What your plan's letter means
A Medicare Advantage plan that is leaving Medicare, or stopping service where you live, must mail every member a notice at least 90 days before it ends. For plans ending Dec 31, 2026, those letters went out in early October. The letter says your plan “will not be offered” next year and lists your options.
A different letter, the Annual Notice of Change, may say your plan is being combined with another plan from the same company. That is a consolidation, not a plan ending. You keep coverage in the new plan on Jan 1, and the special plan-ending rights below don't apply. The first question in the tool sorts this out. If you can't tell which letter you have, call 1-800-MEDICARE or your SHIP.
The three periods, in order
- Open Enrollment: Oct 15 – Dec 7, 2026. Everyone with Medicare can join a new Medicare Advantage plan, or go to Original Medicare and add a stand-alone drug plan. Coverage starts Jan 1.
- Your Special Enrollment Period: Dec 8, 2026 – Feb 28, 2027. Only because your plan is ending. It starts on Dec 8, not on the date of your letter. If you join in December, coverage starts Jan 1. In January it starts Feb 1, and in February it starts Mar 1. Feb 28, 2027 is a Sunday. We found no rule that moves it, so don't leave it to the last weekend.
- Medigap guaranteed issue: from the day you got your letter to Mar 4, 2027. That is 63 days after your plan ends. It applies only if you switch to Original Medicare.
To have no gap at all, pick new coverage by Dec 31. If you join a new Medicare Advantage plan, you can switch once more from Jan 1 to Mar 31, 2027, during Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment.
What “doing nothing” means
If you don't join another Medicare Advantage plan before your plan ends, you'll be in Original Medicare (Part A and Part B) on Jan 1, 2027. You won't lose Medicare. But Original Medicare doesn't include drug coverage: that needs a separate Medicare drug plan. You can still join a plan until Feb 28, 2027, but the months before it starts aren't covered by a plan.
Drug coverage and the 63-day rule
Your plan's drug coverage ends with the plan. If you go to Original Medicare, a stand-alone Medicare drug plan you join by Dec 31 starts Jan 1. The latest you can join in this period is Feb 28, which starts Mar 1. That leaves 59 days without drug coverage.
Medicare's late enrollment penalty starts when you go 63 days or more in a row without creditable drug coverage. It is 1% of the national base premium for every full month without coverage, rounded to the nearest $0.10, and it is added to your premium for as long as you have Part D. If you waited for next fall's Open Enrollment (coverage Jan 1, 2028), that would be 12 months: 12% of the 2027 base premium of $41.33, about $5.00 a month. The 2028 base premium isn't known yet, so this is an estimate.
Medigap rights and trial rights
When a plan leaves Medicare, federal law gives you a guaranteed right to buy a Medigap policy if you switch to Original Medicare. Companies must sell you Plan A, B, D or G (C or F if you were eligible for Medicare before Jan 1, 2020), can't charge more because of your health and can't exclude a health problem you already have. The policy can't start until your plan ends. Keep your plan's letter and its postmarked envelope as proof. Massachusetts, Minnesota and Wisconsin use different standardized policies.
Trial rights are extra. If you joined Medicare Advantage when you first got Medicare at 65 and you're in your first year, you can buy any Medigap policy sold in your state. If you dropped a Medigap policy to join your first Medicare Advantage plan less than a year ago, you can buy the same policy back if the company still sells it. Answer the optional Medigap questions in the tool to see which applies.
Your state may give you more rights. Some states do. This tool shows federal rules only. Your State Health Insurance Assistance Program can tell you what your state adds: shiphelp.org (opens in new tab).
We don't recommend plans, companies or agents. To compare plans, use Medicare Plan Finder (opens in new tab). Every rule, the date math and its source are on How it works.