Each plan year, Medicare Part D and Medicare Advantage plans have the option of not renewing their Medicare contract and their Medicare plans can be discontinued across the country or in a specific service area (state or ZIP code).

This means that, if a 2016 Medicare plan provider does not offer any alternative plans for their existing members - then the 2016 members of the discontinued Medicare plan must find a new Medicare Part D or Medicare Advantage plan - or be without 2017 Medicare Part D or Medicare Advantage plan coverage.

The following chart shows examples of 2016 stand-alone Medicare Part D prescription drug plans (PDPs) that will no longer be available in 2017, along with the number of people who will be affected:

Discontinued 2016 Stand-Alone Prescription Drug Plans with Membership
Plan Name	States	Members Affected
Advantage-Plus Meridian (PDP)	IL IN KY MI OH	2288
SilverSelect Rx (PDP)	AR	323
SmartSaver Rx PDP Value (PDP)	NY	1,057
Transamerica MedicareRx Classic (PDP)	all states	6,686

What if your 2016 Medicare Part D plan or Medicare Advantage plan is not offered in 2017?
If your Medicare Advantage plan or Medicare Part D plan is discontinued in 2017, you may choose to join a new Medicare Advantage plan or Medicare Part D plan during the annual Open Enrollment Period.

However, if you do not enroll in a new Medicare Advantage plan or Medicare Part D plan by December 7th, you will be provided a Special Enrollment Period to join a 2017 Medicare plan from December 8, 2016 through February 28, 2017 (also called the Service Area Reduction Special Enrollment Period or SAR SEP).

Remember, if your current Medicare plan was discontinued in 2017, your 2016 Medicare prescription drug coverage ended on December 31, 2016.

Remember that coverage begins on the first day of the month following enrollment.
If you waited until January to enroll in a 2017 plan, your new prescription drug coverage will take effect on February 1st, so you will have no prescription drug coverage for the month of January.  And it continues that if you wait until February to enroll in a 2017 plan, your coverage will take effect on March 1st, so you will have no prescription drug coverage for January or February, 2017.

Our PDP-Compare and MA-Compare tools show the 2016 stand-alone Medicare Part D prescription drug plans (PDPs) and Medicare Advantage plans (MAs or MAPDs) across the country that will be merged, discontinued, or added in 2017.

How many people are affected by having their 2016 Medicare plan discontinued?
Around 350,000 Medicare beneficiaries. Each plan year, Medicare Part D and Medicare Advantage plans have the option of not renewing their Medicare contract and their Medicare plans can be discontinued across the country or in a specific service area (state or ZIP code).  Again, this means that these 2016 members of the discontinued Medicare plan must find a new Medicare Part D or Medicare Advantage plan - or be without 2017 Medicare Part D or Medicare Advantage plan coverage – and may be liable for a late-enrollment penalty.

So how do I join a Medicare plan using the SAR SEP?
Call Medicare at 1-800-633-4227.  If your Medicare plan was discontinued at the end of 2016, you can call a Medicare representative before the end of February 2017 and join a 2017 Medicare Part D and Medicare Advantage plans.

A few notes on Medicare plan that are being merged into another Medicare plan.
Each year, Medicare plans can consolidate multiple plans (meaning two Medicare Part D plans are brought together into one plan) or a Medicare Part D plan from one company may be merged together with a Medicare Part D plan from another company. In these situations, members of a Medicare Part D plan will be notified in their Annual Notice of Change (ANOC) letter about the merger or consolidation and given the option to join another plan during the annual Open Enrollment Period.  If people do not join another Medicare plan, they may find themselves automatically moved (or cross-walked) into another Medicare plan at the start of the next plan year.

Examples of 2016 stand-alone Prescription Drug plans that are being merged (cross-walked) into other plans in 2017.

Crosswalked Stand-Alone Prescription Drug Plans (with the number of plan members impacted by the merger or consolidation)
Plan Name	States	Members Affected
EnvisionRx Plus Clear Choice (PDP) members crosswalked to EnvisionRxPlus (PDP)	PA OR MI RI SC and a few other states	49,052
United American - Essential and Select (PDPs) members crosswalked to SilverScript Choice (PDP)	all states	114,741
First United American - Enhanced, Select, and Essential (PDP) crosswalked to SilverScript Plus (PDP)	NY	7,117

What about 2017 Medicare Advantage plan (MA and MAPD) mergers and terminations?
A large number of Medicare Advantage plan members will find that their 2016 Medicare Advantage plan will not be offered in 2017.  And many counties across the country will see significant changes in their Medicare Advantage plan landscape.  You can review 2017 Medicare Advantage plan changes using our MA-Compare tool found here: MA-Compare.com/2017.

To read more about 2016 Medicare plan mergers and consolidation, please see out Blog "Are you being reassigned to another Medicare Part D plan in 2017?"  Q1News.com/605