The scariest Medicare letters of the year land October 2nd. That same morning, we'll be at the library.
September 1, 2026
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Show Notes
Eddie and Betty's Conversation
Welcome back to The American Retirement Advisor. I'm here with Eddie, as always, and today we are getting into something that is already causing a lot of worry out there, and honestly the worry is understandable, but we think a lot of it is also preventable. We're talking about Humana, Medicare Advantage, and what is actually happening with those plan changes heading into 2027. Ian Schaeffer, our COO, wrote a piece about this that I think every Medicare household in the country should read, and we want to walk through it together today.
And I'll say right off the bat, when Betty showed me that piece, my first reaction was that the gap between the headline version of this story and the full story is really significant. Like, meaningfully significant in a way that changes how a person should feel and what they should actually do.
So let's start at the beginning. Ian sets the scene in a pretty vivid way. He talks about a letter arriving in October, from the insurance company, telling people their Medicare Advantage plan is not being renewed for 2027. And he says a few hundred thousand people are going to open that letter and assume the worst.
Right. And what he's describing is a real, specific thing. Humana confirmed over the summer that it is stepping back from some of its least profitable Medicare Advantage markets. The reporting puts it at around 600,000 members nationwide who are going to be affected.
Six hundred thousand people. That sounds enormous.
It does. And that number is accurate. But here's what the headline leaves off: that 600,000 represents about 8 percent of Humana's Medicare Advantage membership. So more than 90 percent of their members are not being touched by this at all. And even within that 8 percent, there's a lot more structure to what happens next than most people realize.
What does that actually look like in practice? Because I think when someone hears 'your plan is being dropped,' they picture a door slamming shut.
Yeah, that's not what the letter actually means, and it's not accurate. First, the plans being dropped are specifically the lower-rated ones, those sitting at three and a half stars or below. So this isn't a random cut across all their offerings. Second, and this really matters, Humana itself expects to move about 40 percent of the affected members into its other plans automatically. So nearly half of the people getting these letters may have a transition path already in motion before they even pick up the phone.
Wait, so for a big chunk of these people, the plan isn't 'you've lost your coverage,' it's 'we're moving you to a different one of our plans'?
That's what Humana is saying, yes. And then beyond that, the federal deadline to choose something else if you don't want to go where they're moving you, or if you're in that other 60 percent who aren't getting an automatic placement, that deadline is December 7. That's the Annual Enrollment Period. This is not a scramble-right-now situation.
Ian actually phrases that in a way that stuck with me. He says the letter won't tell you in plain language that this was expected, that there's a process, and that there's real time to make a calm, good decision.
And that framing is exactly right. These non-renewal letters are written in insurance and regulatory language. They're not designed to reassure. They're designed to comply with federal notice requirements. So a perfectly reasonable, intelligent person can read one and walk away thinking they did something wrong, or that they're about to be without coverage. Neither of those things is true.
And what does Ian say about why this becomes so stressful? Because I think the media piece of this is important.
He's pretty direct about it. That shareable, six-word version of events is "Humana Cuts Medicare Plans, 600,000 Members Affected." That's the one that moves. That's the one people forward to each other. But the release, the actual full picture with the 8 percent context and the 40 percent automatic transition and the December 7 deadline, that version doesn't fit in a headline, so most people never see it.
He puts it really cleanly. He says the news read you one piece of it, and somebody should read you the release.
Which is kind of the whole mission of what we do on this show, and honestly what Ian's whole article is about. The gap between the scary version and the accurate version is where a lot of bad decisions get made. People panic, they call whoever picks up first, they sign something in November that they regret in February.
So let's talk about what we're actually doing in response to this, because this is where the piece gets really specific and I want to make sure people hear the details. On Friday, October 2, American Retirement Advisors is holding two no-cost Medicare workshops. Two Valley libraries, same day, same content.
One is at the Foothills Library in Glendale at 10:30 in the morning, and the other is at the Mustang Library in Scottsdale at 2:30 in the afternoon. And you can come to whichever one works for where you are or what time works better.
And the date is not a coincidence.
Not at all. The federally required non-renewal letters are dated October 2. The whole point of being in those rooms on that specific Friday is to be there the same day the mail lands. So someone gets that letter in the morning, feels the dread of it, and can walk into a library that afternoon and get the actual facts.
I think that's such a thoughtful detail. Because the window between when fear sets in and when someone makes a reactive decision can be really short. If you can get into a room with real information on the same day, you're much less likely to do something hasty.
And there's another piece of timing that matters. October 1 is when the official 2027 plan information is released. So the workshops on October 2 are the first opportunity to actually look at what the 2027 landscape looks like with real data in hand. Before October 1, nobody, not our advisors, not anyone, can give you definitive answers about what's available and what it costs. After October 1, we can.
So you're not going in with approximations or guesses. You're going in with the actual 2027 information.
That's the idea. And Ian makes this point carefully in the article. Our advisors have already been digging into that same picture we talked about a moment ago, running it through for the specific families we work with. And what they're finding, so far, is a lot calmer than the headlines suggest. Most people are not losing anything. But the official data being available the day before the workshop means we can hand people facts, not just reassurance.
Now, I want to spend a minute on what these workshops are and what they are not. Because some hear 'free Medicare event' and they imagine folding chairs, someone in a suit pushing them toward a sign-up sheet, maybe a gift card drawing. And this is genuinely different.
Ian is really direct about this in the piece. By design, they will not discuss or recommend a single specific plan at the workshop. There will be no applications to sign. This is structured as an educational hour, full stop.
Which I think is actually harder to pull off than a sales event. Because people come in with real questions, specific questions about their specific situation, and you have to be disciplined enough to give them the framework to answer those questions themselves rather than just handing them a product.
Right. And what Ian describes as the content of the workshop is genuinely foundational stuff. How Medicare actually works in plain English. How Medicare Supplement and Medicare Advantage differ from each other, and where Part D fits in. How to use Medicare.gov, including what it shows you and what, as he puts it, it quietly leaves out.
That part about the website is interesting to me. What does he mean by what it's not showing you?
He doesn't spell out every detail in the article, and honestly I'd rather our team at American Retirement Advisors walk someone through that than me guess at the specifics on a podcast. But the broader point is that a government tool, even a good one, has limitations. There are things it doesn't surface automatically, things you'd want to know when you're comparison shopping, and knowing where those gaps are is part of reading your situation clearly.
That's a good reason to be in the room rather than just clicking through a website at midnight.
The workshop also covers the Annual Enrollment Period itself, the key dates, what each one means, what you can and can't do at different points in the calendar. And then they open the floor for questions.
Ian has a line about the Q&A that I love. He says the best question in the room is usually the one somebody was afraid to ask.
That's so true. The thing that feels embarrassing to ask in front of people is almost always the one half the room is also sitting on. Getting it out in the open helps everyone.
Let's go back to the Supplement versus Advantage distinction for a moment, because I think a lot of people, even people who have been on Medicare for a few years, are a little fuzzy on how those two things actually work differently. Can you give people a sense of what we mean when we say those are different?
At a high level, Medicare Advantage is a private plan that replaces Original Medicare. You use the plan's network, you use the plan's rules, and the plan manages the coverage. Medicare Supplement, sometimes called Medigap, works differently. You keep Original Medicare and the supplement policy covers some of what Medicare doesn't, like certain cost-sharing. And Part D is prescription drug coverage, which works differently again. Now, the specifics of how each one works, what it covers, what it costs in your area, how a specific plan compares to another, those are conversations for an advisor who can look at your actual situation. But understanding that these are fundamentally different structures is step one.
And I think the confusion between those two is part of what makes the Humana news feel scarier than it needs to be. If someone doesn't really understand what kind of coverage they have, a headline that says 'plans being dropped' sounds like the floor is falling out.
And that's exactly why education has to come before any conversation about what to do next. You can't make a good decision about something you don't understand. You'll just do whatever the first person you trust tells you to do, which may or may not be right for you.
So who should actually come to one of these workshops? Ian is pretty specific about that in the piece.
He lists three groups. People who are already on Medicare. People who are about to be on Medicare. And adult children who are trying to help a parent make sense of the mail. That last one is interesting because we hear from that group a lot. A grown kid gets a call from mom or dad, there's a confusing letter, nobody knows what it means, and the kid is trying to help from across town or across the country.
That's such a real scenario. I've had that conversation with people who are completely capable adults who just feel lost because Medicare is its own language and nobody taught them to speak it.
And that's the situation where well-meaning people make decisions based on whatever they read in thirty seconds online, which may be the scary headline version rather than the full picture.
Let's talk about seating for a second, because this matters practically. There's a cap on how many people can attend each session.
One hundred forty per slot. Two sessions, two libraries, one hundred forty seats each. Given that this is landing the same day as those non-renewal letters, I would not assume there's plenty of time to register.
And doors open thirty minutes early, Ian notes, which is worth knowing if you want to get settled and find a good seat before things start.
The registration information is in the article. You can go to 123easymedicare.com/oct-workshop, or you can call 877-220-1089. Both work.
And there's no cost to attend. Ian is clear about that.
No cost, no sign-up sheet at the door, no pitch. Educational hour.
I want to go back to something you said a few minutes ago about how the advisors have already been mapping out what 2027 is going to look like. Because I think that's actually a really important point that's easy to skim past.
Ian says that explicitly. The team has already begun reviewing the 2027 landscape for the families they serve, and the picture they're seeing backs up that same calmer-than-the-headlines pattern we just laid out. But they're also being honest that nobody can speak with certainty about your specific plan until the official 2027 data drops on October 1.
Which is a kind of intellectual honesty I really respect. It would be easy to come in and say 'don't worry, everything is fine.' But that would be substituting reassurance for information. The honest answer is 'the early picture looks calm, and we will have facts on October 2.'
And that's what makes the timing of the workshop so purposeful. They didn't just pick a convenient Friday. They picked it because it's the first day they can walk into a room with real 2027 data and be straight with people.
Can we talk for a second about what happens if someone gets one of these letters and it turns out their plan actually is being discontinued? Like, what is the practical path for that person between now and December 7?
So the broad shape of it is this. There is a federal process. The Annual Enrollment Period, which runs through December 7, is specifically designed to let people choose or switch coverage for the coming year. People in plans that are being discontinued typically have specific rights and windows, but I'd be careful about me stating the exact rules here on a podcast because the mechanics can depend on circumstances. That's genuinely a question for one of our advisors, who can look at your letter, your plan, your county, and give you an accurate answer rather than a general one.
And that's kind of the whole point of the workshop, right? Not to give everyone in the room the same generic answer, but to give them the tools and the context so they can ask the right questions and get the right answers for their own situation.
That's exactly it. A workshop can teach you the framework. An advisor who knows your situation can apply it to you specifically.
One thing I keep thinking about as we've talked through this is how much of what makes Medicare stressful is really about information and timing. People are afraid because they don't have the full picture, and they feel like they're out of time when they're actually not.
That's a clean way to put it. The fear and the urgency are real emotions, they make sense given how the letters are written and how the news covers it. But the underlying facts are a lot more manageable. There's time. There's a process. There are people whose whole job is to know how this works.
Ian describes what I think is a really telling little detail about why these workshops exist. He says they're going back to the library. And it's framed that way, like this is something they've done before, because the library is a neutral, public, non-commercial space. That matters when you're trying to show up as an educator and not a salesperson.
There's something to that. A library is where you go to learn something, not to be sold something. Holding a Medicare education event in a library sends a message before the first word is spoken.
And the content itself, the how Medicare works, the Medicare.gov tutorial, the Annual Enrollment Period dates, all of that is genuinely useful whether you're ultimately affected by the Humana changes or not.
That's the broader point. If you're on Medicare and none of that applies to you, this still matters. The Annual Enrollment Period is for everyone on Medicare. Understanding how to use Medicare.gov is useful for everyone on Medicare. This isn't just one carrier's story.
So if someone is listening right now and thinking, okay, this sounds like it's worth attending, what should they do?
Register. Do it today, don't let it sit on your to-do list. We already told you where to find the link and the phone number, so use one of them. Decide whether the Glendale Foothills Library at 10:30 in the morning or the Scottsdale Mustang Library at 2:30 in the afternoon works better for you, and grab your seat. One hundred forty per session, and given the timing of those letters, I wouldn't wait.
And if you're that adult child who's been fielding anxious calls from a parent about this, forward them the article, register for the workshop yourself if you can make it, or help them register. Ian specifically calls that person out as someone who belongs in the room, and I think it's because showing up informed is one of the most useful things you can do for someone you love who's navigating this.
There's a version of this story where that letter arrives in early October, spirals into a week of anxiety, makes a rushed decision in a panic, and ends up in a plan that isn't right for them. And then there's a version where they walk into a library on a Friday afternoon, spend an hour with people who know this inside and out, and walk out knowing exactly what they're looking at and what their options are.
The difference between those two versions is just information and access to the right people.
That's all it is.
That's really the heart of what Ian wrote. Not just the mechanics of the Humana changes, not just the workshop logistics, but this idea that a letter that ruins someone's week doesn't have to ruin their week. If you know what you're actually looking at, if you understand the process, if you have a room full of people who will give you the real picture and answer the question you were afraid to ask, the whole thing gets a lot less scary. So please, if Medicare is part of your life or a parent's life right now, come sit with us on October 2. We've got both locations covered, the Glendale morning session and the Scottsdale afternoon, so pick whichever one is closer to you or fits your schedule better. Register at 123easymedicare.com/oct-workshop or call 877-220-1089. No cost, no sales pitch, just the information you deserve to have. We'll see you there.