AARP Hearing Center
| The best time to buy a Medicare supplement policy, also known as Medigap, is when you have what are called guaranteed protections — the right to buy any policy in your area at the best rates for someone your age, even if you have preexisting medical conditions. If you buy a Medigap policy at other times, insurers may reject you or charge more because of your past or current health.
If you’re 65 or older, the best time to buy Medigap is within the six-month period that starts the first day of the month when you enroll in Medicare Part B. This applies even if you choose to delay enrolling in Part B until you or your spouse stops working for an employer that provides health insurance.
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The key here is “within six months.” Consider this six-month “open enrollment” period for Medigap as a one-time opportunity designated by federal law. If you enroll in Part B but allow more than six months to pass before buying Medigap, even if you disenroll from Part B because you return to work and have health insurance from your new employer, you’re not entitled to another open enrollment period for Medigap.
When are other good times to buy a Medigap policy?
If either you or your spouse is still working and has insurance from an employer with fewer than 20 workers, you usually have to sign up for Medicare Part A and Part B at age 65, even though you have employer coverage. In most cases, Medicare becomes your primary coverage at 65 and the employer’s coverage is secondary.
In that case, you may have signed up for Part A and Part B at age 65 but chosen not to sign up for a Medigap policy then because your employer’s coverage filled in Medicare’s gaps. You’re entitled to another Medigap open enrollment period when that coverage ends. In this situation, you can buy any Medigap policy regardless of preexisting conditions within 63 days of losing health insurance that provides secondary coverage. This would include retiree benefits, COBRA continuation coverage or insurance from a current employer with fewer than 20 workers.
You also have federal “guaranteed issue rights” to buy certain Medigap policies regardless of preexisting conditions in other situations. These could include:
- Medicare Advantage changes. If you have coverage through a private Medicare Advantage plan rather than original Medicare, you have a guaranteed issue right if your Medicare Advantage plan leaves Medicare or stops offering care in your area or if you move out of the plan’s service area. In that case, you can switch to original Medicare and have the right to buy most Medigap policies within 63 days after your Medicare Advantage coverage ends.
- Medicare Advantage trial rights. If you joined a Medicare Advantage plan when you were first eligible at age 65 and, within the first year, you decide to switch to original Medicare, then you have up to 63 days after that coverage ends to buy any Medigap policy sold in your state. If you dropped a Medigap policy to join a Medicare Advantage plan for the first time and you’ve been in that plan for less than a year, you can switch back to original Medicare and buy the Medigap policy you had before you joined the Medicare Advantage plan.
You also can switch to most other Medigap plans if your former policy isn’t available. You generally have a 63-day guaranteed issue right period, which can be longer in some situations.
- The company doesn't follow the rules. You can buy most Medigap policies within 63 days from the date your Medicare Advantage or Medigap coverage ends if a company has misled you in the understanding of your coverage or it hasn’t followed the coverage rules.
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