Seven Weeks to Check the Plan

Medicare Open Enrollment runs from October 15 to December 7. A change takes effect January 1, and the plan has to receive the request by December 7. Doing nothing keeps the plan you have. For a lot of older adults, the person who actually does the checking is a son or a daughter.

Start with the letter. Every fall the plan sends an Annual Notice of Change, the list of what changes in January, from costs to coverage. If it never arrived, call the plan. Then take the list of doctors and every prescription and compare plans in Medicare's plan finder. A favorite doctor leaving the network or a drug moving to a higher tier is the quiet change that costs a family the most.

If you will be calling Medicare for your parent, set that up first. Medicare can only share their personal health information with you if they give verbal permission while you are on the phone, or if they have named you on the Authorization to Disclose Personal Health Information form. Filled out online in their Medicare account, it works right away. By mail, it usually takes a few weeks. Free, unbiased counseling is available through your state's SHIP, at shiphelp.org.

Medicare's own list of what is new for 2027 reads like a technology plan. A new ACCESS model for people in Original Medicare with chronic conditions, with virtual visits and wearable devices. Electronic prior authorization in some Medicare Advantage plans. Apps that connect to a Medicare account. None of it helps a family that does not know it is there.

Seven weeks, one letter, one list of medications. Check it before the deadline.