Medicare Advantage Plan Ending in 2027? The 63-Day Window

Some Medicare Advantage plans are not going to exist in 2027. If yours is one of them, you find out by letter — and that letter opens a window most people never hear about.

This is coming, and soon

I am not going to name the company. But one Advantage carrier told its investors it is dropping plans that cover about 600,000 people next year. That is one company, and they are not the only one making changes.

Plans have until September 30th to tell you what is happening to your coverage. So watch your mail, and open anything from your plan. Most people take one look at that envelope and throw it out. This is the year not to.

Why that letter matters more than it looks

When your plan is the one being discontinued, you get something called a guaranteed issue right.

Inside that window, a Medicare Supplement company has to sell you a policy. They cannot ask you health questions. They cannot charge you more because you have been sick. And they cannot refuse to cover a condition you already have.

Outside that window, in most states, they can do all three — underwrite you, price you on your health, or turn you down flat.

The 63 days, and where people get it wrong

The 63 days run from the day your coverage ends, not the day the letter arrives.

Your plan runs through December 31st, so you are counting from January 1st.

You can also apply as early as 60 days before your plan ends, which is how you avoid sitting there uncovered in January.

You do not get every plan

Guaranteed issue covers a specific list of Supplement plans, not all of them.

And if you first became eligible for Medicare on or after January 1st, 2020, two of the older plans are not available to you at all. Plan G usually is.

Being straight about the tradeoff

A Supplement comes with a monthly premium, and for a lot of people that premium is exactly why they are on an Advantage plan in the first place.

I am not telling you to switch. Staying on Advantage can absolutely be the right answer. I am telling you this is the one time you can switch without answering a single health question.

A few states give you those protections all year, so if you are in one, your math is different.

If that letter shows up

Call or text me at 941-412-2362 before the 63 days start running, and we will work out what it is actually offering you.

Educational only. Not connected with or endorsed by the U.S. government or the federal Medicare program.