As a reminder, if you are enrolled in a Medicare Part D plan that is not offered next year, you will be without prescription drug coverage starting January 1st - unless you enroll in a Medicare Part D plan for the next year.

If you are enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan 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, you will also be without prescription coverage for the next year - again, unless you enroll in a another Medicare Advantage plan or Medicare Part D prescription drug plan.

You can join a new Medicare Part D or Medicare Advantage plan during the annual Open Enrollment Period (or Annual Coordinated Election Period) that runs each year from October 15th through December 7th.

The good news is, if you miss your enrollment opportunity during the annual Open Enrollment Period, you will be granted a Special Enrollment Period (SEP) allowing you to join a Medicare Part D or Medicare Advantage plan for next year.

The Special Enrollment Period for Service Area Reduction (SEP SAR) starts on December 8 and continues through the end of February.  Your Medicare plan enrollment becomes effective the first day of the month after enrollment (so if you enroll in December, you still will have Medicare plan coverage starting January 1st of the next year).

Please note: If you are in a Medicare Part D plan or Medicare Advantage plan that is being merged, "cross walked", 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.  This means that if your current Medicare plan is being changed to another Medicare plan next year (or consolidated) with different coverage, but you are not eligible for the SAR SEP that is reserved for plan non-renewals or terminations.

EXAMPLE #1: If you are enrolled in 2014 Medicare ABC and it is not offered in 2015, you should plan to choose another 2015 Medicare Part D plan or Medicare Advantage plan during the annual Open Enrollment Period.  But if you miss the December 7 enrollment deadline, you will still be granted a Special Enrollment Period giving you more time to join a 2015 Medicare plan.  The Special Enrollment Period starts December 8, 2014 and continues through February 2015, with plan coverage starting the first day of the month after enrollment.


EXAMPLE #2: If you are enrolled in 2014 Medicare plan ABC and it is being consolidated into 2015 Medicare plan XYZ, you will need to either accept the change into the 2015 Medicare XYZ plan or change Medicare plan during the annual Open Enrollment Period that starts October 15 and continues through December 7.  If you miss the December 7 enrollment deadline, you will be enrolled in Medicare plan XYZ for 2015, unless you can find some other Special Enrollment Period that applies to you.  But the Service Area Reduction Special Enrollment Period is not available to you.

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. Example: PDP-Compare.com/FL. For Medicare Advantage plans, following the MA-Compare link with your ZIP code. Example: MA-Compare.com/90001.