Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period: 2026 Rules

You're already in a Medicare Advantage plan, it's January, and the plan you picked back in the fall isn't working out. Can you switch now? Yes. From January 1 through March 31, the Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period gives people who are already in an Advantage plan one chance to move to a different plan or drop back to Original Medicare.

In This Guide

• Key Takeaways
• What the Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period Lets You Do
• Used Your One Change? You May Still Have Options
• Who Can Use the Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period
• How It Differs From the Fall Annual Election Period
• Going Back to Original Medicare: Don't Forget Part D
• Why the Marketing Calls Stop During This Window
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Learn More

What the Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period Lets You Do

So here's what this window actually gives you: one change, made once, sometime between January 1 and March 31, not unlimited plan-hopping. Make your move, and you're set until the next fall. Medicare's own rules spell out the two moves you're allowed.1

You can do one of these:

• Switch to a different Medicare Advantage plan, whether or not it includes drug coverage.
• Drop your Advantage plan, go back to Original Medicare, and sign up for a standalone Part D prescription drug plan at the same time.

That's the menu. Pick one. And because Medicare only counts one election here, you don't want to switch on a whim in January and then find a better plan in March. But read the next section before you conclude that a used-up election is the end of it, because for a lot of people it isn't.

Used Your One Change? You May Still Have Options

This is the part most guides leave out, and leaving it out costs people a year in a plan that isn't working. The one-election limit has written exceptions. Under Medicare's regulation, the single-election limitation does not apply to changes made during the fall annual coordinated election period, or during any Special Election Period.1

Some of those Special Election Periods are common enough to be worth checking by name.

Two groups aren't on the one-change clock at all, and both matter in eldercare. If you're institutionalized, meaning living in a nursing home or similar facility, Medicare places no limit on the number of elections or changes you can make: you may at any time choose an Advantage plan, switch to a different one, move to Original Medicare, or move from Original Medicare into an Advantage plan.1 And if you have both Medicare and Medicaid, or you get the Part D Low-Income Subsidy, Medicare's rules say you may in general make changes once per calendar quarter during the first nine months of the year.1

One group is outside this window in the other direction: if you're in a Medicare Medical Savings Account plan, you can only disenroll during an annual election period or a special election period, not during the Advantage Open Enrollment Period.1

Who Can Use the Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period

The Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period is only for people who are already in a Medicare Advantage plan. That's the whole gate. If you're sitting in Original Medicare and you'd like to jump into an Advantage plan, this isn't the window that lets you do it.1

There's one more group who gets it: people brand new to Medicare. If you sign up for Medicare and start out in an Advantage plan, you get this same one-time change during your first three months with the plan, even if those months land outside the January-to-March window.1

How It Differs From the Fall Annual Election Period

This is where a lot of people get tangled up, because Medicare runs two different windows with almost the same name. The fall one is the Annual Election Period, also called Medicare Open Enrollment, and per Medicare it runs October 15 to December 7. The one we're talking about here, in the new year, is the Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period (MA OEP for short). They are not the same, and they don't do the same things.2,1

The short version: the fall window is the big one, open to everyone, where most people make their choices for the coming year. The winter window is a narrower do-over, and only for people who are already in an Advantage plan and want to reconsider.2

Going Back to Original Medicare: Don't Forget Part D

Say you use this window to leave your Advantage plan and go back to Original Medicare. Medicare lets you sign up for a standalone Part D prescription drug plan at the same time, which is the whole point of calling it a coordinating change.1 Don't let that step slide. Original Medicare on its own doesn't include drug coverage, so if you drop your Advantage plan and forget to pick up a Part D plan, you can be left paying full price at the pharmacy.

A lot of people leaving an Advantage plan also look into a Medigap policy, which helps with the out-of-pocket costs Original Medicare leaves on the table. The rules for buying one vary quite a bit, so read up on how it works in your state before you make the switch, not after.

Why the Marketing Calls Stop During This Window

Here's a small mercy built into the rules. Once the Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period starts, plans are barred from knowingly targeting you or sending you unsolicited marketing to nudge you into switching. That prohibition sits right in Medicare's marketing rules.1

That doesn't mean the phone goes completely silent. Plans can still market to people newly aging into Medicare who haven't chosen yet, to 5-star plans' continuous enrollment period, and to people with both Medicare and Medicaid or the Low-Income Subsidy. What they can't do is work the existing-member lists to pull you out of one plan and into another during this window. So if you get a slick "switch now" pitch aimed at you as a current member in February, that's exactly the kind of outreach the rule is meant to stop.1

Read the silence correctly, though. It's a restriction on them, not a closed door for you. If you ask first, a plan may send you marketing materials, meet with you one-on-one with a sales agent, and walk you through the Open Enrollment Period on its call center line.1 Hearing nothing between January and March doesn't mean there's nothing to switch to. It means you get to make the first call.

Learn More

Find personalized help deciding whether to switch your Medicare Advantage plan at brevy.com.

The information on Brevy.com is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional legal, financial, or medical advice. Rules vary by state and program and change frequently. Always verify with the relevant agency or a qualified professional. Brevy is not a law firm, financial advisor, or healthcare provider.