March 30, 2010
Long-awaited Change:
New and Improved Dates for Medicare Parts C & D Enrollment Periods
The final health insurance reform legislation passed by Congress helps ensure that Americans will have access to quality, affordable health care. A key provision in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (H.R. 3590) simplified the enrollment periods for Medicare Parts C and D by:
- Moving and extending the Annual Enrollment Period (AEP) to start on October 15 and end on December 7, effective 2012.
- Providing an annual 45 day period at the start of the year for disenrollment from MA plans and returning to Original Medicare, effective 2011.
This long-sought after improvement is the result of advocacy by HAP, based on feedback provided by the SHIPs, to inform and educate Congress about the need to provide Medicare consumers with more time to make informed decisions about their health care choices. SHIPs identified the problem early on through HAP’s Troubleshooting Medicare project as a priority systemic issue that needed to be addressed so that Medicare consumers could make informed choices.
HAP has developed tools and resources to help SHIPs consider how the new schedule will affect your program operations, including volunteer recruitment, training, community outreach, and partnerships. These resources offer suggestions to help ensure a successful transition to the new AEP schedule for SHIP staff, counselors and Medicare beneficiaries alike.
Congratulations again to all of the SHIPs who helped secure this important victory on behalf of Medicare beneficiaries everywhere! Please contact us with questions or comments.
Sincerely,
The HAP Team
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