AEP Is Here: What the Medicare Annual Enrollment Period Actually Means

The Window Everyone’s Mail Is About Right Now

If your mailbox has filled up with Medicare offers, that’s not a coincidence. AEP, the Annual Enrollment Period, runs October 15 through December 7, and it’s the one window each year almost everyone with Medicare can make a change.

Getting buried in mail and not sure where to start? Get AEP explained without the sales pitch

What You Can Actually Change

Switch from Original Medicare to Medicare Advantage, or the reverse.

Switch between Medicare Advantage plans.

Switch, add, or drop a Part D prescription drug plan.

Any change made during AEP takes effect January 1. Outside specific Special Enrollment Periods, this is the primary window for most of these changes.

What AEP does NOT cover: enrolling in or switching Medigap plans, which generally requires medical underwriting outside specific windows.

Want help instead of just more mail to sort through? Talk to a licensed agent about your AEP options

The Bottom Line

AEP isn’t a sales event, even though it gets treated like one by a lot of mail. It’s a real decision window, and it deserves a real comparison, not just whichever envelope looked the most official.

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