Every fall, Medicare’s Annual Enrollment Period gives you a chance to change your coverage for the coming year. It runs from October 15 to December 7, and any change takes effect January 1. These are the questions we hear most often, with the current dollar figures. Medicare announces the next year’s amounts each fall, so check the newest numbers when they come out.
1. What can I change during Annual Enrollment?
You can switch from Original Medicare to a Medicare Advantage plan, switch back, move from one Medicare Advantage plan to another, or join, drop or switch a Part D drug plan. If you are in Original Medicare with a supplement in Connecticut, you can change your Medigap policy at any time of year, because Connecticut policies are guaranteed issue all year.
2. What is happening with prescription drug costs?
Part D now has a yearly cap on what you pay for covered drugs. In 2026 the cap is $2,100, up from $2,000 in 2025. Once your spending on covered drugs reaches it, you pay nothing more for covered drugs for the rest of the year. No Part D plan can have a deductible above $615 in 2026.
Medicare also caps insulin at $35 a month and charges nothing for recommended adult vaccines.
3. What is the Prescription Payment Plan?
The Medicare Prescription Payment Plan lets you spread drug costs across the year in monthly payments instead of paying large amounts at the pharmacy counter. It does not lower what you owe. It evens it out. If you are enrolled, you are re-enrolled automatically each year unless you opt out, and opt-out requests must be processed within three calendar days.
4. Will my premiums and deductibles change?
They usually do, every year. For 2026, the standard Part B premium is $202.90 a month and the Part B deductible is $283. The Part A hospital deductible is $1,736 per benefit period. Your Medicare Advantage or Part D plan can also change its own premium, deductible and copays from one year to the next.
5. How do these changes affect which plan I choose?
The drug cost cap helps most if you take expensive medications, and it applies whether you have a stand-alone Part D plan or a Medicare Advantage plan with drug coverage. What differs between plans is the premium, the deductible, the drug list and the pharmacy network. Coverage rules for newer drugs matter too, so see our guide to Medicare and GLP-1 weight loss medications.
Medicare Advantage plans also change their networks and extra benefits each year. In 2026, a plan’s out-of-pocket limit for medical services can be no higher than $9,250. Our pages on Medicare Advantage plans and Medicare Supplement plans in Connecticut explain how the two compare.
6. What should I look at before December 7?
Two documents from your plan. The Annual Notice of Change lists what is different for the coming year. The Evidence of Coverage is the full description of what the plan covers and what you pay. Check your premium, your prescriptions and your doctors against both, and compare at least one alternative so you know your plan is still competitive.
If you would like help comparing plans, The Jones Group can go through them with you. Contact us or call (860) 529-3788.
