The short answer
You cancel by making the change during an enrollment window, through Medicare.gov/plan-compare, the plan itself, or 1-800-MEDICARE. The plan must receive your request before the window closes. Dropping the plan puts you back on Original Medicare, which does not carry drug coverage.
You joined a drug plan because your prescriptions changed. Nothing else. And that act, on its own, is listed as a reason your Medicare Advantage plan can drop you. Cancelling is not always something you decide to do.
How do I cancel a Medicare Advantage plan?
You make the change during an enrollment window, and Medicare.gov gives three routes for doing it. Select Enroll for the plan you want at Medicare.gov/plan-compare, contact the plan by phone or on its website, or call 1-800-MEDICARE at 1-800-633-4227, with TTY on 1-877-486-2048.
A paper form is allowed. You can ask for one to fill in and mail back, and here is the condition that catches people: the plan must get it before your enrollment period ends. The deadline attaches to their receipt, not to your posting.
Two windows carry this move, and both have their own articles here. The Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period, January 1 to March 31, is open only if you are already in a Medicare Advantage plan. Medicare Open Enrollment, October 15 to December 7, is open to everyone.
So the act itself takes minutes. What it sets in motion takes longer, and starts on a date you do not pick.
What happens to my coverage after?
You land on Original Medicare, which is Part A and Part B. You pay for services as you get them, Medicare pays part of the cost of a covered service, you pay your share, and you can see any doctor or hospital that takes Medicare anywhere in the United States.
When that starts depends on the window. A change made in the January to March window starts the first of the month after the plan gets your request. A change made in the autumn window starts January 1 of the next year.
What Original Medicare does not bring with it is anything you have to add: drug coverage, and supplemental coverage such as a Medigap policy. Those are decisions about the destination, and this publication's article on switching to Original Medicare is where they are answered.
The important thing here is that nothing arrives to replace the extras a Medicare Advantage plan may have carried, like vision, hearing or dental.
One change is immediate rather than gradual. In many cases a Medicare Advantage plan limits you to doctors in its network, and Original Medicare does not work that way, so the set of providers open to you moves on the day the change takes effect.
Will I still have drug coverage?
Not automatically, and this is the part worth slowing down for. Most Medicare Advantage plans include drug coverage, and in most types of Medicare Advantage plan you cannot hold a separate drug plan alongside. So the coverage was attached to the plan rather than to you.
Medicare.gov closes the obvious gap in one place. If you drop your Medicare Advantage plan during the January to March window and return to Original Medicare, you will also be able to join a separate Medicare drug plan at that time.
There is a sharper edge to this. Joining a separate drug plan is itself listed as a reason a Medicare Advantage plan can disenroll you, in some cases. And a Medicare Advantage plan that does not offer drug coverage will, in most cases, not let you add a separate drug plan either.
Put those three facts side by side and you get the Benefit You Can Strand Is The One You Did Not Choose. The three facts are the government's, published on three different pages. Naming what they add up to is ours.
Notice what the third one implies. If joining a drug plan can end your Medicare Advantage plan, then ending it was never only your decision to make.
Can my plan cancel me instead?
Yes, in defined situations, and the list is longer than most people expect. A Medicare Advantage plan can disenroll you for moving outside its service area, for losing Medicare or Medicaid eligibility, for joining a drug plan in some cases, or because its contract with Medicare ended.
That last route is why the fourth section of this article exists. The first is why moving house is a Medicare event and not just a postal one.
In these situations there is a grace period, during which you are eligible for a Special Enrollment Period. Medicare.gov's own instruction at that moment is to review your options, so that you continue to have the health and drug coverage you want.
The practical reading is that being disenrolled is not the end of the process. It is the start of a clock, and the clock is yours to use.
What if my plan leaves Medicare?
Insurance companies decide each year whether to join or leave Medicare. If a plan decides to stop participating, you will have to join another Medicare health plan or return to Original Medicare. Companies also decide where a plan is available, so a plan can end in your county alone.
A plan can be offered to everyone with Medicare in a state, or only in certain counties, and a company can offer more than one plan in an area with different benefits and costs. Two plans from the same company in the same place are not the same product.
So a plan ending is not a rare event to be braced for. It is a normal feature of a market that is re-decided annually, which is a good reason to know what you would do next before you need to know.
Here are the four ways a Medicare Advantage plan can come to an end.
| How it ends | Who starts it | What Medicare.gov says happens |
|---|---|---|
| You drop it in a window | You | You return to Original Medicare |
| The plan disenrolls you | The plan | A grace period with a Special Enrollment Period |
| The plan stops participating in Medicare | The company | You join another Medicare health plan or return to Original Medicare |
| You join a drug plan, in some cases | You, by accident | Listed as a reason a plan can disenroll you |
Two of those four are not started by you. Which means the useful question is not how to leave. It is how to leave, or be left, without a gap.
How do I avoid a gap?
Work backwards from the receipt date rather than the deadline. The plan must have your request before the enrollment period ends, so a paper form posted close to December 7 is a risk that an online enrollment or a phone call is not.
Settle the drug question in the same act, not afterwards. Going 63 days or more in a row without Medicare drug coverage or other creditable prescription drug coverage, after you were eligible for Medicare, can bring a lifetime Part D late enrollment penalty.
Watch for one letter. When you join a drug plan or health plan it may send you a letter asking whether you had creditable prescription drug coverage. If you do not return it by the deadline in the letter, you will be charged a late enrollment penalty.
And if the plan you are leaving is tied to a job, ask before you act. Medicare.gov's standing instruction is to talk to your employer, union or benefits administrator first, because joining a Medicare Advantage plan can in some cases cost you that coverage, and your spouse and dependents with it. You may not be able to get it back.
What this means for you
Cancelling is one act with a deadline that belongs to the plan. Use Medicare.gov/plan-compare, the plan, or 1-800-MEDICARE, and give the request time to arrive inside the window. You land on Original Medicare, on a date set by which window you used.
The exposure is the drug coverage. It probably came bundled, it usually cannot be held separately inside the plan, and going 63 days or more without creditable coverage can cost you for life.
Leaving is also something that can happen to you. A plan can disenroll you, and a company can stop participating in Medicare, in which case a Special Enrollment Period is the door you walk through.
For what Original Medicare is and what you may want to add to it, read this publication's article on switching to Original Medicare. For the windows themselves, read the enrollment windows articles.
FAQ
If my plan disenrolls me, am I left without coverage?
Medicare.gov describes a grace period rather than a cliff. It states that a Medicare Advantage plan can disenroll you for several reasons, including moving outside the plan's service area, losing Medicare or Medicaid eligibility, joining a drug plan in some cases, or the plan's contract with Medicare ending.
In these situations, it says, there is a grace period when you will be eligible for a Special Enrollment Period, and it adds that it is important to review your options at that time to make sure you continue to have the Medicare health and drug coverage you want. That review is the part a reader can act on.
Do I have to cancel my Medicare Advantage plan before joining a different one?
The pages read for this article describe joining rather than cancelling first, and they describe the enrollment windows in terms of what changes each one allows. Medicare Open Enrollment, October 15 to December 7, is described as letting you join, drop or switch a Medicare Advantage plan with or without drug coverage.
The Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period, January 1 to March 31, is described as letting you switch to another Medicare Advantage plan, or drop yours and return to Original Medicare. For a definite answer about the specific plan you hold, call 1-800-MEDICARE at 1-800-633-4227, TTY 1-877-486-2048, which is the number Medicare.gov gives for enrollment help.
What happens if my request arrives after the window closes?
Medicare.gov states the requirement plainly for paper forms: you can ask the plan for a form to fill out and mail back, but they must get it before your enrollment period ends.
For Medicare Open Enrollment it repeats the point in the enrollment table, stating that the plan must get your enrollment request by December 7 for coverage to start January 1.
The government's pages read here do not describe what happens to a late request, so this article will not describe it either. The practical response is to use the online or telephone routes when a window is closing rather than the postal one.
Can I cancel a Medicare Advantage plan at any time of year?
No. Medicare.gov states that you can only join, switch or drop a Medicare Advantage plan, another Medicare health plan, or a Medicare drug plan at certain times, called enrollment periods.
Two general windows carry this move: Medicare Open Enrollment, October 15 to December 7, and the Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period, January 1 to March 31, which is open only if you are already in a Medicare Advantage plan.
Special Enrollment Periods also exist for certain situations in your life, such as moving to a new address or losing your current coverage. There is also a route for people in their first 3 months of Medicare who joined a plan during their Initial Enrollment Period.
Will I lose my employer coverage if I leave or join a plan?
Medicare.gov's instruction is to ask before acting, and its warning is specific. Before joining a Medicare Advantage plan, talk to your employer, union or other benefits administrator about their rules, because in some cases joining one might cause you to lose your employer or union coverage.
It adds that if you drop or lose that coverage for yourself, you may also lose coverage for your spouse and dependents, and that you may not be able to get this coverage back.
A similar warning appears on the drug coverage side: you, your spouse or dependents may lose all employer or union health coverage if you get Medicare drug coverage.
Does leaving a plan affect my Part D late enrollment penalty?
Leaving does not clear a penalty you already have. Medicare.gov states that in most cases you pay the monthly penalty for as long as you have Part D coverage, even if you switch plans. Leaving can create one, though, if it produces a gap.
The rule is that going 63 days or more in a row without Medicare drug coverage or other creditable prescription drug coverage, after you were eligible for Medicare, can bring a lifetime late enrollment penalty.
Creditable coverage means drug coverage expected to pay, on average, at least as much as Medicare drug coverage, and your current plan must tell you whether yours qualifies. Which is the whole of this article in one line: the plan can end without your permission, but the gap only opens if nobody was watching the calendar.
