Quick Answer: Medicare Open Enrollment 2027, officially the Annual Enrollment Period, runs from October 15 to December 7, 2026. Any change you make takes effect January 1, 2027. Three cost changes matter most this year: the standard Part D deductible rises to $700 from $615, the out-of-pocket drug cap increases to $2,400, and a federal subsidy that has held Part D premiums down expires on December 31, 2026, which could push some monthly premiums up by $11 to $20. Your plan must mail its Annual Notice of Change by September 30. Reading that letter is the single most valuable thing you can do before the window opens.
Medicare Open Enrollment 2027 dates
The window itself is short, but several things happen around it that are easy to miss.
| Date | What happens |
|---|---|
| By September 30, 2026 | Your plan mails the Annual Notice of Change (ANOC) |
| October 1, 2026 | 2027 plan details become available to browse and compare |
| October 15, 2026 | Open Enrollment opens |
| December 7, 2026 | Open Enrollment closes |
| January 1, 2027 | New coverage takes effect |
| January 1 to March 31, 2027 | Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment, a second limited window |
You will see this period called three different things: the Annual Enrollment Period, the Annual Election Period, and Fall Open Enrollment. They all refer to the same October 15 to December 7 window.
The October 1 date is underused. Plan information becomes visible two weeks before you can act on it, which gives you time to compare properly rather than rushing a decision in the final week.
What you can actually change in this window
Open Enrollment applies to anyone already enrolled in Medicare Part A or Part B, whether you currently have Original Medicare, a Medicare Advantage plan, or a standalone Part D drug plan.
During the window you can:
- Switch from Original Medicare to a Medicare Advantage plan
- Switch from Medicare Advantage back to Original Medicare
- Change from one Medicare Advantage plan to another
- Join, switch or drop a standalone Part D prescription drug plan
One important exclusion: Medigap, also called Medicare Supplement, does not work on this calendar. Medigap has its own enrollment rules, and outside your one-time guaranteed issue window an insurer can generally use medical underwriting to decline you or charge more. People frequently assume Open Enrollment lets them pick up a Medigap policy freely. It does not. If Medigap is part of your plan, that is a separate conversation with different timing.
The Part D changes that matter for 2027
Prescription drug coverage is where the most concrete changes land this year.
The standard deductible rises to $700
Up from $615 in 2026, an increase of $85. This is the amount you pay out of pocket before your plan contributes anything toward covered drugs. If you take expensive medications, you will feel this in January rather than spread across the year.
Note the word standard. Plans can structure deductibles differently, and some apply the deductible only to certain drug tiers. Your ANOC will tell you what your specific plan does.
The out-of-pocket cap rises to $2,400
Once your out-of-pocket spending on covered drugs reaches $2,400, you pay nothing more for covered prescriptions for the rest of the calendar year. That cap is a genuinely significant protection for anyone on high-cost medication, and it is worth understanding that it exists.
A premium subsidy is expiring
This is the change getting the least attention and deserving the most.
A federal programme that has held down Part D premiums for the past two years ends on December 31, 2026. Analysts expect this to translate into noticeable premium increases, with some enrollees seeing monthly rises in the range of $11 to $20. For context, the average Part D premium in 2026 was around $36, so an increase at the top of that range is substantial in percentage terms.
Not everyone will be affected equally. It depends on your plan and your region. But if your Part D premium jumps more than you expected, this is likely why.
Newly negotiated drug prices take effect
Prices negotiated by Medicare under the Inflation Reduction Act apply to a further 15 widely used medications from January 1, 2027, including Ozempic and Wegovy. If you take one of these, the negotiated price could meaningfully change your annual cost, and it is worth checking how your specific plan applies it.
What stays the same
Covered insulin remains capped at $35 per month with no deductible applied. Recommended vaccines remain available at no cost. Neither of these is changing for 2027.
What is happening to Part B premiums
The standard Part B premium in 2026 is $202.90 a month. The 2027 figure has not been officially announced.
Industry estimates put it somewhere around $221, but treat that as a projection rather than a number to budget from. The official figure typically arrives in the autumn, often close to the Social Security cost-of-living announcement.
That timing connection matters. For most people the Part B premium is deducted directly from their Social Security payment, which means the Part B increase eats into the annual raise before it reaches your bank account. We covered the projected raise in detail in our guide to the 2027 Social Security COLA, currently tracking at 3.5% to 3.6%. The practical arithmetic is that your real increase for 2027 is the COLA minus whatever Part B goes up by.
Higher earners should also check the IRMAA brackets. Income-related surcharges apply above certain thresholds, and they work as steps rather than a gradual slope. Crossing a threshold by a small amount can raise your premium considerably.
Why doing nothing is usually the expensive option
If you take no action during Open Enrollment, your current plan generally rolls over into 2027 with whatever changes are listed in your ANOC. The card in your wallet stays the same. The numbers underneath it may not.
Here is what can change while the plan name stays identical:
- Your monthly premium
- Your deductible, and how it is applied
- Which drugs are on the formulary at all
- Which tier your specific drugs sit in, which changes your copay
- Which pharmacies count as preferred
- Which doctors and hospitals are in network
- Supplemental benefits like dental, vision, hearing and over-the-counter allowances
A drug moving up one tier can cost more over a year than the entire premium difference between two plans. This is why comparing monthly premiums alone is the most common and most expensive mistake people make.
There is a worse scenario. If your plan is discontinued for 2027 and you do nothing, you can end up back on Original Medicare with no drug coverage at all. That exposes you to a Part D late enrolment penalty, which is permanent and increases the longer you go without coverage. Discontinuation is exactly the situation where inaction causes real damage.
The ANOC letter and what to look for
Your plan is required to mail the Annual Notice of Change by the end of September. It arrives looking like junk mail and gets discarded constantly. It is the most useful document you will receive all year.
When it arrives, check these five things in order:
- The new premium. Note the change, not just the figure.
- The deductible. Confirm whether it applies to all drug tiers or only some.
- Your specific medications. Not the formulary in general. Look up each drug you actually take, by name and dose, and check both that it is still covered and which tier it sits in.
- Your doctors and hospitals. Networks change every year. A provider being dropped is a common reason people switch.
- Supplemental benefits. Dental, vision, hearing and OTC allowances are frequently trimmed, and the reduction is easy to miss.
If nothing meaningful has changed and your plan still fits, staying put is a perfectly good decision. The point is to make it as a decision rather than by default.
A checklist to run before December 7
Write down your medications first
Every drug, with the dose and how often you take it. This list is what makes plan comparison meaningful. Without it, you are comparing premiums, which tells you very little.
List your doctors and preferred pharmacy
Include specialists you see regularly. If you have a preferred pharmacy, check its status specifically, because losing preferred status can change your copays even when everything else stays the same.
Compare total annual cost, not monthly premium
Add the premium for twelve months, plus the deductible, plus your expected copays based on your actual drug list. A plan costing a few dollars more per month can be considerably cheaper across the year if it treats your medications more favourably. The reverse happens just as often.
Check the star rating
CMS rates plans on a five-star scale covering customer service, member complaints and care quality. It is not the only factor, but a consistently low-rated plan is worth questioning.
Use the free help that exists
The official plan finder at Medicare.gov lets you enter your drug list and compare real costs. Every state also runs a State Health Insurance Assistance Program, known as SHIP, which offers free unbiased counselling with no sales incentive. Comparing plans is always free, and you never pay to enrol in one.
Do not leave it to the final week
Call volumes climb sharply in early December, and rushed decisions are how people end up in plans that do not cover their medications. Plan details are visible from October 1. Use the time.
The enrollment periods people mix up
Medicare has several windows and they are not interchangeable. This is a common source of costly confusion.
| Period | When | What it allows |
|---|---|---|
| Annual Enrollment Period | Oct 15 to Dec 7 | Any change to Advantage or Part D coverage |
| Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment | Jan 1 to Mar 31 | One change, only if already in an Advantage plan |
| Initial Enrollment Period | Around your 65th birthday | First-time enrolment in Medicare |
| Special Enrollment Period | Triggered by life events | Changes after moving, losing coverage and similar |
The January to March window is the safety net if you enrol in an Advantage plan and quickly realise it does not work for you. It permits one change. It is not available to people on Original Medicare.
Watch out for Medicare scams this season
Open Enrollment reliably brings a surge in fraud, and the tactics are consistent enough to recognise.
Medicare will not call you unsolicited to sell a plan. Nobody legitimate needs your Medicare number to send you a free brace, a genetic test kit, or a new card. Pressure to decide immediately is a warning sign in itself, because you have seven full weeks and no legitimate agent needs an answer today.
Treat your Medicare number like a bank card number. Give it only to providers you contacted yourself. If someone reaches out to you, verify independently through Medicare.gov or your SHIP office rather than through any number or link they provide.
If you are worried about your details already circulating, our comparison of the best identity theft protection services covers monitoring options, and keeping your devices clean matters too, which our roundup of the best antivirus software goes through.
Frequently asked questions
When is Medicare Open Enrollment for 2027?
October 15 to December 7, 2026. Changes made during that window take effect January 1, 2027. Plan details for 2027 become available to compare from October 1.
Do I have to do anything during Open Enrollment?
No, and your plan will usually renew automatically. But if your plan is being discontinued, doing nothing can leave you on Original Medicare with no drug coverage and exposed to a permanent late enrolment penalty. Reading your Annual Notice of Change tells you which situation applies to you.
What is the Part D deductible for 2027?
The standard deductible is $700, up from $615 in 2026. Individual plans can structure deductibles differently, including applying them to only some drug tiers, so check your own plan documents.
How much is the Part B premium in 2027?
It has not been officially announced. The 2026 standard premium is $202.90 a month, and industry projections point to roughly $221 for 2027, but that is an estimate. The confirmed figure typically arrives in the autumn.
Can I switch to a Medigap plan during Open Enrollment?
Generally no. Medigap operates under separate rules, and outside your guaranteed issue window insurers can use medical underwriting to decline coverage or charge more. Open Enrollment covers Medicare Advantage and Part D, not Medigap.
Does it cost anything to compare or switch plans?
No. Comparing plans at Medicare.gov is free, SHIP counselling is free, and you never pay a fee to enrol in a plan. Anyone charging you to enrol is not legitimate.
The bottom line
Two things make this year’s Open Enrollment worth more attention than usual. The Part D deductible is up $85, and the subsidy that has been suppressing Part D premiums disappears at the end of December. Together they mean a plan that was well priced in 2026 may look quite different in 2027, even if nothing about the plan name or your prescriptions changes.
The work involved is genuinely small. Read the ANOC when it arrives in September. Write down your drugs and doctors. Compare total annual cost rather than monthly premium. Then decide, even if the decision is to stay where you are.
Medicare is only one line in a retirement budget, and the same seven weeks are a reasonable time to look at the rest of it. Legacy mobile plans in particular are a common overpayment, covered in our guide to the best cell phone plans in 2026, and dropping cable is worth more than most people assume, as our guide to watching NFL without cable sets out. Tracking where the money actually goes is easier with one of the tools in our roundup of the best budgeting apps.
This article is general information, not insurance advice, and blogmind360 is not affiliated with Medicare or any insurer. Figures marked as estimates are not official. Confirm current costs and plan details at Medicare.gov, or speak with your state’s free SHIP counselling service, before making any enrolment decision.