Do You Have to Enroll in Medicare Every Year?

Your Medicare coverage renews automatically

Once you are enrolled in Medicare, your coverage continues year after year without any action from you. There is no form to re-submit and no annual sign-up to repeat. As long as you keep paying any required premiums, your coverage simply carries over to the next year.

This is true for every type of Medicare coverage. Original Medicare (Part A hospital insurance and Part B medical insurance) renews on its own. Medicare Advantage plans, standalone Part D prescription drug plans, and Medicare Supplement (Medigap) policies also renew automatically each January 1.

Signing up for Medicare is a one-time event tied to your eligibility, usually around age 65, not something you repeat every year. The yearly enrollment windows you hear about are opportunities to change your coverage, not requirements to keep it.

• Original Medicare (Parts A and B): renews automatically; no notice or action needed.
• Medicare Advantage (Part C): renews automatically unless the plan is discontinued.
• Part D drug plan: renews automatically unless the plan is discontinued.
• Medigap policy: guaranteed renewable as long as you pay the premium.

The Annual Enrollment Period is optional

The Medicare Open Enrollment Period, also called the Annual Enrollment Period or AEP, runs from October 15 through December 7 every year. This is the main window when anyone with Medicare can change their health and drug plans for the coming year. Participating is entirely optional. If you are satisfied with your current plan, you do not need to do anything, and your coverage will roll over automatically.

Renewing your plan and 'doing Open Enrollment' are two different things. Renewing happens on its own. Open Enrollment is your chance to shop around and make a change if you want one. Many people review their options every fall and decide to keep what they have.

Any changes you make during Open Enrollment take effect on January 1 of the next year. Your plan must receive your enrollment request by December 7. There is no limit on how many changes you make during this window; whichever choice you make last by December 7 is the one that takes effect.

• Join, drop, or switch a Medicare Advantage plan.
• Join, drop, or switch a Part D prescription drug plan.
• Switch from Original Medicare to a Medicare Advantage plan, or the other way around.
• Stay exactly where you are and do nothing at all.

Watch for the Annual Notice of Change (ANOC)

Each fall, every Medicare Advantage and Part D plan must send members an Annual Notice of Change, or ANOC. This letter spells out any changes to your plan's coverage, costs, and service area that will take effect the following January. You should receive it by September 30.

Read the ANOC carefully. It will tell you if your premium, deductible, copays, drug list, or provider network is changing. If you are comfortable with the changes (or there are none), you do nothing and your plan renews automatically on January 1. If you do not like the changes, you can switch plans during Open Enrollment, October 15 to December 7.

Original Medicare does not send an ANOC, because its basic structure is set by federal law rather than by a private plan. Each year the federal government does update Original Medicare's standard costs. For 2026, the standard Part B premium is $202.90 per month with a $283 annual deductible, and you pay 20% coinsurance for most covered services. These amounts apply automatically; no re-enrollment is needed to keep your coverage.

Other windows: MA-OEP, plan changes, and missed deadlines

Beyond the fall Open Enrollment Period, a few other windows may apply to you. None of them is a yearly re-enrollment requirement.

The Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period runs January 1 through March 31 and is only for people already in a Medicare Advantage plan. During it you may switch to a different Medicare Advantage plan once, or drop Medicare Advantage and return to Original Medicare (and add a standalone Part D plan if you wish). Changes take effect the first day of the month after you make them.

If your Medicare Advantage or Part D plan will not be offered next year, you qualify for a Special Enrollment Period to pick a new plan. This window runs December 8 through the last day of February. If you take no action, Medicare automatically returns you to Original Medicare (Parts A and B only, with no drug coverage), so it is wise to choose a new plan rather than let this happen by default.

• Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period: January 1 to March 31, for current MA members only.
• Plan non-renewal Special Enrollment Period: December 8 to the end of February.
• Initial Enrollment Period: a one-time 7-month window around your 65th birthday (the 3 months before, your birthday month, and the 3 months after).
• General Enrollment Period: January 1 to March 31, the catch-up window if you missed your Initial Enrollment Period.

Why it still pays to review your coverage each year

Even though your coverage renews on its own, reviewing it each fall is a smart habit. Plans change their costs, drug lists, and provider networks from one year to the next, and your own health needs and medications change too. A plan that fit you well last year may no longer be the best value.

Delaying your first enrollment in Medicare, on the other hand, can be costly. If you delay Part B without other qualifying coverage, you can face a permanent late enrollment penalty of 10% of the standard Part B premium for each full 12 months you were eligible but not enrolled, and you pay it for as long as you have Part B. The Part D late enrollment penalty is 1% of the national base beneficiary premium ($38.99 in 2026) for each full month you went without creditable drug coverage, also added for as long as you have Part D. These penalties relate to signing up late, not to any yearly renewal.

Reviewing your coverage costs nothing and never puts your enrollment at risk. If you decide your current plan still works for you, simply do nothing and it continues into the new year.