Traditional Medicare - question about switching providers of medigap and also part D

[Agapostemon]

Which Medigap plan do you have?

If you mean which lettered plan, there doesnt seem to be an exact match. For the Mass Core plan, the closest equivalent seems to be Plan A. For the Supplement 1a, it seems to be Plan G.

 

[piccolopat]

The sign up period for Medicare is 3 months before your birth month so I believe your enrollment period started 12/1. I thought it was 3 months before my birthday and signed up what amounted to 3 weeks after the earliest I could. My coverage was approved 2 months later, just a week before my coverage started. You might want to consider not waiting to sign up.

 

[Chuckanut]

The increase is due to the “Inflation Reduction Act” eliminating the “donut hole” and reducing the maximum out of pocket to $2000.

Up to a point yes. But, I was able to replace it with a much less expensive plan.

 

[StevenA]

If you have a part D prescription drug plan and take insulin, make sure your insulin is still going to be covered by your plan. You can check on Medicare.gov for insulin and other prescription drug coverage by plan. Due to the $35 per month limit on insulin copays, my prescription plan and many others dropped coverage for insulin starting next year. If I had not checked and switched to a plan that still covers my insulin, my insulin costs for next year would have gone to over $14,000 instead of a few hundred, and would not have been covered under the $2000 out of pocket cap.

 

[Pluperfect]

At least in Washington State, you can switch Medigap plans at ANY time - not just open enrollment. Since the plans are standardized at the Federal level, that may be true nationwide.

It's most definitely not true nationwide. Washington is an outlier in offering such expansive guaranteed-issue rights. And in states that do have guaranteed-issue periods, they're usually only during a limited time, like around your birthday or plan anniversary date, and often are limited to changing to plans with less coverage than your current plan.

And FWIW, open enrollment doesn't offer anything special with respect to Medigap plans anywhere. In a person's initial enrollment period, he has guaranteed-issue rights to any Medigap supplement, but after that, in the vast majority of states a person can be subjected to medical underwriting to buy a supplement and it doesn't matter if they apply in July or during the Fall open enrollment period.