If you’re already in a Medicare Advantage plan and you want to switch to traditional Medicare, you should contact your current plan to cancel your enrollment and call 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227). Note there are specific enrollment periods each year to do this. The first period when you can switch from your Medicare Advantage plan to traditional Medicare is during the Medicare Open Enrollment period that runs October 15 to December 7. When you make the switch…

Not necessarily. You will need to contact the company that is offering your plan to find out if or which benefits are available out-of-state. If your plan does not offer out-of-state coverage, there may be another plan offered by the same firm that does, or a similar plan offered by another firm in your area. If you decide that you would like to switch to a different plan, however, note that you will need to…

If you switch from a Medicare Advantage plan to traditional Medicare and you want drug coverage, you can sign up during the Medicare Open Enrollment period for a stand-alone prescription drug plan in your area. Your new coverage will take effect on January 1. You can also switch from Medicare Advantage to traditional Medicare during the Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment period between January 1 and March 31, when you can sign up for a stand-alone…

If you enroll in a plan during the Medicare Open Enrollment period that runs from October 15 to December 7 each year, your coverage takes effect on January 1 of the following year.

If your current Medicare Advantage plan is not being offered next year and you do not choose another plan, you will be enrolled by default in traditional Medicare. In this case, if you do not receive Extra Help with your Part D drug costs, then you will need to select a Part D prescription drug plan (PDP) if you want Medicare drug coverage, unless you have drug coverage from another source of coverage (for example,…

There are a few ways to find out if your doctor is in a Medicare Advantage plan network. Medicare recently added searchable provider directories for Medicare Advantage plans on the Medicare.gov website. You can enter the names of up to five providers and see which plans include them in their networks. You can also identify a “must-have” provider to limit the results to plans that list that provider as in network.  Alternatively, you can go…