In the next few weeks, a letter arrives that decides your Medicare costs for next year. It looks like junk mail. It is the most important paper you will get this fall - and most people either throw it away or sign the first page without reading it.
I know this letter. It showed up at my house last year in a plain envelope, and I almost tossed it with the catalogs. It has a boring name - the Annual Notice of Change - and the print is tiny. But buried in that envelope is everything your plan is changing for next year: what it will cost, which drugs it will still cover, and whether your doctor is still in it.
You do not have to mail anything back. That is the trap. If you do nothing, you stay in your plan - which is exactly why you need to know what changed before you decide to do nothing.
Here is what the letter is, the dates that matter, and the three checks that take ten minutes and tell you whether to stay, switch, or call for help.
What the Letter Is
Every fall, Medicare plans send their members an Annual Notice of Change - the ANOC, for short. By law it has to be mailed by September 30. It is not an advertisement and it is not a bill. It is the plan telling you, in writing, what is different next year: the premium, the deductible, the copays, the drugs on the list, and the doctors and hospitals in the network.
The letter exists because plans change things every year, and Medicare wants the changes in front of you before you have to make a decision. It is the one time a year the system has to explain itself to you. That is why the envelope matters, even though it does not look like it.
The Dates That Matter
There are three dates, and only three:
- By September 30: the letter lands. Watch for it starting mid-September.
- October 15 to December 7: open enrollment. This is the only window when you can switch plans or add drug coverage for next year.
- January 1, 2027: whatever you chose - or did not choose - takes effect.
If you do nothing, nothing happens to your enrollment. You stay in the same plan. The catch is that “the same plan” is not the same plan - it has new prices and a new drug list. That is what the letter tells you.
The Three Checks
When the letter arrives, give it ten minutes and run these three checks. They cover everything that actually matters.
Check one: the premium
What does your plan cost next year, and why did it change?
The letter shows your new premium in plain numbers. Two things are worth knowing before you read them.
Your Part B premium - the part nearly everyone pays for doctor visits - is projected at about $209.50 a month for 2027, up from $202.90 this year. That is a projection from the Medicare Trustees Report, not the final number; the official amount is announced in November. If your letter shows a Part B number, that is the one to expect.
Your Part D drug premium is in the letter too. For most people it stays close to flat - but the special program that has been holding drug premiums down runs out after this year, so do not assume the old number carried over. Read the new one.
Check two: the drugs
Are the drugs you take still covered, and at the same price?
Plans change their drug lists every year. A drug you take can move to a higher tier, which means a higher copay, or drop off the list entirely. The letter has to tell you if that happened.
Two numbers changed for 2027 that affect everyone with drug coverage. The Part D deductible goes from $615 to about $700, and the yearly out-of-pocket cap goes from $2,100 to about $2,400. If you take a drug that costs real money, those numbers decide how much you pay before the coverage kicks in fully.
The check is simple: go down the letter’s drug list with the bottles from your medicine cabinet, and look for your prescriptions by name. Still there? Same tier? Then move on. Moved or gone? That is a reason to shop around in open enrollment.
Check three: the doctors
Is your doctor still in the plan?
Plans renegotiate with doctors and hospitals every year, and networks change. If you have a doctor you like, the letter may tell you the news in one small line. The check is one phone call: call your doctor’s office and ask if they are still in your plan for 2027. Thirty seconds, and it settles the question the letter may have buried.
Where to Compare Before You Decide
If any check came back different, you do not have to guess. Medicare runs a free, official comparison tool called the Plan Finder - you enter your zip code and your drugs, and it shows what each plan would cost you next year, side by side. It is the same tool the counselors use. It takes longer than the letter, but it is free and it is the actual answer.
One warning: the plan that calls you is not a comparison. Open enrollment brings a wave of phone calls and mailers from plans that want you to switch. Some are legitimately offering a plan. None of them are showing you every option - they are showing you theirs. If a call makes you curious, write down the plan name, hang up, and look it up on the Plan Finder yourself. You can switch to any plan you find there, with or without the caller.
And if you want a person to walk you through it, your state’s free counselors - the State Health Insurance Assistance Program, SHIP - will do it over the phone or in person, no charge. It is the best-kept secret in Medicare.
What NOT to Do
Open enrollment is also scam season, and this year it is running hot. A few rules, all in one paragraph:
Medicare never calls you. Not about your card, not about your benefits, not about a refund. If someone calls saying they are from Medicare and needs your Medicare number or your bank information, it is not Medicare. Hang up. Cards never expire - there is no new plastic card, and anyone offering one is running the August card-fraud script that the Senior Medicare Patrol has been warning about. Calls and texts claiming “2026 Medicare changes” will cost you your benefits are false - no such change exists. And a “flex card” offer with free groceries is an offer to take your information, not a benefit - the same official-sounding bait we covered in the gold bar scam.
The one-question test from the scam series applies here like everywhere else: would Medicare call you like this? The real Medicare does not call, does not text, does not email, and does not send cards in the mail that need “activating.” When in doubt, hang up and call 1-800-MEDICARE yourself - the number on your own card.
If a caller already got something from you, tell someone you trust and report it at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. The same rule as every scam in the series: the person who knows what happened is far less likely to be hit by what comes next.
The One Conversation
When you have made your decision - stay, switch, or call for help - have one short conversation with someone you trust. Tell them what you decided, and where the letter is.
That sounds small. It is not. Every fall, families scramble because a parent made a change or missed one, and no one else knew. One sentence - “I read my Medicare letter, I am staying with my plan, and the letter is in the kitchen drawer” - means someone can help you later if you need it, and it means you are not deciding alone.
What to Do Now
Nothing yet - that is the honest answer. The letter has not arrived, and there is nothing to sign up for or switch to before it does. But there are two things worth doing today:
- Put a reminder in your calendar for mid-September: “Medicare letter should be here.” When it lands, give it ten minutes and run the three checks.
- Tell the person you trust that the letter is coming. The one conversation works better when it happens before the decision, not after.
Then, when the envelope arrives, do not toss it with the catalogs. It is the one time a year the system has to explain itself to you - and ten minutes is all it takes to read it.
I am not a Medicare counselor or a benefits expert. I am a grandmother who has read the letter, and I am telling you: it is worth the ten minutes.
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