An important Medicare deadline is approaching for seniors. The Annual Medicare Enrollment Period will begin October 15, 2011 and end December 7, 2011. This window is the time that seniors can enroll in a Medicare plan, change an existing plan, move to a new one, change drug coverage benefits or dis-enroll.
The dates have changed from years past, when the Annual Enrollment Period began November 15 and ended December 31. The open Enrollment Period which ran from January 1 through March 31 was eliminated for 2011 plans and is no longer available.
Not reviewing your choices during this time could cost you. For example, 90% of seniors are not in the Medicare prescription drug plan that has the lowest out-of-pocket costs, according to a recent study by PlanPrescriber. If a Medicare beneficiary's prescribed medications are not covered by their current prescription drug plan, they pay 100% of their costs related to the use of that drug out of their own pocket. And, the costs for that drug do not count toward the Medicare prescription drug donut hole or catastrophic coverage limit.