If your coverage is not subsidized: Ways to buy health plans.  (Whether or not receiving benefits subsidized by HPInc or HPE.)

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Based on reports from HP Alumni Association members who have completed enrollment. Join forums: https://www.hpalumni.org  Not officially endorsed or supported. Question? Email us: info@hpalumni.org  (Page updated Jan 27, 2026)

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What HPInc is doing. No group Medicare plans will be offered by HPInc for 2026. Instead, for certain long-service HPInc, HPE, and DEC retirees, HPInc will automatically fund a special Retiree Reimbursement Account to subsidize open-market individual Advantage and Medigap plans -- if they are bought from one specific nationwide insurance sales agency, Alight Retiree Health Solutions. AlightRHS carries Medicare plans from many, but not all, major insurers. You can also use the RRA to pay for drug, dental, and vision (but not hearing) plans. (An RRA is separate from any other tax-advantaged accounts -- HSA, FSA, or RMSA -- you might have.)

The RRA subsidy applies to those covered by the HPInc "Pre-2003 Retiree Medical Program." Note: "Pre-2003" refers to the year when HP implemented the program, not your retirement year. Details: https://www.hpalumni.org/Pre2003

If your coverage is *not* subsidized, there are many ways to select and buy Medicare policies -- aside from the AlightRHS sales agency. You can see all Advantage, Drug, and Medigap policies available in your county from any source, on the official US Government site. https://www.hpalumni.org/enroll-ways-to-buy

For retirees and covered family members not yet eligible for Medicare, including surviving spouses, refer to your current Enrollment Guide https://www.hpalumni.org/EnrollmentGuides

What HPE is doing. No U.S. group plans -- Medicare or otherwise -- will be offered by HPE for 2026. Instead, you need to transition to publicly-available individual plans. To assist with the transition, HPE is referring retirees to a nationwide insurance sales agency, Alight Retiree Health Solutions. AlightRHS carries Medicare plans from many, but not all, major insurers.

There are many ways to select and buy Medicare policies -- aside from the AlightRHS sales agency. You can see all Advantage, Drug, and Medigap policies available in your county from any source, on the official US Government site.

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

If your coverage is not subsidized, there are many ways to select and buy Medicare policies -- aside from the AlightRHS sales agency:

- National sales agencies (such as AlightRHS) offer some of the policies available in your county.

- Some insurers (such as Mutual of Omaha or Regence) sell direct.

- Some insurers and health systems (such as Kaiser or Harvard Pilgrim) only sell direct. Some have preferred sales agencies -- such as Sutter with Alignment Health.

- A local independent agent may be more familiar with what works best in your area -- and be more experienced in constructing applications that get approved.

Insurance agents are regulated by each state. They are required by law to be licensed in your state of residence. (Need not be a resident of your state.)

Agents are authorized to transact in a given state only on behalf of specific insurers, as indicated in your state's insurance license registry, which you can find online. (For example, California: https://cdicloud.insurance.ca.gov/cal )

There are federal rules that apply to Medicare sales agents. For example, they can't call you unless you give permission or are already their customer. https://www.medicare.gov/health-drug-plans/health-plans/your-coverage-options/plan-marketing-rules

To compensate for local cost variations, Advantage policy availability and prices vary by county.

Insurers may elect to drop coverage in some counties and use loss-leader pricing to gain long-term market share in other areas.

For a specific plan under the same terms, you pay the same price regardless of who you bought it from.

Once an application is approved by an insurer, a sales agency is paid an initial commission -- and commissions every year for servicing your account. Advantage: $700-$860 for initial sale; $350-$430 for each year thereafter. Medigap: typically $260-$440 (22%) initial year and each year for five more years. Part D: $114, then $57/year.

Not all policies are available from AlightRHS. No sales agency -- including AlightRHS -- offers all policies available in your county. (For example, Harvard Pilgrim is only available direct. However, Tufts is available through Alight, per the HPInc Enrollment Guide.)

To see all Advantage, Medigap, and Drug plans available in your county from any source -- go to the official US Government site and enter your ZIP code and county. Notes: Some are small local or regional plans. The plan names indicate that some are for veterans or other specific groups. Some plans only sell direct or through a single agency. https://www.medicare.gov/plan-compare

For retirees and covered family members not yet eligible for Medicare, including surviving spouses, refer to your current Enrollment Guide https://www.hpalumni.org/EnrollmentGuides and use the official U.S. Government Health Insurance Marketplace: https://www.healthcare.gov

Current Medicare policy cancelled early -- or recent new enrollment canceled.

Medicare maintains a central "Enrollment DataBase" to ensure that someone cannot be enrolled in multiple Advantage or Drug plans for the same time period. Insurers automatically report new enrollment approvals to Medicare, which continuously checks for coverage overlap. If a new policy that covers the same time period is found, Medicare causes the previous policy to be canceled.

If a problem, contact the insurance sales agency that sold you the misdated plan. Or contact Medicare.

Verify the starting date entered by the agent (or yourself) when you are applying for a new policy. One member discovered that their current plan had been cancelled when picking up a prescription.

If you have a problem with a plan. As with any insurance sales agency... start with the agency that sold you the plan. For Alight Retiree Health Solutions, if the first-level person can't resolve your issue, they can escalate it to a special group within Alight. The sales agency gets a monthly commission for servicing your account. (HPInc or HPE is out of the picture, except for reimbursing you from your RRA.)

Next step: Menu of key Enrollment issues: https://www.hpalumni.org/enroll-menu (Membership not required.)

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