If You or Someone You Love Has Medicare Advantage, Don’t Ignore the Mail This Fall
If you have Medicare Advantage, or you help a parent, grandparent or loved one manage their healthcare, there are important changes coming in 2027. Major insurers are reducing or eliminating some Medicare Advantage plans, with changes at Humana alone expected to affect roughly 600,000 members.
And even if your loved one’s plan isn’t going away, their coverage may look different next year. Costs, provider networks, prescription coverage and extra benefits could change. That makes the paperwork arriving this fall especially important.
Start With the Mail
This is one of those times when helping someone you love can be as simple as making sure an important envelope doesn’t end up underneath a pile of catalogs.
Every fall, people enrolled in Medicare plans receive an Annual Notice of Change, often called an ANOC. It explains changes to the plan’s costs and coverage that will take effect in January. These notices typically arrive in September.
If you help manage healthcare for a parent or another loved one, ask whether they’ve received theirs. Then sit down and review it together.
Don’t just look at the monthly premium. Check:
- Are their doctors and preferred hospitals still in the plan’s network?
- Are their prescription drugs still covered, and have the costs changed?
- Have copays, deductibles or other out-of-pocket costs increased?
- Have dental, vision, hearing or other supplemental benefits changed?
- Are benefits they actually use, such as transportation, meals or over-the-counter allowances, still available?
What If Their Medicare Advantage Plan Is Ending?
First, don’t panic. A Medicare Advantage plan ending does not mean someone is losing Medicare.
It does mean they’ll need to understand their options and potentially select different coverage.
Humana, for example, says changes to its Medicare Advantage portfolio for 2027 will affect approximately 600,000 members. Other major insurers are reducing plan offerings as well.
The important thing to understand is that these changes won’t affect every Medicare Advantage member in the same way. That’s why reviewing the specific notice for your loved one’s plan matters more than reacting to a headline or something you see on social media.
Don’t Assume a New Plan Is Basically the Same
This is where families can really help.
If Mom’s plan disappears and another plan looks similar, don’t assume her doctors, prescriptions and benefits automatically carry over.
Before comparing plans, make a short list of the things that matter most to her healthcare: her primary care doctor, specialists, preferred hospital system, prescriptions and the additional benefits she actually uses.
Then compare the available options against that list.
Medicare’s annual Open Enrollment Period runs from October 15 through December 7, with coverage changes generally taking effect January 1.
If a Plan Ends, There May Be Additional Protections
If someone’s Medicare Advantage plan is discontinued, they may have additional enrollment protections and options.
In certain circumstances, someone returning to Original Medicare may have special rights to purchase a Medicare Supplement, or Medigap, policy without the usual medical underwriting. These protections aren’t a secret loophole, and they don’t apply identically to everyone. The circumstances and timing matter.
There’s another detail families shouldn’t overlook: Original Medicare generally doesn’t include outpatient prescription drug coverage. Someone returning to Original Medicare may need to enroll separately in a Part D prescription drug plan.
This is one reason not to wait until the last minute to figure everything out.
Make This a Family Conversation
Healthcare paperwork can be confusing at any age. And for many of us, helping aging parents navigate insurance has quietly become another part of caregiving.
So sometime this week, make one phone call:
“Hey, have you gotten anything in the mail about your Medicare plan for next year? Don’t throw it away. Let’s look at it together.”
Because caregiving isn’t always driving someone to an appointment, picking up a prescription or making dinner.
Sometimes caregiving looks like opening the mail, asking the right questions and making sure someone you love doesn’t miss an important deadline.