If a person is unhappy with their Medicare Advantage plan, there is a way to get out of it, and that is called the Medicare Advantage Disenrollment Period (MADP). The MADP runs from January 1 through February 14th. After that, most people are “locked into” their Advantage plan for the rest of the year. (See the exceptions to this rule below.)

During the MADP, a person enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan (MA) may disenroll from that MA plan and return to Original Medicare.

During the MADP, people cannot switch to another MA plan. Their only option during this period is to go back to Original Medicare. Then they are eligible for a Special Election Period (SEP) to enroll in a stand-alone Part D plan (PDP).

Most people enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans are locked into their plans for the rest of 2012 – unless they take advantage of the MADP. But some people can change their Medicare Advantage plan – if they have certain chronic illnesses, or if they get help with their drug costs.

When someone who is already in a Medicare Advantage plan calls me for help, I ask if they have Diabetes, heart disease, or chronic breathing disorders such as asthma, COPD, and a few other conditions.  If they say “yes”, then they can take a look at one of the chronic illness plans.

I also ask people what they pay for their prescriptions. If they pay $2.60 for generics or $6.50 for brand drugs, I know they have the “LIS” (low income subsidy), and I know they have the option to change their Advantage plan at any time during the year.

Advice for people who are thinking about using the Medicare Advantage Disenrollment Period:  Make sure you can get a Medicare supplement when you drop your Medicare Advantage plan.  If you have health problems, you can be refused a Medicare supplement policy, and then you will have only Medicare. Medicare alone is not very good coverage – especially if you have a chronic illness, are diagnosed with cancer, or have a serious illness that requires surgery and/or a lengthy hospital stay. You will be responsible for 20% of your medical bills (beyond what Part A of Medicare covers) and that can add up to thousands of dollars with no end in sight.

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 12th, 2012 at 9:34 am and is filed under Health. Tags for this post: Arizona Medicare, madp, medicare advantage disenrollment period, medicare advantage tucson, medicare arizona, tucson medicare advantage. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.