Medicare Open Enrollment Period 2013

The Medicare open enrollment for 2013 will be from October 15th to December 7th, 2012, so mark your calendar!

The Open Enrollment period is the time when senior citizens and the disabled on Medicare are able to determine whether or not their current Medicare coverage is working for them. If are currently enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan or Part D prescription drug plan, and you feel that you may receive adequate or better health care at the same or a lower premium by switching your plan, you can change your plan during the Open Enrollment period.

Although persons who are eligible for Medicare, but are currently not enrolled in Medicare Advantage or a Medicare prescription drug plan, have during the open enrollment period the opportunity to enroll in a plan.

Lastly, if you want to cancel your existing Medicare prescription drug or Advantage plan, you can do so during this period of time.

Especially when it comes to prescription drugs, it is prudent to have additional coverage on top of your traditional Medicare plan. If you don’t have a Medicare Advantage plan that covers prescription drugs, Medicare Part D is very important to have.

If you miss your annual window of opportunity, you need to wait until the next open enrollment period in the following year. Because changes to your health may have occurred since you last enrolled in a Medicare plan, and insurance companies offer frequently new or updated benefits and plan options, or change their premiums, it can be advantageous to evaluate your Medicare options each year rather than staying in a plan with less benefits or a higher premium, compared to other Medicare choices.

Re-evaluating your current health care needs should be your first step before you compare the Medicare advantage or prescription plans that are currently on the market. Checking our plans from different insurance companies will then allow you to find out which options are available to you and to select the one that is right for you.

Medicare advantage plans and prescription drug plans available to you will vary based upon geographic area. Policies that offer basically the same or similar benefits may be priced differently by the providers.

You can see why it is important, especially if you have not made changes to your Medicare plan in the past, to start evaluating the different plan options that are available each year. This is how you can save money on your Medicare premium, or get better coverage for your current medical situation – for example when you just started to need expensive medication.

The Medicare Open Enrollment is your chance to take advantage of the many different Medicare plan options available to you, in order to gain control over high health care costs.