Medicare Advantage Plans 2012: When Can You Make Changes?

Though there are few differences between a Medicare Advantage Plan and an original Medicare plan there are some good alternatives to it. What makes the biggest difference is that a private insurance company is behind the curtain administering everything instead of the Federal government. However, there are still rules set forth for when you can add, drop or switch Medicare Advantage plans and they are discussed here.

You can join a Medicare Advantage Plan three months before you turn 65 years old, the month you turn 65, or the three months after. This gives you a seven month period to get started with your Medicare Advantage Plan, which is a good option. The same goes for when you have a disability as you can join in the 25th month after the disability begins or three months before or after the 25th month of disability.

New in 2012 is the option to change (join, switch or drop) a Medicare Advantage Plan from October 15th to December 7th. As long as you have completed enrollment by December 7th you will be set to enroll in your new plan by January 1st. Insurance companies tend to stick to their dates so don’t expect them to be very flexible on these dates.

Entry Filed under: Benefits Explained