Quiz: What Do You Know About Medicare Open Enrollment?

You can change your Medicare drug and health plans Oct. 15 through Dec. 7 every year.

You can make any of these changes during open enrollment.

Also, if you didn’t sign up for Part D prescription coverage when you were first eligible and you don’t have equivalent drug coverage from an employer, previous employer, union, the U.S. Veterans Affairs Department or anyone else, you can use the annual open enrollment period to sign up for a Part D plan for the first time.

Insurers can change the premium copays and what’s covered in their Part D and Medicare Advantage plans — including the list of drugs they cover — every calendar year and sometimes in the middle of the year. Look at the letter your current plan should send you in September to see what will be different next year. Compare it with other plans available to you by going to the plan comparison tool at Medicare.gov.

Part D plans charge widely different copays and do not all cover the same drugs. They also have different preferred pharmacies where you can often get the best deal. So it’s vital to check out which drugs each plan covers, what the plan’s monthly premiums are and what the copays are for the prescriptions you take.

The search can be confusing, but the online Medicare plan finder can help. Visit Medicare.gov and click on Find Plans. You can also call the Medicare hotline at 800-633-4227 — 24 hours a day, seven days a week — and ask for help.

During the open enrollment period, if you sign on to Medicare.gov, you can have an online chat with a Medicare representative. If you’re comparing the prescription drug coverage in Medicare Advantage plans, you should also pay attention to their medical benefits and which doctors participate in the various plans.

The out-of-pocket limit for prescription drug costs under Medicare Part D is adjusted annually for inflation. For 2026, this limit has been set at $2,100, continuing the trend of making prescription drugs more affordable for Medicare beneficiaries.

The idea behind the Medicare Prescription Payment Plan is to spread medication costs evenly throughout the year if you expect to meet your out-of-pocket drug cost maximum early in the year. That helps avoid a shock to your budget or potentially paying interest on the credit card debt you might have to take on to purchase expensive medicine.