Medicare Enrollment Periods
Medicare's Annual Enrollment Period runs October 15, 2026 through December 7, 2026, for coverage starting January 1, 2027. That's the window where anyone on Medicare can change almost anything, Medicare Advantage plans included.
Written by Pat Bernauer, licensed Minnesota insurance agent (NPN 32897) · Updated
There are four other enrollment periods. Each one applies to a specific situation:
- Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period (January 1 to March 31): for people already in a Medicare Advantage plan
- General Enrollment Period (January 1 to March 31): for people who missed signing up for Part B
- Initial Enrollment Period: the seven months around your 65th birthday
- Medigap Open Enrollment Period: six months, starting the month your Part B starts (in Minnesota, at any age)
Under 65, not on Medicare, and buying your own coverage? You want MNsure open enrollment instead.
Annual Enrollment Period — October 15 to December 7
For everyone on Medicare, including people in a Medicare Advantage plan. During it you can:
- Switch between Original Medicare and Medicare Advantage, either direction
- Switch from one Medicare Advantage plan to another
- Join, drop, or switch a Part D prescription drug plan
Changes take effect January 1. Plans change their premiums, drug lists and provider networks every year, so it is worth reviewing your coverage each fall.
Medicare Annual Enrollment — 2027 coverage
For everyone on Medicare. Join, switch or drop a Medicare Advantage plan or a Part D drug plan, or move between Original Medicare and Medicare Advantage. Changes take effect January 1.
- Enroll between:
- October 15, 2026 and December 7, 2026
- Coverage starts:
- January 1
Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period — January 1 to March 31
For people who are enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan on January 1. You can make one change: switch to a different Medicare Advantage plan, or leave Medicare Advantage and return to Original Medicare with a Part D drug plan. New coverage starts the first of the following month.
It does not apply to people on Original Medicare. It cannot be used to join a Medicare Advantage plan or to switch Part D plans.
Outside these periods, certain events open a Special Enrollment Period: employer or union coverage ending, qualifying for Medicaid or Extra Help, moving out of your plan's service area, or a 5-star plan becoming available where you live. These periods are usually about two months long.
Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment — 2027 coverage
Only for people already in a Medicare Advantage plan on January 1. You can make one change: switch to a different Medicare Advantage plan, or return to Original Medicare with a Part D plan. It cannot be used to join Medicare Advantage from Original Medicare.
- Enroll between:
- January 1, 2027 and March 31, 2027
- Coverage starts:
- the first of the following month
General Enrollment Period — January 1 to March 31
A separate period with the same dates as the Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period. It is for people who did not sign up for Part B during their Initial Enrollment Period. Coverage starts the first of the month after you enroll. (Before 2023 it always started July 1, and some sources still say so.) Late enrollment penalties may apply.
Signing up during the General Enrollment Period also opens a short period to join a Medicare drug plan or Medicare Advantage plan. It runs from when you sign up for Part B through your first few months of coverage, not the fixed April 1 to June 30 dates that older sources give. The exact timing depends on whether you get premium-free Part A.
The Part D late enrollment penalty is permanent. It applies if you go 63 days or more without creditable drug coverage after you become eligible for Part D. Coverage from an employer or union, the VA, TRICARE or the federal employee program usually counts as creditable. Your plan sends a notice each year saying whether it does.
Medicare General Enrollment — 2027 coverage
For people who did not sign up for Part B during their Initial Enrollment Period. Coverage starts the first of the month after you enroll. Late enrollment penalties may apply.
- Enroll between:
- January 1, 2027 and March 31, 2027
- Coverage starts:
- the first of the month after you enroll
Initial Enrollment Period
Seven months
The three months before the month you turn 65, your birthday month, and the three months after. Enrolling before your birthday month means coverage starts sooner. If you qualify for Medicare through disability, the seven months are based on your 25th month of disability benefits instead. People with ALS qualify immediately, with no waiting period.
The whole sequence, in order: Turning 65 in Minnesota: a Medicare checklist
Medigap Open Enrollment Period
Six months, usually once
In Minnesota it starts the first month you are enrolled in Part B, at any age, and someone on Medicare through disability gets a second one at 65. During it, you can buy any Medicare Supplement plan without answering health questions, and you cannot be turned down for pre-existing conditions. It usually happens only once: Minnesota gives a new one in a few cases, such as rejoining Part B after leaving it for a job’s plan. After it ends, companies can usually ask health questions and may decline to cover you. Minnesota added one more exception on August 1, 2026: between 65 and 70 you can buy a Supplement once without health questions during Medicare’s open enrollment periods, at a premium 15% to 35% higher, depending on the year you use it, for as long as you keep it.
Medicare Supplement in Minnesota works differently
If you have been reading about Plan G or Plan N, most of it does not carry over. Minnesota is one of three states — with Massachusetts and Wisconsin — where Medicare Supplement is standardized differently, so no plan here is sold as Plan G or Plan N. Some Minnesota plans work like lettered ones (Medicare.gov calls them Minnesota versions of Plans K, L, M and N), but Medicare.gov lists no Minnesota version of Plan G.
There is plenty of Medicare Supplement coverage, though: many insurance companies write it here. It is put together differently:
Basic Plan
The foundation every company must offer. After the deductibles, it pays the Part A hospital coinsurance and the Part B coinsurance, plus the skilled nursing facility daily copayment, hospice and home health cost-sharing, the first three pints of blood, immunizations and routine cancer screening, 80% of diabetes equipment and supplies, and 80% of emergency care when you travel outside the U.S. It does not pay the Part A deductible. You can add any of a short list of riders, below.
Extended Basic
The comprehensive one, sold as one package rather than built up from riders. On top of what Basic pays, it covers the Part A deductible, 80% of usual and customary charges Medicare does not pay, including care in a foreign country, and preventive exams and screenings up to $120 a year. Once you have paid $1,000 in a year for covered services, it pays 100% for the rest of that year. It pays the Part B deductible only for people eligible for Medicare before January 1, 2020. Higher premium, fewer decisions.
What you can add to the Basic Plan
- Part A hospital deductible (100%)
- Part B excess charges (100%) — charges above Medicare's approved amount, which Minnesota law (Minn. Stat. 62J.25) already bars for most care here; ambulance rides and medical equipment and supplies are the exceptions
- Preventive care Medicare does not cover — a yearly exam and screenings, up to $120 a year
- Part B deductible — only if you were eligible for Medicare before January 1, 2020
Other Minnesota plans some companies sell
These are plans of their own, not riders, and not every company sells them. Medicare.gov calls some of them Minnesota versions of Plans K, L, M and N.
- $20 and $50 copay plan — pays the Part A deductible and Part B coinsurance, except up to $20 an office visit and up to $50 an emergency room visit
- High-deductible plan — you pay a yearly deductible, then it pays 100%. If you became eligible for Medicare in 2020 or later, ask us whether it is open to you
- 50% Part A deductible plan — pays half the Part A deductible and most other gaps in full
- 50% and 75% plans — pay that share of most costs until a yearly out-of-pocket limit, then 100%
Because the plans are standardized by the state, a Basic Plan from one carrier covers the same things as a Basic Plan from another. So the comparison is premium, rate history, and how each one prices the riders — which is exactly the sort of thing worth having someone do for you.
Medicare Supplement vs. Medicare Advantage in Minnesota
Why the comparison sites tell you to buy Plan G
Because nearly all of them are written for the other 47 states — and so is most of what an AI assistant will tell you, because it learned from those same pages. It is the most common piece of bad Medicare advice Minnesotans get. Nobody is being dishonest; the advice is just about a product that isn't sold here.
Plan types from the Minnesota Department of Commerce — Annual Premium Guide: Medicare Supplement, October 2026.
Common questions
When is Medicare open enrollment?
Medicare's Annual Enrollment Period runs October 15, 2026 through December 7, 2026, for coverage starting January 1, 2027. That is the window where anyone on Medicare can change almost anything — including joining, switching or dropping a Medicare Advantage plan.
Can I change my Medicare Advantage plan during Annual Enrollment?
Yes. Annual Enrollment (October 15 to December 7) is the main window for Advantage plans: switch to a different one, join one from Original Medicare, or leave one for Original Medicare with a Part D plan. The separate "Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment" window in January is not where Advantage changes have to happen — it is only a second chance for people already in an Advantage plan.
What is the Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period?
It is for people already in a Medicare Advantage plan. January 1 through March 31 is the Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period: one change for people enrolled in an Advantage plan on January 1 — switch to a different Advantage plan, or go back to Original Medicare with a Part D plan. On Original Medicare you cannot use it to join an Advantage plan. For most people that waits for Annual Enrollment. People new to Medicare use their Initial Enrollment Period, and events such as employer or union coverage ending, qualifying for Medicaid or Extra Help, or a 5-star plan becoming available where you live can open a Special Enrollment Period.
When does coverage start if I enroll during the General Enrollment Period?
The first of the month after you enroll. This changed in 2023 — it used to be July 1 regardless of when you signed up, and a lot of pages still say so. Late enrollment penalties may still apply.
When is my Initial Enrollment Period?
Seven months around your 65th birthday: the three months before your birthday month, your birthday month, and the three months after. Enrolling before your birthday month gets coverage started sooner. If you reach Medicare through disability rather than age, it is the same seven months built around your 25th month of disability benefits — Medicare starts in that 25th month, after a 24-month waiting period, and there is no waiting period at all for ALS.
Is Plan G available in Minnesota?
No. Minnesota is one of three states, with Massachusetts and Wisconsin, that standardize Medicare Supplement their own way, so no plan here is sold as Plan G, Plan N or Plan F. Every company must offer a Basic Plan, with optional riders, and an Extended Basic Plan, and some also sell a few other Minnesota plans. Medicare.gov calls some of those Minnesota versions of Plans K, L, M and N, and, for people eligible for Medicare before 2020, of high-deductible Plan F. It lists no Minnesota version of Plan G.
So can you even get a Medicare Supplement in Minnesota?
Yes, easily. Many insurance companies write Medicare Supplement in Minnesota, and every one listed in the state's premium guide sells both the Basic Plan, with riders, and the Extended Basic Plan. The coverage is comparable to what the lettered plans do elsewhere — it is the naming and the way the plans are put together that differ.
What's the difference between the Basic Plan and Extended Basic?
Basic covers the core gaps after the deductibles: Part A and Part B coinsurance, the skilled nursing daily copayment, hospice and home health cost-sharing, the first three pints of blood and 80% of emergency care abroad. It does not pay the Part A deductible; riders can add that, Part B excess charges and preventive care. Extended Basic is the comprehensive version sold as one package: it adds the Part A deductible, 80% of usual and customary charges Medicare does not pay, preventive care up to $120 a year, and a $1,000 yearly limit on what you pay for covered services. Extended Basic costs more and asks less of you.
Why does every comparison site tell me to buy Plan G?
Because almost all of them are written for the other 47 states. It's the single most common piece of bad Medicare advice Minnesotans get, and it isn't malicious — the advice is simply about a product that isn't sold here.
How do I choose between Medicare Supplement carriers in Minnesota?
Not on benefits, which is what surprises people. Minnesota standardizes these plans, so a Basic Plan from one company covers exactly what a Basic Plan from another does. What differs is the premium, the carrier's history of rate increases, and how each one prices the riders — and rate history is the one nobody checks, even though it decides what you pay in five years. We're independent, so we compare those across the companies we work with rather than quoting one.
Does Medicare Supplement have an annual enrollment period like Advantage plans?
No, and this is the one that costs people the most. In Minnesota your Medigap open enrollment is a six-month window starting the first month you are enrolled in Part B, at any age, and someone who came onto Medicare through disability gets a second one at 65. During it you cannot be turned down or charged more for pre-existing conditions. It does not come back every fall, and afterwards carriers can usually medically underwrite you. One more exception, since August 1, 2026: Minnesotans aged 65 to 70 can buy a Supplement once without health questions during Medicare’s open enrollment periods, but at a premium 15% to 35% higher, depending on the year they use it, for as long as they keep it.
Talk it through
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Dates last verified August 27, 2026.