Medicare Fall Open Enrollment 2023 in West Virginia

The Medicare Fall Open Enrollment 2023 season is here, so your mailbox gets flooded with advertisements. What a headache, hey?

Every time you turn on the television, you hear another commercial about Medicare plans. It is the most confusing time of year for most Medicare beneficiaries: October 15th – December 7th (sigh).

This post has been updated for the 2023 Medicare Fall Open Enrollment.

What should I do during the Medicare Fall Open Enrollment?

Many beneficiaries know they need to do something during the Medicare Fall Open Enrollment each year, but they are not sure what. The constant radio and television ads cause people anxiety because they wonder if they should be making a change or doing SOMETHING.

Never fear. In this post, I will explain the annual Medicare Fall Open Enrollment Period each fall. I’ll tell you what you absolutely should be doing every single year.

We’ll also talk about what things you CAN’T do during the Medicare Open Enrollment.

Rest assured, our agency helped thousands of beneficiaries like you at this same time last year. We know a lot that can help you, and we’ve created a checklist that will help you remember the steps below. You can download it here before you read on:

What is the Medicare Fall Open Enrollment Period?

Also called the Annual Election Period, the Medicare Fall OEP came about with the introduction of Medicare Part D in 2006. It is an 8-week period every fall during which Medicare beneficiaries can enroll in, change, or disenroll from their Medicare Advantage and Part D drug plans.

Here’s why the period exists: Part D and Medicare Advantage plans can re-file their benefits with Medicare each year.

This means the benefits and premiums on your plan can change or go up. So Medicare lets you have an election period each year to change your plan if you don’t like the changes to your existing coverage.

In short: your Part D benefits change yearly, so you get an election period to change your plan if you don’t like those benefits.

The good news is that you do not have to change your plan if you like your plan. Statistics show that most beneficiaries do NOT make plan changes each year. However, you absolutely should be reviewing the upcoming plan changes every September.

How Do I Know if I Need to Make Changes to my Plan?

The first day you can apply for a new Part D plan is October 15th. Your new plan will become effective on January 1st, 2023.

Your Medicare Advantage or Part D Insurance plan provider will send you a document in September called the Annual Notice of Change. Take 15 minutes to sit down and review this document. It will tell you if the premium is changing and your copays, drug formulary, or pharmacy networks are changing.

The Annual Notice of Change lists the plan’s changes from 2022 to 2023. This makes it easy to compare changes to coverage.

What Changes Can I Make During Medicare Open Enrollment 2023?

Your choices for plan changes during the Medicare OEP?

• Do nothing, and your current Medicare coverage will automatically renew in 2023
• Enroll in, leave, or change your Medicare Part D drug plan
• Switch from Traditional Medicare to a Medicare Advantage plan
• Switch from a Medicare Advantage plan back to Traditional Medicare
• Change from one Medicare Advantage Plan to another

Keep in mind that Part D drug plans have no health questions. You can change to any other plan if you have either Medicare A or B and live in the plan’s service area.

Medicare Advantage plans have only one health question about End Stage Renal Disease, so it’s also relatively easy to enroll in or change your Medicare Advantage plan as long as you don’t suffer from this particular health condition.