Open Enrollment Period, is a very vague description and name for another Medicare change period. In 2019, Medicare beneficiaries who are currently enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan have until March 31 to make a plan change. This differs from the Annual Enrollment Period (Oct 15-Dec 7) in a few ways.
First, you must be currently enrolled in an Advantage plan to use the OEP.
Second, you can only make one plan change.
Third, insurers and agents cannot market plans to you during this period. This was meant to stop all the direct mail, TV ads, and phone calls targeted to seniors. I hope it works.
So if you have a Medicare Advantage plan, didn’t review it during the Fall AEP and would like to see if another plan might suit you better, you still have a few weeks to take a look. We don’t know if this 3 month OEP will return next year. Medicare will announce their enrollment plans in the next few weeks.