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AARP Tele-Town Hall Provides Medicare Basic Training as Open Enrollment Period Begins

Reviewing your coverage options each year can help save you money and ensure adequate care, experts say

5-minute read

Tony Pugh,

AARP

Published October 15, 2026

AARP

Key takeaways

Review your coverage for possible changes during the sign-up period.
Do these three things before you make coverage changes.
Watch out for Medicare fraudsters and scammers.
Be cautious when using Medicare agents and brokers.

Medicare open enrollment for 2027 coverage began Oct. 15, and AARP kicked off the annual event with a National Medicare Tele-Town Hall.

The live Q&A event, dubbed “Medicare Open Enrollment: Your Annual Coverage Checkup,” featured a panel of experts who explained the basics of the Medicare program and open enrollment, which runs until Dec. 7, to a national audience.

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Areas covered included how to prepare for the annual Medicare sign-up period, where to get assistance with important questions, what coverage changes you can make, and the differences between original Medicare and Medicare Advantage, which is offered by private insurers and now covers 51 percent of eligible program beneficiaries.

Review your Medicare coverage during open enrollment

Over the next seven-plus weeks, Medicare’s 70.5 million beneficiaries have their best opportunity to consider making changes to their original Medicare, Medicare Advantage (MA) or Part D prescription drug coverage to better suit their needs.

They can switch from original Medicare to a Medicare Advantage plan or vice versa; switch from one MA plan to another, or join, drop or switch to a Part D prescription drug plan.

“This is a really good time to think about how and what has changed in your life over the past year: your health, the prescriptions you take, the doctors you see, your budget and your coverage needs,” says Xavier Vaughn, AARP’s senior adviser for Medicare programs. “You can look at this as a time to review, compare and confirm your coverage. Medicare does not have a ‘set it and forget it’ type of thing. You are truly in the driver’s seat.”

For people in original Medicare, one of the best benefits is being able to see any doctor in the country who takes Medicare patients, says Andrew Scholnick, government affairs director at AARP. “If you spend summers in one location and winters in another location, you don’t have to worry about finding in-network care when you’re visiting more than one city,” he explains.

But think twice about leaving original Medicare, enrolling in Medicare Advantage and coming back to original Medicare, because “you might have difficulty getting a supplemental coverage plan, that Medigap policy that you’d have been forced to give up when you left,” Scholnick says. Medigap policies help pay out-of-pocket costs for beneficiaries in original Medicare.

Three must-haves before you make coverage changes

Ari Parker, cofounder and head of Medicare at Chapter, says beneficiaries should have three things ready when they begin the enrollment process:

Have your current plan details, like the exact names of your Medicare Advantage, Medigap and stand-alone Part D plans.
Make a complete list of your providers, including doctors, specialists and preferred hospitals, “to verify that all the people you want to see next year are still in-network,” Parker says.
Have a list of the prescription medications you take and your preferred pharmacies.

“A 10- to 15-minute insurance checkup prevents costly mistakes,” Parker says. “Plans change every year. And letting your coverage auto-renew risks your waking up on January 1 to find that your doctor is out-of-network or your drug is no longer covered. So don’t make that mistake.”

Be on the lookout for Medicare frauds and scams

As television and online advertising from Medicare Advantage insurers and brokers heats up during the enrollment period, AARP’s Vaughn urged people to follow some commonsense reminders:

Be cautious if someone pressures you to join a plan quickly.
Be wary if someone says you can lose your Medicare benefits unless you enroll in their plans.
Do not share your Medicare or Social Security number, bank information or other personal information with someone who contacts you unexpectedly.
Ask for information in writing before you make a coverage decision.

If you suspect fraud or misleading marketing, report it to Medicare at 800-MEDICARE (800-633-4227), Medicare.gov, or the Senior Medicare Patrol at 877-808-2468. Or you can contact the AARP Fraud Watch Network at 877-908-3360, or the Medicare Rights Center at 800-333-4114.

Above all, take your time and contact your State Health Insurance Assistance Program at 877-839-2675 for information about available coverage.

Be cautious when using agents and brokers

Research shows nearly 1 in 3 people use licensed Medicare agents and brokers to help find a Medicare Advantage plan, a stand-alone Part D plan or a Medicare supplement insurance plan, known as Medigap. That’s more than 10.5 million enrollees who discuss their coverage with agents each year.

Agents enroll people in plans. Brokers act as middlemen between potential customers and insurers. Both advise consumers and make coverage recommendations, and both are licensed by the states where they operate. And both can receive commissions from the insurance companies they represent.

Rules to ensure that agents and brokers act in customers’ best interests when selecting Medicare Advantage and Part D plans were changed on Oct. 1. The changes mean that:

In the first minute of a Medicare sales call, you’ll no longer hear a verbal disclaimer from agents and brokers that explains that they don’t offer all coverage options available in your area.
That disclaimer, which can now come later in the call, also won’t mention that you can contact your State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP) for information about all your coverage options.
User ratings of Medicare Advantage plans’ care and customer service will no longer count toward a plan’s star rating, which helps identify high-quality plans.

AARP, the nation’s leading advocacy group for 125 million Americans age 50 and older, opposed these policy changes.

Tony Pugh is an award-winning writer and editor covering Medicare for AARP. He has also covered Medicare for Bloomberg Law and as a national correspondent for Knight Ridder/McClatchy Newspapers.

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