Every fall, your Medicare Advantage or standalone Part D plan mails you an Annual Notice of Change, the document that tells you how your costs and coverage change in January. It's the one piece of mail people set aside and then regret ignoring when a January copay or a dropped drug catches them off guard. This guide walks through what the Annual Notice of Change shows, how it differs from the Evidence of Coverage that arrives with it, and what to actually do once you've read it.Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. (n.d.). Plan Annual Notice of Change (ANOC). medicare.gov. Retrieved Jul 24, 2026, from https://www.medicare.gov/basics/forms-publications-mailings/mailings/costs-and-coverage/upcoming-plan-changes
What the Annual Notice of Change is
If you're enrolled in a Medicare Advantage (Part C) plan or a standalone Medicare Part D drug plan, your plan sends you a notice each fall about how it will change for the coming year. That notice is the Annual Notice of Change (ANOC), a summary of the changes in coverage, costs, and more that take effect in January.Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. (n.d.). Plan Annual Notice of Change (ANOC). medicare.gov. Retrieved Jul 24, 2026, from https://www.medicare.gov/basics/forms-publications-mailings/mailings/costs-and-coverage/upcoming-plan-changes
One point clears up a common confusion: only Medicare Advantage and standalone Part D plans send an ANOC. If you have Original Medicare (Part A and Part B) without a Medicare Advantage or Part D plan, you won't receive one, because the ANOC comes from your plan itself.Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. (n.d.). Plan Annual Notice of Change (ANOC). medicare.gov. Retrieved Jul 24, 2026, from https://www.medicare.gov/basics/forms-publications-mailings/mailings/costs-and-coverage/upcoming-plan-changes
The ANOC is a summary, not the full rulebook. It lists what's changing between this year's plan and next year's, so you can see at a glance what's moving. Those changes take effect in January. The kinds of things it covers include:Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. (n.d.). Plan Annual Notice of Change (ANOC). medicare.gov. Retrieved Jul 24, 2026, from https://www.medicare.gov/basics/forms-publications-mailings/mailings/costs-and-coverage/upcoming-plan-changes,Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. (n.d.). 12026 understanding medicare advantage plans. medicare.gov. Retrieved Sep 24, 2026, from https://www.medicare.gov/publications/12026-understanding-medicare-advantage-plans.pdf
- Your monthly premium, deductible, and copays or coinsurance.
- The drug formulary, meaning which medications the plan covers and what tier each one sits on.
- The provider and pharmacy network, including whether your doctor or pharmacy is staying in the plan.
- Extra benefits, such as dental, vision, hearing, or over-the-counter allowances, that the plan may add, change, or drop.
Medicare.gov tells you to expect it in September, and CMS's guide to consumer mailings for the 2025/2026 cycle says people get this notice from their current plan by September 30. That puts it in your hands before the Medicare Open Enrollment Period, also called the Annual Election Period, so you have time to read it and act if you need to.Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. (n.d.). Plan Annual Notice of Change (ANOC). medicare.gov. Retrieved Jul 24, 2026, from https://www.medicare.gov/basics/forms-publications-mailings/mailings/costs-and-coverage/upcoming-plan-changes,Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. (n.d.). Open Enrollment. medicare.gov. Retrieved Sep 2, 2026, from https://www.medicare.gov/health-drug-plans/open-enrollment
How the Annual Notice of Change differs from the Evidence of Coverage
The ANOC rarely shows up alone. It usually arrives alongside a second, much thicker document: the Evidence of Coverage (EOC). People sometimes glance at the heft of the EOC, assume the whole packet is too dense to bother with, and put it all away. That's the mistake, because the two documents do very different jobs.Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. (n.d.). Plan Annual Notice of Change (ANOC). medicare.gov. Retrieved Jul 24, 2026, from https://www.medicare.gov/basics/forms-publications-mailings/mailings/costs-and-coverage/upcoming-plan-changes
The Annual Notice of Change is the short summary of what's changing. The Evidence of Coverage is the long reference that explains in detail what the plan covers, how much you pay, and more. Think of the ANOC as the "what's different this year" document and the EOC as the "everything about how this plan works" document.Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. (n.d.). Plan Annual Notice of Change (ANOC). medicare.gov. Retrieved Jul 24, 2026, from https://www.medicare.gov/basics/forms-publications-mailings/mailings/costs-and-coverage/upcoming-plan-changes
For an annual review, the ANOC is where you start. It's built to be read quickly. You only need to reach for the EOC when the ANOC flags a change you want to understand in full, or when you have a specific question about how a benefit works.
What to check in your Annual Notice of Change
When you open the ANOC, you're answering one question: does this plan still fit my life next year? Work through it with your own situation in front of you, checking each category the notice reports.Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. (n.d.). Plan Annual Notice of Change (ANOC). medicare.gov. Retrieved Jul 24, 2026, from https://www.medicare.gov/basics/forms-publications-mailings/mailings/costs-and-coverage/upcoming-plan-changes
| What the ANOC shows | What to check |
|---|---|
| Next year's premium, deductible, and cost sharing | Whether the new monthly and out-of-pocket costs still fit your budget |
| The drug formulary for next year | Whether each medication you take is still covered, and on what tier (a drug moving to a higher tier usually means a larger copay or coinsurance at the pharmacy) |
| The provider and pharmacy network | Whether your doctors, specialists, and pharmacy are staying in network |
| Extra benefits being added, changed, or dropped | Whether a benefit you rely on, like dental or vision, is changing |
| Whether the plan is being discontinued | Whether you need to choose a new plan to keep coverage |
Pull out your list of prescriptions and your regular doctors, and read the ANOC against them, not in the abstract. Here's the thought process on a typical year. Suppose your ANOC shows two changes: your monthly premium ticks up a little, and one prescription you take moves from a lower tier to a higher one. For the premium, multiply the monthly increase by 12 to see the real yearly cost; a couple of dollars a month is rarely worth switching plans over. The tier change is the one to price out, because a drug jumping a tier can add real money to every refill. Look up the new tier's copay in the same ANOC, multiply by how often you fill that prescription, and weigh that against what a different plan would charge on the Medicare Plan Finder. The point of the review is to catch the changes that affect you specifically.
If your plan includes Part D drug coverage, two federal limits for 2027 help you read the drug section of the ANOC. A plan's 2027 deductible can be lower than $700 but not higher, up from a $615 ceiling in 2026.Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. (2027). CMS — Announcement of Calendar Year (CY) 2027 Medicare Advantage Capitation Rates and Part C and Part D Payment Policies (April 6, 2026), Attachment V, Tables V-2, V-4 and V-6 (pp. 95–98). cms.gov. Retrieved Oct 12, 2026, from https://www.cms.gov/files/document/2027-announcement.pdf And once your out-of-pocket costs for covered Part D drugs reach $2,400 in 2027 (up from $2,100 in 2026), you pay nothing for covered Part D drugs for the rest of the year. Your monthly premium doesn't count toward that cap, and you keep paying it.Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. (2027). Announcement of Calendar Year (CY) 2027 Medicare Advantage (MA) Capitation Rates and Part C and Part D Payment Policies (CMS Rate Announcement), Section V, Tables V-2 and V-6. cms.gov. Retrieved Oct 12, 2026, from https://www.cms.gov/files/document/2027-announcement.pdf
To judge whether a premium change is out of line, it helps to know where the averages are heading. CMS projects that the average monthly premium across Medicare Advantage plans will fall from $14.37 in 2026 to $12.00 in 2027, and that the average total monthly Part D premium for standalone drug plans will rise by less than $1, from $35.09 to $36. Those are national averages across plans, not what any one plan charges, so the premium printed in your own ANOC is the number that matters.Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. (2027). CMS press release — Medicare Advantage and Medicare Prescription Drug Programs Expected to Remain Stable in 2027 (Sep 28, 2026). cms.gov. Retrieved Oct 12, 2026, from https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/press-releases/medicare-advantage-medicare-prescription-drug-programs-expected-remain-stable-2027
One change deserves special attention: if the ANOC says your plan won't be offered next year, that's not optional reading. A discontinued plan means you'll need to pick a new one during Open Enrollment to keep the coverage you're counting on.
What to do after you read it
Once you've gone through the ANOC, you'll land in one of two places.
If the plan still fits, you do nothing. As long as your plan is being offered again next year and you're satisfied with the changes, you stay enrolled automatically. There's no form to sign and no box to check. This is worth saying plainly, because people sometimes assume they have to re-enroll every year, and they don't.Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. (2026). Your Yearly Medicare Review: Medicare Open Enrollment October 15 – December 7 (CMS Product No. 11220, September 2026). medicare.gov. Retrieved Sep 26, 2026, from https://www.medicare.gov/publications/11220-your-yearly-medicare-review.pdf
If the plan no longer fits, you switch during the Medicare Open Enrollment Period, which runs October 15 to December 7. During that window you can move between Original Medicare and Medicare Advantage, change Part D drug plans, or pick a different Medicare Advantage plan. Whatever you choose takes effect January 1, the same day your current plan's changes would have.Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. (n.d.). Open Enrollment. medicare.gov. Retrieved Sep 2, 2026, from https://www.medicare.gov/health-drug-plans/open-enrollment,Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. (2026). Your Yearly Medicare Review: Medicare Open Enrollment October 15 – December 7 (CMS Product No. 11220, September 2026). medicare.gov. Retrieved Sep 26, 2026, from https://www.medicare.gov/publications/11220-your-yearly-medicare-review.pdf To compare your options, use the Medicare Plan Finder at medicare.gov/plan-compare, where you can enter your drugs and pharmacies and see how plans stack up on total cost. If you'd rather not use the online tool, you can call 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227), where you can talk or live chat with a real person 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, except some federal holidays.Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. (n.d.). Plan Annual Notice of Change (ANOC). medicare.gov. Retrieved Jul 24, 2026, from https://www.medicare.gov/basics/forms-publications-mailings/mailings/costs-and-coverage/upcoming-plan-changes,Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. (n.d.). Contact Medicare — Medicare.gov. medicare.gov. Retrieved Jul 23, 2026, from https://www.medicare.gov/talk-to-someone Each plan's Star Ratings, which rate the quality of a plan's health and drug services on a 1-to-5 scale, also show up on the Plan Finder and can help you weigh one plan against another.Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. (2027). 2027 Medicare Advantage and Part D Star Ratings (CMS newsroom fact sheet, Oct. 8, 2026). cms.gov. Retrieved Oct 12, 2026, from https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/fact-sheets/2027-medicare-advantage-part-d-star-ratings
If you miss the December 7 deadline, your options narrow. People already in a Medicare Advantage plan get a second, more limited window, the Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period, from January 1 to March 31, during which they can make one change.Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. (n.d.). Open Enrollment. medicare.gov. Retrieved Sep 2, 2026, from https://www.medicare.gov/health-drug-plans/open-enrollment For the full set of windows and how they interact, see the enrollment periods guide.
If your plan is the one being discontinued, that can feel unsettling, especially if you've been with it for years and it's worked well for you. The reassuring part is that you have a route to replacement coverage: if your plan's contract with Medicare isn't renewed, that opens a Special Enrollment Period, so you can switch to another plan outside the regular windows, and the enrollment periods guide explains how that works.Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. (n.d.). Special Enrollment Periods. medicare.gov. Retrieved Jul 24, 2026, from https://www.medicare.gov/basics/get-started-with-medicare/get-more-coverage/joining-a-plan/special-enrollment-periods,Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. (n.d.). Open Enrollment. medicare.gov. Retrieved Sep 2, 2026, from https://www.medicare.gov/health-drug-plans/open-enrollment
What to do if your ANOC never arrives
If it's early October and nothing has come, don't assume your plan is unchanged. Because CMS's mailing guide says the ANOC should reach you by September 30, a missing one is worth chasing down before Open Enrollment is underway. Check your mail and any spam folder if you get plan documents by email, then confirm your plan has your current mailing address. If it still hasn't turned up, call your plan's member-services number on the back of your insurance card and ask them to send you a copy. If your plan can't help, call 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227).Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. (n.d.). Plan Annual Notice of Change (ANOC). medicare.gov. Retrieved Jul 24, 2026, from https://www.medicare.gov/basics/forms-publications-mailings/mailings/costs-and-coverage/upcoming-plan-changes,Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. (n.d.). Contact Medicare — Medicare.gov. medicare.gov. Retrieved Jul 23, 2026, from https://www.medicare.gov/talk-to-someone
The mistake to avoid
The single most common Medicare-coverage surprise is entirely preventable. Someone keeps the same plan year after year, never opens the ANOC, and then in January discovers their copay jumped, a medication dropped off the formulary, or their doctor is no longer in network. By then Open Enrollment has closed, and they're often stuck with the plan until the next window.
The fix takes maybe twenty minutes once a year. When the fall mail arrives, find the ANOC, read it against your own prescriptions and doctors, and decide whether to stay or switch before December 7, when Open Enrollment closes. That habit is the difference between choosing your coverage and being surprised by it.Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. (n.d.). Open Enrollment. medicare.gov. Retrieved Sep 2, 2026, from https://www.medicare.gov/health-drug-plans/open-enrollment
Frequently Asked Questions
When does the Annual Notice of Change arrive?
Your plan sends it, and medicare.gov says to expect it in September; CMS's consumer-mailings guide for the 2025/2026 cycle says people get it by September 30. That puts it in your hands before the Medicare Open Enrollment Period that runs October 15 to December 7 and gives you time to compare plans if you want to switch.Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. (n.d.). Plan Annual Notice of Change (ANOC). medicare.gov. Retrieved Jul 24, 2026, from https://www.medicare.gov/basics/forms-publications-mailings/mailings/costs-and-coverage/upcoming-plan-changes,Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. (n.d.). Open Enrollment. medicare.gov. Retrieved Sep 2, 2026, from https://www.medicare.gov/health-drug-plans/open-enrollment
What should I do if I never received my ANOC?
If it's early October and your ANOC hasn't arrived, check your mail and any email spam folder, then make sure your plan has your current mailing address. If it still hasn't turned up, call your plan's member-services number on the back of your insurance card and ask them to send you a copy. If your plan can't help, call 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227).Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. (n.d.). Plan Annual Notice of Change (ANOC). medicare.gov. Retrieved Jul 24, 2026, from https://www.medicare.gov/basics/forms-publications-mailings/mailings/costs-and-coverage/upcoming-plan-changes,Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. (n.d.). Contact Medicare — Medicare.gov. medicare.gov. Retrieved Jul 23, 2026, from https://www.medicare.gov/talk-to-someone
Do I have to re-enroll in my plan every year?
No. If your plan is offered again next year and you're satisfied with the changes in the ANOC, you stay enrolled automatically. You only need to take action if you want to switch to a different plan or if your current plan is being discontinued.Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. (2026). Your Yearly Medicare Review: Medicare Open Enrollment October 15 – December 7 (CMS Product No. 11220, September 2026). medicare.gov. Retrieved Sep 26, 2026, from https://www.medicare.gov/publications/11220-your-yearly-medicare-review.pdf
What's the difference between the ANOC and the Evidence of Coverage?
The Annual Notice of Change is a short summary of what's changing in your plan for next year. The Evidence of Coverage is the longer document that explains in detail what the plan covers, what you pay, and more. Start with the ANOC; reach for the EOC when you need the full detail on a specific benefit.Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. (n.d.). Plan Annual Notice of Change (ANOC). medicare.gov. Retrieved Jul 24, 2026, from https://www.medicare.gov/basics/forms-publications-mailings/mailings/costs-and-coverage/upcoming-plan-changes
What if my plan is being discontinued?
If the ANOC says your plan won't be offered next year, you'll need to choose a new plan during Open Enrollment to keep coverage, and if your plan's Medicare contract isn't renewed, that also opens a Special Enrollment Period so you can switch to another plan outside the regular windows.Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. (n.d.). Special Enrollment Periods. medicare.gov. Retrieved Jul 24, 2026, from https://www.medicare.gov/basics/get-started-with-medicare/get-more-coverage/joining-a-plan/special-enrollment-periods You can compare your options on the Medicare Plan Finder at medicare.gov/plan-compare or by calling 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227).Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. (n.d.). Open Enrollment. medicare.gov. Retrieved Sep 2, 2026, from https://www.medicare.gov/health-drug-plans/open-enrollment,Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. (n.d.). Contact Medicare — Medicare.gov. medicare.gov. Retrieved Jul 23, 2026, from https://www.medicare.gov/talk-to-someone
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