Your plan letter came: what to do before December 7
A plain checklist for the 2027 plan year.
The short answer
The Annual Enrollment Period runs October 15 to December 7. It is your yearly chance to join, switch or drop a Medicare Advantage or drug plan, or move between Original Medicare and Advantage. Changes start January 1. Read your Annual Notice of Change, check your drugs and doctors, then decide on purpose.
About the name: Medicare.gov titles these same dates “Open Enrollment.” We call it the Annual Enrollment Period so it isn’t confused with the Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period, January 1 to March 31. Same window, same rules.
Five checks before December 7
Have your letter, a pen and your prescription bottles nearby.
Read the first page of your letter.
If you have a Medicare Advantage or drug plan, your Annual Notice of Change came in September. It lists changes in coverage and costs that start in January. Circle four words: deductible, copay, network and maximum out-of-pocket. No letter? Call your plan. If yours says the plan is leaving Medicare, read the question about that below.
Check every prescription, at your pharmacy.
Enter each drug, its dose and the pharmacy you really use in the Plan Finder at Medicare.gov. Look at the estimated cost for the whole year, not just the monthly premium. Costs and coverage can change from one year to the next, even when you don’t.
Call your doctors’ offices.
On an Advantage plan, ask each office, specialists too: “Will you be in my plan’s network in 2027?” The letter can say the network changed without saying who left. On Original Medicare, you can use any doctor or hospital that takes Medicare.
Add up a hard year.
Advantage plans have a yearly limit on what you pay for covered medical care. A hard year also includes your premiums, Part B included, and your drug costs. On Original Medicare there is no yearly limit unless you have extra coverage, like a Supplement. Add it up once, so you know the worst case before you need it.
Decide on purpose by December 7.
If everything still fits, keeping your plan is a real decision, and your coverage continues on its own. If something doesn’t fit, compare your options and enroll so the plan gets your request by December 7. New coverage starts January 1.
Key dates
- The Annual Enrollment Period opens.
- Last day. The plan must get your enrollment request by this date.
- New coverage starts. If you kept your plan, its changes for the new year start too.
- Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period. Only for people already in an Advantage plan: one change, to a different Advantage plan, or back to Original Medicare with the option to add a drug plan.
Questions people are asking right now
Short answers, with the episode or guide that goes deeper.
What can I change during the Annual Enrollment Period, and what happens if I do nothing?
From October 15 to December 7 you can join, switch or drop a Medicare Advantage plan or a drug plan, or move from Original Medicare to Advantage or back. If you do nothing and your plan is still offered, your coverage continues, and next year’s costs and benefits start January 1. Medicare’s own guide says that’s fine once you’ve reviewed your options. Staying is a real choice when you make it on purpose.
Go deeper:Plan letter came. What can you change?
My Medicare Advantage plan is ending. What are my options?
That’s a non-renewal notice, and Medicare says you must look for new coverage for next year. Besides the Annual Enrollment Period, you get a Special Enrollment Period from December 8 to the last day of February. If you don’t join another Advantage plan, you’ll be enrolled in Original Medicare and may need to add a drug plan. Going back to Original Medicare also opens a time-limited right to certain Supplement plans, whatever your health.
Go deeper:Two letters: your plan is changing, or your plan is going away
Is my doctor still in my plan’s network next year?
The letter can say the network changed. It can’t tell you whether your doctor left. Call each office, specialists too, and ask whether they’ll be in your plan’s network in 2027, then look them up in the Plan Finder at Medicare.gov. A special window for a network change later in the year is decided case by case, so the time to check is now. On Original Medicare, any doctor who takes Medicare is open to you.
Go deeper:Is your doctor still in network?
Is my drug plan still the right one, and why can a $0 plan still bill me?
The letter can list changes to the drug list. It can’t tell you what your own prescriptions will cost at your own pharmacy next year. Enter them in the Plan Finder and compare the yearly total, not just the premium. A plan can also have a deductible you pay first. And if your income is above a certain amount, an extra charge called IRMAA is added to your drug plan premium, even when that premium is $0.
Go deeper:Still the right drug plan? · Why can a $0 drug plan still bill you?
Can I go from Medicare Advantage back to a Supplement? Will I face health questions?
You can move from Advantage back to Original Medicare during this window. Adding a Supplement (Medigap) is a separate step. Outside your one-time six-month Medigap Open Enrollment Period, there’s no federal guarantee a company will accept you, and it may charge more because of your health. Some situations give you a guaranteed right, like your plan leaving Medicare or trying Advantage for the first time, and states can add protections. Ask before you switch.
Go deeper:The Medigap door locks behind you
Is that call really from Medicare?
Medicare says it will never call you to sell you anything or visit you at your home. It calls for personal information only in limited cases, like returning a call you made. Don’t give your Medicare Number to a caller you didn’t contact first. Hang up and call a number you already trust, like the one on your plan card or an agent you already work with.
Go deeper:Is that call really from Medicare?
Go deeper
Every piece below is ours: read it or listen, at your own pace.
What the Letter Leaves Out
The whole seriesOur five-part series on what your Annual Notice of Change doesn’t show.
- Part oneDid your plan add a deductible?We read a 2027 letter that showed neither deductible. Where to find yours.Read or listen
- Part twoWhat’s your worst-case year?The letter lists one limit. A bad year adds premiums, Part B and drugs on top.Read or listen
- Part threeStill the right drug plan?Your prescriptions, your pharmacy, next year’s price: the ten-minute check.Read or listen
- Part fourIs your doctor still in network?The letter can say the network changed. It can’t say whether your doctor left.Read or listen
- Part fiveWhat do the extras really cover?Dental, vision and hearing get noticed first. Their limits rarely make the letter.Read or listen
- The short versionFive things your plan letter won’t tell youAll five gaps in one conversation, timed for the Annual Enrollment Period.Read or listen
Your choices this fall
All Medicare seriesThe windows, the two letters, and the doors that close behind you.
- Take-Home Notes, part threePlan letter came. What can you change?The four Medicare windows, and which one is yours.Read or listen
- Healthcare in RetirementTwo letters: changing, or going awayOne letter means new prices. The other means you need new coverage.Read or listen
- Healthcare in RetirementThe letter, read like a spec sheetRead it the way an engineer reads a spec sheet: the seven lines that matter.Read or listen
- Healthcare in RetirementThe Medigap door locks behind youWhy going back to a Supplement isn’t always yours to decide.Read or listen
- Take-Home Notes, part fourMedicare.gov, live: searching 2027 plansThe Plan Finder, click by click, the way our workshop shows it.Read or listen
- PodcastWhy can a $0 drug plan still bill you?The income-based charge that no plan choice removes.Read or listen
- GuideThe IRMAA TrapWhy a higher income two years ago can raise your Medicare premiums, and how to ask for a new look.Get the guide
- GuideDental care in retirementOn an Advantage plan with dental built in? How to read what it really covers.Get the guide
- GuideHealth Care Sharing MinistriesOne of you not on Medicare yet? Options before 65, and the Medicare penalties to avoid.Get the guide
- GuideBefore Death Do Us PartOur most-requested guide: a checklist so your family can find the cards, policies and plan papers.Get the guide
- SeriesTake-Home NotesOur Medicare workshop in print, one section at a time.See the series
- Our teamMedicare planningHow our team helps with Medicare, this fall and every fall after.How it works
Want a second set of eyes on your letter?
Our team has helped Arizona and Nevada families with Medicare since 2001, and we read these letters with them every fall. Bring the letter, your prescription list and your doctors’ names. We’ll read it with you, and the choice stays yours.
Monday through Friday, 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM Arizona time, in our offices or by Zoom.
This page is general education about Medicare’s rules and dates. It does not recommend any specific plan or insurance company. Dates and rules come from Medicare.gov and CMS publications, checked October 26, 2026. For information on all of your Medicare options, visit Medicare.gov.