A non-renewal letter is not the same as your annual notice
Two different letters arrive in the fall and they ask for very different things from you. The Annual Notice of Change is routine: it lists what your plan is adjusting for the coming year, and if you like the changes you can do nothing and stay enrolled. A non-renewal or plan termination letter is the serious one: it says the plan itself will not exist where you live after December 31, so staying put is not an option and a decision is required. Carriers send these notices before the enrollment season, and reporting suggests the 2027 letters arrive in early October. Read the top of the letter carefully for the words non-renewal, termination, or discontinued. If your letter is the routine kind instead, our guide to reading an Annual Notice of Change walks through those changes line by line.
Your Special Enrollment Period depends on which letter you got
When your plan is not renewed you get more time than the ordinary season allows, and the exact window depends on the wording of your notice. You can always use the Annual Enrollment Period, October 15 through December 7, to choose your 2027 coverage like everyone else. If your plan's contract with Medicare is not renewed, Medicare.gov gives you an additional Special Enrollment Period that runs from December 8 through the last day of February. If instead Medicare ends your plan's contract mid year, that window is different: it starts one month before the contract ends and closes two full months after. Either way, choosing by December 7 is the cleanest path, because that coverage starts January 1 with no gap, while a later choice can leave you briefly on Original Medicare alone. If you would rather not compare the replacement plans on your own, our guide to choosing a broker in Los Angeles for your Medicare plan explains what to ask before you hand that work to anyone.
Returning to Original Medicare can unlock a Medigap policy with no health questions
This is the part most people never hear about, and for some it is the most valuable thing in the letter. Normally an insurer can ask health questions before selling you a Medicare Supplement and can turn you down. When your Medicare Advantage plan leaves your area, Medicare.gov confirms a guaranteed issue right to buy certain Medigap policies without medical underwriting, in a window running from 60 days before your coverage ends until 63 days after it ends. One condition decides everything: the right applies only if you go back to Original Medicare. Join another Medicare Advantage plan instead and you give it up. A Supplement then works with any doctor in the country who participates in Medicare and accepts new Medicare patients, with no referrals, though Medicare SELECT policies are the exception because they do use a network. That freedom stops at the border, because only some Medigap plans pay anything toward emergency care outside the country, which is set out in Medicare coverage for care in Israel.
What happens if you ignore the letter
Nothing good, and it happens quietly. If your Medicare Advantage plan is not renewed and you make no choice, you are not left uninsured: Medicare.gov confirms you return to Original Medicare, Parts A and B, automatically. What does not come with it is the rest. For most people prescription drug coverage is not automatic, so unless you choose a Part D plan you can start the year without it, and if you go 63 days in a row without creditable drug coverage you will owe a permanent late enrollment penalty. If you have Extra Help or Medi-Cal, Medicare may assign you a drug plan automatically, though you can still choose a different one. Original Medicare alone also has no annual cap on what you pay out of pocket, and the guaranteed issue window for a Supplement expires while you wait.
Which plans are leaving for 2027
The 2027 map is being redrawn by the carriers themselves. According to reporting by Insurance Business, Humana will not renew Medicare Advantage plans covering roughly 600,000 members, about 8 percent of its Medicare Advantage membership, and federal rules require those non-renewal notices to be dated October 2 for coverage ending December 31. The same reporting notes that UnitedHealthcare fully withdrew from 16 Medicare Advantage markets for 2026, affecting roughly 180,000 policyholders, and that other carriers have since followed the same pattern. Your official notice from your own plan is the only thing that confirms whether you are affected, so watch your mail through October rather than relying on news coverage. Goulson Insurance Services is not affiliated with or endorsed by Medicare or any government agency, and we do not offer every plan available in your area; Medicare.gov or 1-800-MEDICARE list every option.
One letter, one hour, one decision
You do not have to decode the whole notice alone. Set the letter next to your list of doctors and your list of prescriptions, and the choice usually becomes clear in a single sitting. If your plan is ending, the calendar is doing the pressuring, not us.
Got a non-renewal letter? Call (818) 472-5484 or (818) 731-5417 and we will read it with you at no cost.
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