Medicare enrollment blitz doesn’t include options to move into Medigap

Because she has cancer, the retired medical office manager qualified for Medicare through Social Security Disability Insurance before turning 65, and she enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan. She was paying a $385 monthly premium — $4,620 a year — and facing $7,000 a year in out-of-pocket costs, not counting her big prescription drug bills. So last year before her birthday, she called two insurance brokers about switching to traditional Medicare and getting a Medigap plan, which she thought would offer better, cheaper coverage. Medicare rules offer a Medigap open enrollment opportunity for beneficiaries who are experiencing disabilities when they turn 65.