Buyer’s remorse with your Medicare Advantage plan? You have a few weeks left to fix it.
Millions of Americans switch Medicare Advantage plans each year or transfer to original Medicare during the open enrollment period ending March 31.
You cannot, however, jump from a traditional Medicare plan to a Medicare Advantage one. You’ll have to wait for the fall enrollment period for that shift. New coverage will take effect on the first of the month once the request for change has been received.
People are typically spurred to move plans after finding out that their go-to physician or the hospital they want to use is no longer in their Medicare Advantage plan’s network.
“If you discovered that the Medicare Advantage plan you chose last year isn’t your best option after you started to use it in January, do something about it right now,” Kimberly Lankford, Medicare expert and author of “Medicare 101,” told Yahoo Finance.
“You might also find that some of your drugs aren’t on the plan’s formulary — a big surprise at the pharmacy if a medication you take was dropped. Not only will you have higher out-of-pocket costs, but you won’t be protected by the $2,100 out-of-pocket spending cap for drugs that aren’t covered by your plan.
Importantly, your health needs may have changed since you last reviewed your plan. You might have been prescribed new drugs or developed a new medical condition, and you may have different coverage needs than you had when you were shopping for a policy in the fall, she added.
It’s likely that there will be more ship-jumpers for a slew of reasons this year. Droves of seniors are waking up to Medicare Advantage plans with trimmed-down benefits and heftier out-of-pocket costs, including deductibles.
Some Medicare Advantage plans have slashed their dental and vision coverage, for example, and raised co-pays to see specialists. If you signed up for a gym membership through a Medicare Advantage plan, you may have been rudely shocked to find out you aren’t eligible for that gratis entry to the Pilates class now.
Yoga instructor Rebecca Watson leads seniors in a Hatha aqua yoga class at Balfour at Riverfront Park in Denver. (Helen H. Richardson/ The Denver Post via Getty Images) ·Helen H. Richardson via Getty Images
“Variations among plan premiums, co-pays, and annual deductibles are unusually large, leading to large differences in out-of-pocket costs among plans,” Philip Moeller, a Medicare and Social Security expert who writes the Aging in America newsletter, told Yahoo Finance.
Insurers are also removing plans, hospital systems, and physicians altogether. There are plenty of choices still available, so don’t panic. This year, the average beneficiary can choose from 32 Medicare Advantage plans with prescription drug coverage offered by eight firms, according to KFF, a nonprofit health policy research organization.
The two largest Medicare Advantage insurers, UnitedHealthcare and Humana, offer plans in about 80% of US counties in 2026, down from nearly 90% this year.
The real concern is that you may not have noticed that your plan is shuttering soon. “Some insurers are pulling out of certain geographic markets,” Moeller said.
One reason for the exits: “The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has blindsided private Medicare Advantage (MA) plans with plans to approve a paltry 0.9% rise in 2027 premiums,” Moeller said. “Coming on top of intensified criticism of the plans’ pricing and care denial practices, they are heading out of many parts of the country and reducing plan offerings.”
According to an analysis by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, one in 10 Medicare Advantage enrollees, or as many as 2.9 million seniors, “face forced disenrollment in 2026.”
Medicare Advantage plans are an alternative health insurance program to traditional Medicare for those 65 and older. They’re run by private insurance companies and have surged in popularity.
Just over 35 million people are enrolled in Medicare Advantage as of Feb. 1, 2026, an increase of 1.1 million people since February 2025. A big draw of Medicare Advantage plans is that they include coverage for benefits not included in traditional Medicare, such as drug coverage (Part D), eyeglasses, dental coverage, and fitness classes. Plus, they often have very low or even no premium costs.
That’s tempting. This year, original Medicare’s monthly Part B premiums are $202.90, and the annual Part B deductible, which most people must pay before their Medicare coverage begins, is now $283.
There are disadvantages. Unlike original Medicare, depending on the Advantage plan, you’re limited to a specific network of doctors and other healthcare providers, and those networks are ever-changing.
It’s not unusual to be referred to a specialist who is not part of your Medicare Advantage plan network. In those cases, you need prior authorization to make an appointment, or must simply be prepared to pay the bill out of pocket.
A person exits a health clinic. (Getty Images) ·Grant Squibb via Getty Images
For those considering shifting to traditional Medicare, that decision takes some homework.
Regular Medicare doesn’t have caps on a variety of out-of-pocket costs, so you want to be enrolled in supplemental protection with a private Medicare Supplement plan — Medigap for short, Moeller said. “These plans will pay most of the approved claims for care that are not fully paid by original Medicare.”
The largest coverage gap for many people is that original Medicare pays only 80% of covered expenses for Part B, which covers doctors, outpatient expenses, and durable medical equipment, he added.
For that, you need a Medigap health insurance policy sold by private insurance companies that pays part or all of certain leftover costs. Medigap can cover outstanding deductibles, coinsurance, and co-payments, and it may also cover healthcare costs that Medicare does not cover at all, like medical care received when traveling out of the US.
The hitch is that in most states, the guaranteed right to buy a Medigap is limited to the time when you first sign up for Medicare Part B. Medicare does not permit Medigap plans to reject you or charge a higher premium because of a preexisting condition during that period. In most states, your premium, however, will vary depending on factors such as your age, gender, and where you live.
The Medigap guarantee policy is also good if you joined an Advantage plan during your first year of Medicare but disenrolled within a year and switched to traditional Medicare. After that, though, Medigap plans in most states can flat-out reject you if you have a preexisting condition, such as diabetes. The exceptions are New York, Connecticut, Maine, and Massachusetts.
If you need to make a change, you might start by contacting your State Health Insurance Assistance Program network (SHIP), which provides free one-on-one counseling in every state. You can find your local SHIP here.
The Medicare Rights Center offers a free consumer helpline: 800-333-4114. You can also contact Medicare directly at 800-633-4227.
You can research your options via the Medicare Plan Finder. Enter the drugs you take, and it will show you if they’re covered by the Advantage plan. When you look at the various plans available where you live, you’ll see annual estimates of the cost of that plan based on the drugs you’ve entered into the tool.
If you have a limited income, you might be eligible for Medicare’s Extra Help, which covers Part D premiums and deductibles and caps drug costs.
If a Medicare Advantage plan doesn’t provide coverage for the drugs you’re taking, but you are reluctant to make a jump to a new one, there could be alternatives, so ask your physician if there’s a drug covered by your existing plan that will work for you.
