If you are enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan (MA or MAPD) or Medicare Part D plan (PDP) that is no longer offered next year (and you are not "crosswalked" or transferred  to another Medicare plan), you will be without Medicare plan coverage starting January 1st - unless you enroll in another Medicare Advantage plan or Medicare Part D plan that is being offered for the next plan year.

If you are enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan (MA or MAPD) that will be discontinued next year, you will be returned to your Original Medicare Part A and Medicare Part B coverage.

If your discontinued Medicare Advantage plan included prescription drug coverage (MAPD), you will also be without prescription coverage for the next year - again, unless you enroll in a another Medicare Advantage plan (MAPD) or Medicare Part D prescription drug plan (PDP).

How many people are usually affected by Medicare plan terminations?

2021/2022: Almost 190,000 people are currently enrolled in non-renewing 2021 Medicare Part D or Medicare Advantage plans and may lose their Medicare plan coverage unless they choose to enroll in another 2022 Medicare Part D or Medicare Advantage plan.

2020/2021: Over 1.1 million people are currently enrolled in non-renewing 2020 Medicare Advantage plans and may lose their  Medicare plan coverage unless they choose to enroll in a different 2021 Medicare Part D or Medicare Advantage plan.

2019/2020: Over 1.1 million people enrolled in non-renewing 2019 Medicare Advantage plans may lose their 2020 Medicare plan coverage.

2018/2019: Over 1.5 million Medicare beneficiaries were enrolled in non-renewing 2018 Medicare Advantage and Prescription Drug plans - with 1.44 million people enrolled in 2018 Medicare Advantage plans (MA and MAPD) that were being discontinued in 2019.  And 87,000 people enrolled in stand-alone 2018 Medicare Part D plans (PDP) that were no longer offered in 2019.

2017/2018: Over 1.2 million Medicare beneficiaries were enrolled in non-renewing 2017 Medicare Advantage  plans that were discontinued in 2018.

Important:  You have two specific opportunities to join another Medicare plan when your Medicare plan is discontinued.

(1) You can join a new Medicare Part D or Medicare Advantage plan during the annual Open Enrollment Period (AEP or Annual Coordinated Election Period) that runs each year from October 15th through December 7th.  If you join a new Medicare plan during the AEP, your coverage will begin January 1st.

(2) If you miss your annual enrollment opportunity (AEP), you will be granted a Special Enrollment Period (SEP) allowing you to join a Medicare Part D or Medicare Advantage plan outside of during the Annual Enrollment Period (AEP).  Because your Medicare plan is not being offered next year, your Service Area Reduction Special Enrollment Period (SEP SAR) begins on December 8 and continues through the end of February.

Note:  Other SEPs may be available to you and, if you miss either of these two enrollment periods (AEP or SAR SEP),  you should contact a Medicare representative (1-800-Medicare) and ask about other opportunities to join a Medicare plan .

Your Medicare plan enrollment becomes effective the first day of the month after enrollment.  For example, if you use the SAR SEP and enroll on December 20th, you still will have Medicare plan coverage starting January 1st.  But if you enroll into a new Medicare plan during February, your coverage begins on March 1st - and you will be without Medicare plan coverage for January and February.

The difference between Medicare plan mergers, consolidations, and terminations.

But, please note:  If you are in a Medicare Part D plan or Medicare Advantage plan that is being merged or consolidated into another Medicare plan, then you are not enrolled in a non-renewing Medicare plan or a Medicare plan that is being terminated next year - and this means that if your current Medicare plan is being changed to another Medicare plan next year (or consolidated) with different coverage, you are not eligible for the SAR SEP that is reserved for plan non-renewals or terminations.  (Also, if your Medicare plan is being merged into another plan, you may be told that you are being "cross walked" into another plan next year).

EXAMPLE #1 - Your Medicare Advantage plan is no longer offered next year

If you are enrolled in 2021 Medicare Advantage plan "ABC" and it is not offered in 2022 due to the plan's termination, you should choose a different Medicare Part D plan or Medicare Advantage plan during the Annual Enrollment Period.  But if you miss the December 7th AEP enrollment deadline, you will still be granted a Special Enrollment Period (SAR SEP) giving you more time to join a 2022 Medicare plan. The SAR Special Enrollment Period starts December 8th and continues through the end of February with plan coverage starting the first day of the month after enrollment.  If you do not join a Medicare plan before the end of the SAR SEP, you will be without Medicare Part D or Medicare Advantage plan coverage for the remainder of the year - unless you can take advantage of another Special Enrollment Period.

EXAMPLE #2 - Your Medicare Advantage plan is being merged into another plan next year

If you are enrolled in 2021 Medicare Advantage plan "ABC" and this plan is being consolidated into 2022 Medicare Advantage plan "XYZ", you will need to either accept the change into the 2022 Medicare "XYZ" plan or change Medicare plan during the Annual Enrollment Period (October 15th through December 7th).  If you miss the December 7th AEP enrollment deadline, you will be enrolled in Medicare Advantage plan "XYZ" for 2022, unless you can find some other Special Enrollment Period that applies to you.   But the Service Area Reduction Special Enrollment Period (SAR SEP) is not available to you.

Important: Annual Medicare Part D and Medicare Advantage plan changes and plan crosswalks (reassignments) can be viewed in our PDP-Compare and MA-Compare tools.

These Q1Medicare tools highlight changes in Medicare plan features from one plan year to the next and can be accessed directly at PDP-Compare.com and MA-Compare.com.

As a short-cut to Medicare Part D plans, you can go right to your state by following the link with your state code: for example: PDP-Compare.com/FL.  For Medicare Advantage plans, following the MA-Compare link with your ZIP code: For example: MA-Compare.com/90001.