AHIP Medicare Prescription Drug Plan Guide

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1.	Medicare Has Several Parts

2.	Becoming Eligible

3.	Who is Eligible

4.	Choices for Health Care Coverage

5.	Choices for Prescription Drug Coverage

6.	Payments

7.	Medicare Coverage Requirements

8.	Qualifying for Extra Help

9.	Signing Up

10.	Changing Your Plan

STEP 2: Find the Plan That's Best for You

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10. Changing Your Plan

You can CHANGE your Medicare drug plan every year.

If you are thinking about changing plans, follow the steps outlined in this Guide to make decisions about your Medicare drug plan. If you are already enrolled in a plan that provides the Medicare prescription drug benefit and you are happy with your current coverage, it is wise to check that your current plan will still meet your needs next year. Plans may change their benefits and/or costs from year to year.

If you want to change your plan, here’s what you need to know:

During the annual election period from November 15 through December 31 each year:

	You may join any Medicare Advantage Prescription Drug (MA-PD) Plan or Medicare Cost Plan that includes prescription drugs, or a stand-alone Medicare Prescription Drug Plan (PDP) that is available in your area. If you request enrollment between November 15 and December 31, your membership will begin on January 1. In order to ensure that your transition to your new plan is as smooth as possible, you are encouraged to enroll by early December.
	You may drop your Medicare prescription drug coverage and use Original Medicare or move to a Medicare Advantage Plan or a Medicare Cost Plan that does not have drug coverage. However, if you decide to re-enroll in the drug benefit in another year, your monthly premium probably will be higher than it would be if you kept your drug coverage, unless you have creditable coverage.
	In most cases, when you enroll in a new plan during the annual election period, your membership in your current plan will automatically be cancelled as of January 1.

During the open enrollment period, from January 1 through March 31, you may generally make ONE CHANGE in how you receive your Medicare medical benefits. This may have implications for your prescription drug coverage.

	If you are enrolled in a Medicare health plan with prescription drug coverage, you may disenroll from your current plan by enrolling in a different Medicare health plan with drug coverage, or by enrolling in a stand-alone Medicare Prescription Drug Plan in combination with Original Medicare.
	If you are in a stand-alone Medicare Prescription Drug Plan, you may disenroll by enrolling in a Medicare health plan that includes the drug benefit. During this period, you may NOT change to a different Stand-alone drug plan or to a Medicare health plan that does NOT have drug coverage.
	If you are enrolled in Original Medicare but not in a stand-alone Medicare Prescription Drug Plan, you may change to a Medicare health plan that does not have drug coverage, but you may NOT change to a Medicare health plan that includes prescription drug coverage or to a Stand-alone drug plan.
	If you are enrolled in a Medicare health plan (a Medicare Advantage Plan or a Medicare Cost Plan) and do not have Medicare prescription drug coverage, you may disenroll from your plan by enrolling in another Medicare health plan that does not have a drug benefit, or by enrolling in Original Medicare (Parts A & B). You may NOT change to a Medicare health plan that includes prescription drugs or to a stand-alone Prescription Drug Plan.

After March 31, you generally must remain in your plan for that year. However, you may switch between Original Medicare and a Medicare Cost Plan.

There are other special circumstances that allow someone to change plans in the middle of a year, such as moving outside of the area currently served by your plan.