Open enrollment is a period of time each year when you can sign up for health insurance or change the health insurance you have.
When is open enrollment?
- The annual Medicare enrollment period is October 15 to December 7.
- Open enrollment for ASRS and ADOA programs is usually three weeks long, in late October and early November.
- Most other programs also have open enrollment in the fall so that coverage can begin in the new calendar year.
How do I know whether to change?
- Before each open enrollment period, both State agencies provide information about the plans available for the coming year, including carriers, costs, options, and so forth. They provide the information in the form of booklets and information sessions.
- In October ASURA sponsors an information session pertinent to open enrollment, with presentations by people from ADOA, ASRS, and generally AARP. If you cannot attend the seminar, you can find a recording of it on the seminar reports page under "October health insurance seminar". You will have to either search for it or page through the seminars to find this topic.
View seminar reports - If you are Medicare-eligible, you will be flooded with information from lots of companies advertising their Medicare and Medicare-Advantage plans in the months preceding open enrollment.
Do if have to enroll every year?
- If you don't make changes to your health insurance during open enrollment, you probably can't sign up for or change health insurance until the next open enrollment period,. If you experience a qualifying event such as changing jobs or retiring, moving, getting divorced or married, or becoming a widow or widower, you can change outside of the open enrollment period.
- ADOA and ASRS sometimes require re-enrollment and sometimes they don't, depending on how much the plans they carry have changed.
- Many health insurance plans do not require re-enrollment. If you don't make changes, your current plan will automatically renew for the next year.
