If you are enrolled in a Medicare Advantage (MA) plan and want to leave your plan, you can use the Medicare Advantage Disenrollment Period (MADP). The MADP is from January 1 to February 14 and allows you to disenroll from your MA plan. If you leave your MA plan, you may enroll in a stand-alone Part D prescription drug plan. The MADP does not allow you to join another MA plan, however.
How to use the MADP?
- If you’re in a Medicare Advantage prescription drug plan (MA-PD), you can either 1) submit a disenrollment request to your MA-PD plan and then enroll in a Part D plan, or 2) enroll in a Part D plan, which automatically disenrolls you from your MA-PD.
- If you’re in an MA only plan, you must first request disenrollment from your MA plan to trigger a Special Election Period to join a stand-alone Part D plan. Then you can enroll into a new Part D plan.
Your enrollment into your new stand-alone Part D plan is effective the first of the following month. Once your new plan is in effect, the Special Election Period ends, even if it’s before February 14.
Note that disenrolling from an MA plan during the MADP does not give you a guaranteed issue right to buy a Medigap policy (i.e. without health screening). You can apply for Medigap policies any time, though you may be subject to health screening unless you’re in your open enrollment period or have a guaranteed issue period. See our Medigap section for more info.
See our Prescription Drugs section for charts of California’s 2016 Part D stand-alone and benchmark plans.
