Medicare Advantage enrollees get one 12-month trial right to return to Original Medicare and buy a guaranteed-issue Medigap policy without medical underwriting.
The trial window closes 63 days after year one ends, and missing it can permanently expose beneficiaries to unlimited 20% outpatient coinsurance with no cap.
The MA Open Enrollment Period, which runs from January through March, lets you leave Advantage but does not guarantee Medigap access, leaving post-year-one switchers vulnerable to health underwriting.
Two retirees, same $1 million, same 4% rule, buy one finished with $1.4 million, the other hit $0 in 12 years. Our free reader guide explains the flaw that separated them, and the income-first method built to avoid it.
A 66-year-old retiree signs up for a zero-premium Medicare Advantage plan the month she turns 65. Fourteen months in, her orthopedist drops the network, her prior authorization for an MRI is denied twice, and she wants back on Original Medicare with a Medigap policy. She calls a broker. The broker asks when she first enrolled. Then he tells her the escape hatch closed 60 days ago.
#medicare
The trial window closes 63 days after year one ends, and missing it can permanently expose beneficiaries to unlimited 20% outpatient coinsurance with no cap.
The MA Open Enrollment Period, which runs from January through March, lets you leave Advantage but does not guarantee Medigap access, leaving post-year-one switchers vulnerable to health underwriting.
Two retirees, same $1 million, same 4% rule, buy one finished with $1.4 million, the other hit $0 in 12 years. Our free reader guide explains the flaw that separated them, and the income-first method built to avoid it.
A 66-year-old retiree signs up for a zero-premium Medicare Advantage plan the month she turns 65. Fourteen months in, her orthopedist drops the network, her prior authorization for an MRI is denied twice, and she wants back on Original Medicare with a Medigap policy. She calls a broker. The broker asks when she first enrolled. Then he tells her the escape hatch closed 60 days ago.
#medicare
3 months ago
