Can someone who enrolled in a Medicare Part C Medicare Advantage plan switch to a managed care plan?
If you joined a Medicare Part C "Medicare Advantage" managed care plan when you were first eligible for Medicare at age 65 but you leave that plan within a year, you can buy any medigap policy offered in your state, without any medical screening, limits on coverage, or higher premiums. In other words, you return to the same position you would have been in had you bought a policy within the first six months of turning 65.
Is a person who's been dropped by a Medicare Part C Medicare Advantage plan now able to buy a medigap policy?
With unfortunate frequency over the past few years, some Medicare Part C Medicare Advantage managed care plans have decided to quit doing business in certain geographic areas. When they do, they're allowed to simply drop all the people who were enrolled in the plan. If that happens to you, within 63 days of the end of your Medicare Part C plan you can enroll in any medigap Plan A, B, C, or F policy sold in your state.
You're guaranteed enrollment in any one of these policies you choose, without any medical screening and regardless of your medical history. You're eligible for the same terms and conditions as anyone else buying the policy for the first time. And your monthly premium will be the same as that of anyone else of your age who already has the policy.
If you originally had a medigap policy and dropped it to join a Medicare Part C Medicare Advantage plan that has now dropped you, you have the right to buy the same medigap policy you used to have, regardless of the plan type.
Can someone who didn't buy a medigap insurance policy or enroll in a Medicare Part C plan at age 65 buy a medigap policy now?
If you didn't buy a medigap policy within the first six months of enrolling in Medicare Part B and you weren't enrolled in a Medicare managed care plan that dropped you, you can still buy a medigap policy. But now the insurance companies have all the leverage -- Medicare regulations do very little to help you. An individual insurance company can decide whether it wants to sell you a particular policy (though if they do, it has to be one of the 10 standard plans) and under what terms.
For example, the insurance company can require you to undergo medical screening. Based on your age or health history, the company might offer to sell you some policies but not others. It might also place limits on coverage, such as six months of exclusion before coverage begins for certain conditions. The company can also charge a higher premium than for other people with the same policy, and it can include policy provisions that increase premiums faster or more abruptly than for other policy holders.
