What to Do If Your Medicare Advantage Plan Is Shrinking or Leaving Your Area

Check which letter you received. An Annual Notice of Change means your plan is staying. A non-renewal notice means the plan is ending or leaving your county. If it is ending, you can choose a new plan during open enrollment, October 15 through December 7, and again from December 8 through the end of February. You may also gain guaranteed rights to buy Medigap. Don’t let coverage lapse.

Two envelopes can arrive from the same insurer in the same week, and they say very different things. One tells you that your plan is changing. The other tells you it is gone. Mixing them up is how people end up with a gap in coverage or miss a right they would have had for only two months.

This guide is for anyone whose Medicare Advantage plan is either getting smaller or going away for 2027. It explains how to tell the difference, what the deadlines are, what your realistic options look like, and where the traps sit. It assumes no background knowledge, only that you have a letter in front of you and a few weeks to act.

Start With the Envelope: Two Different Letters

Medicare Advantage plans communicate with members in two main ways around this time of year, and they carry different consequences.

Letter	What it tells you	What it opens up
Annual Notice of Change	Your plan continues, with changes to cost, benefits, network or drug coverage	Open enrollment, October 15 to December 7, and a one-time Advantage change January 1 to March 31
Non-renewal or termination notice	Your plan is ending, or will stop serving your area	Open enrollment, a longer special enrollment period, and in many cases Medigap guaranteed-issue rights

The distinction matters because most of the extra protections only attach to the second letter. If your plan is simply changing, you can still switch during open enrollment, but you don’t get the added special enrollment period or the federal right to buy certain Medigap policies without health questions. If your plan is ending, you do.

Both letters can be long and written in a style that makes them easy to set aside. If you aren’t sure which one you have, look for plain phrases such as “your plan will not be offered,” “we are leaving the Medicare program” or “we will no longer serve your county.” Those mean non-renewal. If you still aren’t sure, call the number on your member card and ask directly: “Is my plan being discontinued for 2027, yes or no?” Write down the date, the name of the person you spoke with and what they said.

How Much Is Really Changing for 2027

It helps to keep this in proportion. Plan exits are real, and so is the fact that most people will be able to stay where they are.

CMS says that approximately eight in ten Medicare Advantage enrollees will be able to remain in their current plan with the same or a lower premium. It also reports that the total number of Advantage plans available for 2027 is about 5,500, a very small decline from the year before, and that more than 99 percent of beneficiaries will have at least one Advantage plan to choose from.

KFF’s analysis tells the other half of the story at the level of individual choice. It found that the average Medicare beneficiary will have 28 Medicare Advantage plans that include drug coverage to choose from in 2027, down from 32 in 2026. Including plans without drug coverage, the average falls from 39 to 35. The declines are uneven by state. Texas saw the biggest drop, at nine fewer options on average. Ohio and Illinois each lost eight. Ohio still sits among the handful of states where the average beneficiary has at least 40 drug-plan options, so the market is shrinking from a very large base.

KFF doesn’t say why plans are leaving or cutting service areas, and it would be a mistake for anyone else to assert a single cause. What the numbers do say is that a meaningful number of people will open a letter this fall saying their current coverage is no longer an option, and that you can’t tell whether you are one of them without reading yours.

If the Plan Is Leaving: The Timeline

When an Advantage plan will not be offered next year, the insurer must give members written notice at least 90 days before coverage ends. Because the plan year ends December 31, that puts the notice in early October, and Medicare lists October as the month to expect it. Your current coverage generally continues until the end of the plan year, so nothing about your care changes this month.

Here is how the rest of the calendar works:

• October 15 through December 7: open enrollment. You can join a new Advantage plan, or return to Original Medicare and join a drug plan. Choices take effect January 1.
• December 8 through the last day of February: a special enrollment period for people whose plans were not renewed. You can still join another plan during this period.
• January 1: the new plan year begins. If your old plan has ended and you haven’t joined another, see the next section.

Medicare’s own guidance puts the special enrollment period for non-renewal in exactly that window, December 8 through the last day of February of the following year. Treat it as a safety net rather than the plan. Waiting until after January 1 means you start the year in a different kind of coverage than the one you intended.

What Happens If You Do Nothing

If your plan ends and you don’t join another Advantage plan, Medicare states that you will be enrolled in Original Medicare. That is not a catastrophe, but it has two practical consequences people rarely expect.

First, Original Medicare does not include prescription drug coverage. If your Advantage plan bundled drugs, as most do, that coverage ends when the plan does. You would need to join a stand-alone Part D drug plan to have any. Going without creditable drug coverage for 63 days or more can lead to a late enrollment penalty that is added to your Part D premium for as long as you have the coverage. The cost of the gap is usually larger than the cost of the paperwork needed to avoid it.

Second, Original Medicare pays most of your bills but leaves you with a 20 percent share of outpatient care and has no yearly cap on what you could owe. Advantage plans must cap your out-of-pocket costs. Many people in Original Medicare cover that exposure with a Medigap policy, which is the subject of the section below.

Your Three Realistic Paths

When a plan leaves, most people end up choosing among three arrangements. Each is a legitimate choice, and each has trade-offs that depend on your health, your budget and how you use care.

• A different Medicare Advantage plan. This usually keeps premiums lower and bundles extras, but it comes with a network, and you need to check that your doctors, hospital and drugs are covered. Different plans from the same company can have different networks.
• Original Medicare, a Medigap policy and a stand-alone drug plan. This costs more in monthly premiums for many people, but it lets you see any provider who accepts Medicare, with no network to worry about, and it makes your costs more predictable.
• Original Medicare and a drug plan, with no Medigap. This is the lowest-premium way to leave Advantage, but it leaves you with the 20 percent share and no cap, which can be difficult in a year with serious illness.

Neither of the first two is better in general. A plan built tightly around one health system is a good deal if every doctor you see belongs to it. If your care is split across systems or you travel often, flexibility may be worth more than a lower premium. For a closer look at the first choice, see our overview of Medicare Advantage plans, and for the second, our explanation of Medicare Supplement plans.

The Medigap Guaranteed-Issue Right, Explained

Medigap policies are usually underwritten. That means that outside certain windows, an insurer in most states can ask about your health and charge more or decline you. When your Medicare Advantage plan is leaving Medicare or stops serving your area, federal rules give you a guaranteed issue right, which means insurers must sell you certain Medigap policies regardless of your health history.

The details matter, so here they are plainly:

• It applies when your plan ends or leaves your service area. A plan that simply raised its premium or trimmed benefits generally doesn’t trigger it.
• It applies only if you switch to Original Medicare. It doesn’t apply if you join another Advantage plan.
• The window to apply starts 60 days before your Advantage coverage ends and closes 63 days after it ends.
• You may need to show proof, so keep the notice, any emails and any documents showing your coverage ended.
• Medicare.gov lists plan letters including A, B, C, D, F, G, K and L, but which of them you can buy depends on when you first became eligible for Medicare and which plans are sold in your state.

Premiums for the same Medigap plan can differ a lot between insurers, and pricing methods differ too, so it is worth getting more than one quote. State rules vary, so check how your state handles the policies that are available. For Ohio, see our guide to Ohio Medigap rules. And remember that you can’t wait indefinitely. If you let the 63 days pass, you lose the guaranteed right and may face health questions later.

Protecting Your Drug Coverage in the Switch

Drug coverage is the piece that most often falls through when people change plans. If you move to another Advantage plan that includes drugs, check that your medications are on its formulary and note the tier and any prior authorization rules. If you return to Original Medicare, you must separately choose a stand-alone drug plan, and that choice deserves its own comparison.

Plan formularies can differ sharply, so make a list of every drug you take, with doses, and check each against the plan you are considering. Our explainer on the 2027 Part D out-of-pocket cap shows how the yearly limit works, which helps you judge what a drug plan could cost in a bad year. Medicare’s Plan Finder lets you enter your drugs and pharmacy and see the estimated yearly cost by plan. Don’t skip this step because a plan has a low premium. A cheap plan that leaves your most expensive drug off its formulary is not cheap.

If Your Plan Is Staying but Getting Worse

Some people won’t get a termination letter at all, just a notice that things look different. The premium is higher, the deductible is new, a specialist left the network or an extra benefit disappeared. You have choices here too, even though you lack the special rights that come with non-renewal.

Open enrollment applies in full: you can switch Advantage plans, go back to Original Medicare or change drug plans between October 15 and December 7. If you are in an Advantage plan on January 1, you also have a Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period from January 1 through March 31, which allows a single change, either to another Advantage plan or back to Original Medicare. If a doctor leaves the network in the middle of the year, whether you can change plans depends on the circumstances, so ask your plan and 1-800-MEDICARE rather than assuming a network change opens a window.

Questions to Ask Before Choosing a Replacement

Whether you pick another Advantage plan or Original Medicare, a short set of questions will keep you out of trouble. If you want the whole review in order, our ten-minute open enrollment checklist walks through it step by step.

• Will each of my doctors and my hospital be in the network of this exact plan next year?
• Are all my prescriptions on the formulary, and do any need prior authorization or step therapy?
• Is my pharmacy preferred, in network or out of network?
• What is the yearly out-of-pocket maximum, and what are the copays for the care I use most?
• Does the plan’s service area include where I live all year, including any second home?
• If I choose Original Medicare, what will a Medigap policy and a drug plan cost together, and when does my guaranteed-issue window close?

For free, unbiased help, every state has a State Health Insurance Assistance Program. Ohio’s is the Ohio Senior Health Insurance Information Program, at 800-686-1578, and 1-800-MEDICARE is available everywhere.

Mistakes That Cost People Coverage

A few patterns come up again and again when plans leave.

• Treating the notice as junk mail and finding out in January that the plan no longer exists.
• Returning to Original Medicare without a drug plan and starting a penalty clock.
• Choosing a replacement by premium alone without checking the formulary and network.
• Waiting past the 63-day Medigap window and losing the guaranteed right.
• Relying on a phone call as proof of anything. Keep letters, emails and notes of every conversation.
• Assuming that because the plan leaving is one you liked, no other plan could work as well.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I know if my plan is leaving or just changing?

A non-renewal notice says the plan is ending or won’t serve your area. An Annual Notice of Change describes changes to a plan that continues. If you can’t tell, call the number on your member card and ask whether the plan is being discontinued for 2027.

What happens to my coverage if my plan ends and I do nothing?

You are enrolled in Original Medicare, according to Medicare. Original Medicare doesn’t include drug coverage, so you would need a stand-alone Part D plan to avoid a gap and a possible late enrollment penalty.

Can I buy Medigap without health questions if my plan leaves?

Often yes, under a federal guaranteed issue right, but only if you switch to Original Medicare. The window opens 60 days before your coverage ends and closes 63 days after.

Is there a deadline to pick a new plan?

Open enrollment ends December 7, and a special enrollment period for non-renewals runs from December 8 through the last day of February. Don’t wait for the later window if you can avoid it, because you will begin the year without the coverage you intended.

Does it cost anything to get help sorting this out?

State Health Insurance Assistance Programs offer free counseling. Independent agents are paid by insurers, not by you, so the premium for a given plan is the same whether you enroll through an agent or directly.

Is a letter from your plan leaving you unsure what to do next? Talk with our independent team, by phone or video wherever you live, with no cost and no obligation.