Medicare Annual Enrollment In Sedgwick County, Kansas

Each September a plan notice lands in the mailbox, and the enrollment window it points to closes on December 7. For most households nothing needs to change. The trouble starts when a drug list or a provider network shifts under a plan that worked fine last year, and nobody reads the letter. Getting Medicare help in Wichita costs you nothing, and whether a change makes sense at all is the job of an annual plan review.

Two windows with nearly the same name

Medicare uses several windows, and only one of them belongs to the fall. The enrollment help page lists every one. This page sticks to autumn.

The Annual Enrollment Period, often just called Open Enrollment, opens October 15, closes December 7, and anyone with Medicare may use it. Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment is something else: it runs January 1 to March 31 and only people already in an Advantage plan can use it. Mixing up those two is how people miss the one they needed.

What You Can Do During AEP

Inside the window, every one of these moves is open to you, and nobody asks about your health.

• Leave Original Medicare for a Medicare Advantage plan
• Leave an Advantage plan and go back to Original Medicare
• Trade one Advantage plan for another
• Trade one Part D plan for another
• Pick up Part D for the first time, possibly with a late enrollment penalty
• Drop drug coverage entirely

What You Cannot Do During AEP

• Swap Medigap plans free of health questions, in most cases
• Count on a Medigap approval unless a guaranteed issue right applies
• Make any coverage start before January 1

AEP does not govern Medigap at all. Once your one-time Supplement window has passed, a carrier licensed in Kansas can review your health history and turn the application down.

The Dates That Matter

Five dates set the rhythm of the season.

What To Check Before December 7

Go through it top to bottom. You can do the first three at the kitchen table.

• Read the Annual Notice of Change and circle each line that differs from this year
• List every prescription with its strength and how often you take it, then confirm each one is still on next year's formulary and at what tier
• Name the doctors and the hospital you want to keep, then look each one up in the plan's own directory. Network status for Wesley, the Ascension Via Christi campuses or Kansas Medical Center in Andover can differ from plan to plan, so search the exact location.
• Line up the options side by side using the Plan Finder at Medicare.gov, a free SHICK counselor, or a licensed agent
• Make any change by December 7
• In January, test the new card at your first visit and your first pharmacy fill

Free Help Around Wichita

• SHICK counseling in Sedgwick County. Trained counselors give unbiased Medicare help and sell nothing. Locally the program runs through K-State Research and Extension; call 316-660-0126 to book, and book early, because autumn slots fill up. The statewide SHICK line is 1-800-860-5260. Source: sedgwick.k-state.edu, SHICK; kdads.ks.gov, SHICK
• The federal line and website. The federal site holds the Plan Finder and every plan's data. The phone line, 1-800-633-4227, is staffed day and night. Source: medicare.gov contact

Rides, aging services and other local contacts are on the Wichita senior resources page. If you live in Derby, Haysville, Park City or another town outside Wichita, the county-wide Medicare page covers what an address changes.

Rather have a licensed agent ring you? Ask for a callback and we return it the same or next business day.