📝 Medicare Open Enrollment: How to Check Your Plan’s Extras Before December 7

Independent publisher · Sources: Medicare.gov and AARP

On the previous page you saw that some Medicare plans include extras, like help with healthy food. Here is how to check your own plan — and compare — before December 7.

👀 Who can change plans now

Anyone with Medicare can use open enrollment, from October 15 to December 7.

In this window you can switch from Original Medicare to a Medicare Advantage plan, switch back, or move from one Medicare Advantage or drug plan to another.

Whatever you choose starts on January 1. If you’re happy with your plan, you don’t need to do anything.

📋 Start with the letter you already got

If you’re in a Medicare Advantage or drug plan, your plan sends an “Annual Notice of Change” each fall.

It lists what will be different next year: costs, doctors, drugs and extra benefits. Many people put it aside unopened.

If a benefit you use is being cut or changed, this is where you’ll see it first.

🧾 What to have at hand

Your Medicare card and your current plan card.

A list of the medicines you take and the doctors you want to keep.

Your ZIP code, since the plans you can choose depend on where you live.

⚙️ How to check for food-related extras

Look for sections about “supplemental benefits”, “healthy food”, “meals” or “over-the-counter” in your plan’s Evidence of Coverage or benefits summary.

You can also call the member services number on the back of your plan card and ask directly whether you qualify for any food or nutrition program.

In Medicare’s Plan Finder, you can compare plans in your area and see which ones list extra benefits.

🔁 If you have Original Medicare

Original Medicare itself doesn’t include food benefits, and that won’t change by waiting.

During open enrollment you can look at Medicare Advantage plans in your area and see whether any of them list extras that matter to you, along with their costs, doctors and drug coverage.

If you also have Medicaid, ask about plans made for people with both, often called D-SNPs. Some of them include more extras than standard plans.

⏱️ Key dates

October 15: open enrollment begins.

December 7: last day to make a change for next year.

January 1: the new plan and its benefits start.

📲 If you need help

You can call 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227), 24 hours a day. TTY users can call 1-877-486-2048.

Every state also has a State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP) that gives free, unbiased counseling about Medicare choices.

⚠️ Common mistakes

Choosing a plan for one extra benefit without checking whether your doctors and medicines are covered.

Assuming an extra seen in an ad is available in your county.

Giving your Medicare number to someone who calls offering a “free” card or benefit. Medicare doesn’t call to sell plans.

🧠 Good to know

Food allowances in plans are usually limited to certain groups of members, often people with chronic conditions or with both Medicare and Medicaid. The plan decides who qualifies.

Some benefits, like meals after a hospital stay, are short-term and only apply in specific situations.

Noticias de Finanzas is an independent publisher, not affiliated with Medicare, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, any government agency, health plan or insurance company. We do not sell insurance or enroll anyone in a plan. Official information is on Medicare.gov and from your own health plan.