Medicare open enrollment runs October 15 through December 7, and if you do nothing, your drug plan usually renews with whatever your insurer changed for next year. Enter your prescriptions and pharmacy in Medicare’s Plan Finder and compare total yearly costs, not just premiums. If another plan’s total yearly cost is lower than your plan’s, switch by December 7.
Most people let it renew. In KFF’s analysis of the 2022 open enrollment, 69% of Medicare beneficiaries didn’t compare their coverage with any other Medicare option.
Skipping the comparison is risky because plans can change their terms every year, whether your drugs are covered by a stand-alone drug plan or a Medicare Advantage plan. Next year’s premium, deductible, covered drugs, drug tiers, and preferred pharmacies all take effect Jan. 1, and any of them can differ from this year’s. Check how your own drugs are covered as closely as the premium. A drug that leaves your plan’s list or moves to a higher-cost tier raises what you pay at every refill.
National averages won’t show you what your own plan changed. For 2027, CMS projects the average Medicare Advantage premium will fall to $12 a month from $14.37, and the average stand-alone drug plan premium will rise less than $1, to about $36. Your plan’s own numbers are in its Annual Notice of Change letter and in Medicare’s Plan Finder.
Run the check in the first week of open enrollment:
- Read the Annual Notice of Change letter from your plan for next year’s premium, deductible, and coverage of the drugs you take.
- Type Medicare.gov into your browser’s address bar instead of searching for it. The FTC warned on Sept. 28 that scammers run search ads that show up above the real sites during open enrollment.
- In Plan Finder, enter every prescription you take and the pharmacy you use, then compare plans by Plan Finder’s estimate of your total costs, not by premium alone.
- If another plan’s estimated total cost is lower than your plan’s, enroll by Dec. 7. Your new coverage starts Jan. 1.
If you want help comparing, call 1-800-MEDICARE or your State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP).
Social Security usually announces the next year’s cost-of-living raise in October, as open enrollment opens. If your drug plan costs more next year, part of that raise goes to the plan, so run the check before you count on the raise, and run it again every October.
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