September.
• Re-check your prescriptions against the plan’s new formulary, and your doctors against the new network.
• Compare total cost for how you actually use care — not just the monthly premium.
• Decide early in the window; enrolling early avoids the December rush and the last-minute mistakes that come with it.