Enroll27 Guaranteed Issue

If your Advantage plan has been discontinued, you have a one-time opportunity to change your Medicare strategy.

Depending on your financial and health situation, your preference for your current doctors and medical system, and your personal tolerance for risk, you may want to take advantage of this one-time opportunity to move from your current Advantage group coverage to a Medigap plan -- without the normally-required "medical underwriting" evaluation of your current health.

"If you have a guaranteed issue right, an insurer: Must sell you a Medigap policy. Must cover all your pre-existing health conditions. Can't charge you more for a Medigap policy because of past or present health problems." --Medicare

Buy your new policy before Dec 31 to avoid having a gap in coverage. If you join a new plan after Dec 31, coverage in the new plan won't start until the month after you join -- as stated in the cancellation notice from your current insurer.

If an insurance sales agent (or an online policy application) insists on you answering detailed health questions -- beyond "Are you disabled?" and "Do you use tobacco?" -- you are undergoing "medical underwriting." Stop the application process immediately and insist on your guaranteed issue right!

Either the wrong box was checked somewhere in the enrollment process -- or there is a system problem.

Needless to say, some insurers make it difficult for you to exercise your guaranteed issue rights.

Note that the insurance sales agent is filling in an online form provided by the insurer.

Several members report that their licensed AlightRHS agent did not understand this very complex topic. If so, insist on speaking to a supervisor.

(One member was asked by the agent for their height and weight -- and answered. That application got stuck in "medical underwriting" limbo at the insurer. Based on an escalation by HPAA to AlightRHS management, it got fixed.)

The first row in the chart applies if your current insurer is no longer offering plans in your county.

Note the wording in the chart: "You have the right to buy... Medigap Plan A, B, C*, D*, F*,or G*, that’s sold by an insurance company in your state, or the state you're moving to."

To see all Medicare plans available in your county from any source -- go to the official Medicare Plan Finder, and enter your ZIP code and county. The genuine site: https://www.medicare.gov/plan-compare

For Advantage and Drug plans, the site lists all plans offered in your county -- with plan details and Medicare's official "Star" quality rating. For Medigap plans -- which are available state-by-state -- the site lists all insurers who offer plans in your state. Some plans are limited to specific geographic areas or specific groups; some only sell direct or through a single agency.

Price, drug, and provider information on any site -- whether the official Plan Finder, a sales agency such as AlightRHS, or a insurer's website -- may be incorrect. Verify with primary sources.

For retirees and covered family members not yet eligible for Medicare, including surviving spouses, start at the federal marketplace https://www.healthcare.gov

AARP/UHC plans. Many are not specifically listed on the AlightRHS plan selector, but are available by asking your AlightRHS agent -- as indicated in list of plans available to you.

Alight agents may not understand this -- or may not know how to sell you an AARP/UHC plan.

UnitedHealthcare is the largest Medicare insurer. UHC pays royalties to AARP for use of the brandname. Although an annual AARP membership is required (bought online with a credit card) AARP plans are not group plans.

Members report that if your existing group policy is at UHC -- and you are purchasing an individual open-market policy from UHC -- you do not need to forward the letter from UHC about your disenrollment from the UHC group plan. Apparently UHC's system is smart enough to deal with that.