Your Annual Notice of Change: what to check before December 7
Written by the My Plan Compass team. Last reviewed October 29, 2026, against Medicare.gov.
Your Medicare Advantage plan mails an Annual Notice of Change each fall, usually in September. It lists the changes to your costs and coverage that start in January. Read it before December 7, the last day of Open Enrollment. If your plan no longer fits, you can switch by then and the new plan starts January 1.
If you did not get it, call your plan. Source: Medicare.gov: Plan Annual Notice of Change.
What to check, in this order
- Monthly premium
- Did it go up? A $0 premium can become a premium, and the other way around.
- Yearly out-of-pocket limit
- The most you pay in a year for covered medical care. A higher limit means more risk in a bad year.
- Copays for the care you use
- Look at the doctors, specialists, tests and hospital stays you actually use, not the whole table.
- Each of your drugs
- Is every drug still on the plan's drug list? Did any move to a higher tier, or pick up a rule like prior authorization?
- Your pharmacy
- Is it still in the network, and still a preferred pharmacy if it was one?
- Extra benefits
- Dental, vision and hearing allowances often change from year to year.
What the notice will not tell you
- Whether your doctors are staying. Networks can change at any time of year. Look your doctors up in the plan's directory and call their offices (how to check).
- Whether another plan is now a better fit. The notice compares your plan with itself. Other plans in your area changed too.
If you decide to stay or to switch
- If your plan is continuing and you do nothing, you stay in it next year, with the changes.
- If you switch between October 15 and December 7, the new plan starts January 1. Joining a new Medicare Advantage plan usually ends your old one, so you do not need to cancel it first.
- If your plan is leaving Medicare, you get a different letter, a Plan Non-Renewal Notice. See what to do if your plan is ending.
- Already in a Medicare Advantage plan and miss December 7? You get one more change between January 1 and March 31 (the dates).
This guide is general information, not advice about your situation. We are not connected with or endorsed by the U.S. government or the federal Medicare program.