Medicare basics, without a sales pitch

The four parts

• Part A covers hospital stays. Most people pay no premium for it.
• Part B covers doctor visits and outpatient care. It has a monthly premium set by the government each year.
• Part C, Medicare Advantage, is a private plan that replaces Parts A and B and usually includes Part D, often with extra benefits and a network of providers.
• Part D covers prescription drugs, through a private plan, either standalone or inside a Medicare Advantage plan.

Medigap (Medicare Supplement) is a different kind of private plan that pays some of Original Medicare's out-of-pocket costs. You cannot have both Medigap and Medicare Advantage.

The calendar

• Initial Enrollment Period: the seven months around your 65th birthday. Missing Part B here can mean a lifelong late penalty unless you have employer coverage.
• Annual Enrollment Period: October 15 to December 7 each year. Join, switch or drop Medicare Advantage or Part D for the next year.
• Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment: January 1 to March 31. If you are in a Medicare Advantage plan, one switch to another plan or back to Original Medicare.
• Special Enrollment Periods: after certain events, including your plan leaving your area.

If your plan is leaving your county

For 2027, several insurers reduced where they offer Medicare Advantage plans, and hundreds of thousands of people nationally received non-renewal letters in October. If you got one: your plan ends December 31. You have a special enrollment period to pick a new plan, and in many cases a guaranteed right to buy a Medigap policy without health questions if you return to Original Medicare. Act before December 7 if you can, and call 1-800-MEDICARE or GeorgiaCares if you want help that is not from a salesperson.

How to read any Medicare marketing you receive

Federal rules require any company that markets Medicare plans and does not sell every plan in your area to tell you so, and to point you to Medicare.gov or 1-800-MEDICARE for all of your options. Companies may not call you unless you asked them to. If a caller says they are "from Medicare," they are not; Medicare does not call to sell plans.

What this site will and won't do

We are a marketing company. We do not sell plans, we do not recommend plans, and we do not show plan benefits. If we later introduce Georgia residents to one licensed Medicare agency, we will say so here, name the agency before you submit anything, and ask for your written permission for that one agency to contact you. Until then, this page is information only, and the links above are where to get help.