Usually not without health questions. Medicare’s fall Open Enrollment Period, October 15 to December 7, lets you change Medicare Advantage and Part D drug plans, and it gives you no right at all to change Medigap policies; under federal law your only protected chances to switch Medigap are your one-time six-month Medigap Open Enrollment Period and a short list of guaranteed issue events (CMS, Choosing a Medigap Policy, March 2026). In Florida, which adds no annual switching window of its own, a Medigap-to-Medigap change outside those situations means an application the new carrier is allowed to underwrite, price for your health history, or decline.
That is the whole answer, and it surprises people every October. The ads say “Open Enrollment,” the mail says “Open Enrollment,” and a Plan G policyholder in Clearwater reasonably assumes the season applies to the policy she pays for every month. It does not. This post explains which window is which, what you can still do during the fall season if you hold a Medigap policy, how a Florida Medigap switch actually works when no protection applies, and the sequence that keeps you from losing coverage in the middle of it.
Which “open enrollment” are you actually in?
Three different windows carry the name, and only one of them touches Medigap. Mixing them up is the root of nearly every bad switching decision we see.
| Window | Dates | What it covers | What it does for a Medigap policy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Medigap Open Enrollment Period | Six months, starting the first month you are 65 or older and enrolled in Part B. One time only. | Buying any Medigap policy sold in Florida with no medical underwriting | This is the one. Inside it you can switch Medigap policies freely, and a carrier cannot refuse you or charge more for health problems |
| Medicare Open Enrollment Period (the fall season) | October 15 to December 7, every year. Coverage starts January 1 | Joining, dropping or switching Medicare Advantage plans and standalone Part D drug plans | Nothing. Medicare.gov’s list of what you can do in this window does not mention Medigap |
| Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period | January 1 to March 31, every year | People already in Medicare Advantage can switch Advantage plans or return to Original Medicare | Nothing directly. Returning to Original Medicare does not by itself give you a right to buy Medigap |
Sources: Medicare.gov, When can I buy a Medigap policy?; Medicare.gov, Joining a plan.
CMS’s own guide puts the Medigap window in one sentence: “This is a one-time enrollment period; it doesn’t repeat every year.” The fall season repeats every year precisely because it belongs to a different kind of coverage. Medicare Advantage and Part D are annual contracts between a private plan and Medicare, re-filed and re-priced every January, so you get a yearly chance to re-choose. A Medigap policy is a private contract between you and an insurer that Florida law says cannot be non-renewed, so there is nothing for an annual window to re-choose. The enrollment timeline tool lays all three windows against your own dates if you want to see where you stand.
What the fall window does let a Medigap holder change
If you hold a Medigap policy, the October 15 to December 7 window is still worth your attention, for exactly one reason: your standalone Part D drug plan.
A Medigap policy carries no drug coverage, so most Florida Medigap holders pair it with a Part D plan, and that plan is the half of your coverage that changes every year. Formularies are re-filed, premiums move, pharmacy networks shift, and the Annual Notice of Change your plan mails in September tells you what is different for the coming year. Between October 15 and December 7 you can move to a different Part D plan with no health questions, and your Medigap policy is untouched by the change (Medicare.gov). Our guide to reading the Annual Notice of Change shows what to compare.
The other thing the fall window lets you do is leave Medigap for Medicare Advantage. That is a one-way door in most cases. Medicare.gov is blunt about it: if you drop your Medigap policy to join an Advantage plan, “in most cases you won’t be able to get it back” (Medicare.gov, Switching or dropping). The exception is the trial right, covered below, and it is narrow. We walk through the return trip in switching from Medicare Advantage to Medigap in Florida.
How a Medigap switch works in Florida when no protection applies
Nothing stops you from applying for a new Medigap policy in any month of any year. What changes outside a protected window is what the insurer is allowed to do with the application. CMS’s guide lists the three consequences: “You may have to pay more for a policy,” “Fewer policy options may be available to you,” and “There’s no guarantee that an insurance company will sell you a Medigap policy if you don’t meet their medical underwriting requirements” (CMS, Choosing a Medigap Policy).
In practice a Florida application outside a protected window has three parts.
Health questions. The application asks about diagnoses, hospitalizations, prescriptions and pending treatment, typically over a lookback of one to several years depending on the carrier. Some conditions decline outright; some are accepted at a higher rate class; some are accepted standard. The specific questions and the lookback period are set by each carrier, and they differ. CMS suggests asking two questions up front: “Do you use medical underwriting for this Medigap policy?” and “Can you tell me if I’m likely to qualify?” The second one is worth asking before you fill out anything.
Pricing at your current age. Florida requires every Medicare Supplement policy to be sold on an issue-age basis, which means your premium is set by how old you were when the policy was issued and does not rise each birthday. The flip side is spelled out by the Florida Department of Financial Services: if you switch to a new insurer, you are rated at your age on the new application (Florida DFS). A Plan G bought at 65 is a 65-year-old’s Plan G for life. A replacement bought at 72 is a 72-year-old’s. That reset is a real cost of switching in Florida that does not exist in attained-age states, and it is why a rate increase on your current policy has to be compared against the new carrier’s rate at your current age, not its rate at the age you were when you first bought. We cover the pricing method itself in do Medicare Supplement premiums go up with age.
A possible wait for a new benefit. If the new policy has a benefit your old one did not, the new carrier can make you wait up to six months before covering it, regardless of how long you held the old policy (Medicare.gov). Moving from Plan N to Plan G, for example, adds coverage of Part B excess charges, which Florida permits providers to bill, and that added benefit can carry the wait.
Published rates for every carrier, plan letter and age, by county, are in the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation’s CHOICES rate comparison tool. It is the right place to check whether a switch is even worth underwriting for before you start.
When you can switch Medigap without health questions
The protected situations are specific and event-driven. Under federal law an insurer in these cases must sell you the listed policy, must cover your pre-existing conditions, and cannot charge you more for your health (CMS, Choosing a Medigap Policy, Section 3).
| Situation | What you can buy | When to apply |
|---|---|---|
| Your six-month Medigap Open Enrollment Period, starting the month you are 65 or older and enrolled in Part B | Any Medigap policy sold in Florida | Any time in the six months |
| Your employer, retiree, union or COBRA plan that pays after Medicare is ending | Plan A, B, C*, D*, F* or G* from any carrier in Florida | No more than 63 days after the latest of: the coverage end date, the notice date, or a claim denial |
| Your Medicare Advantage plan leaves Medicare, stops serving your area, or you move out of its service area, and you return to Original Medicare | Plan A, B, C*, D*, F* or G* | From 60 days before to 63 days after Advantage coverage ends |
| Trial right: you joined Advantage when first eligible for Part A at 65 and want Original Medicare within the first year | Any Medigap policy sold in Florida | From 60 days before to 63 days after coverage ends |
| Trial right: you dropped a Medigap policy to try Advantage for the first time and want it back within the first year | Your former policy if the carrier still sells it; otherwise Plan A, B, C*, D*, F* or G* | From 60 days before to 63 days after coverage ends |
| Your Medigap carrier goes bankrupt, or your coverage ends through no fault of your own | Plan A, B, C*, D*, F* or G* | No more than 63 days after coverage ends |
| You leave a plan or drop a policy because the company broke the rules or misled you | Plan A, B, C*, D*, F* or G* | No more than 63 days after coverage ends |
*Plans C and F are not available to anyone new to Medicare on or after January 1, 2020; those people have the right to Plan D or G instead.
Three things stand out when you read that table as a Florida Medigap holder who simply wants a different Medigap policy.
“I found a lower rate” is not on the list. Neither is “my premium went up,” “I want Plan N instead of Plan G,” or “I would rather be with a different company.” Those are legitimate reasons to switch, and CMS lists all four as reasons people do, but none of them creates a right. Each of them is an underwritten application in Florida.
Plan N is not on the guaranteed issue list. Outside the first trial right, which covers any policy sold in the state, the protected plans are A, B, C, D, F and G. A Floridian with a guaranteed issue right who wants Plan N is relying on a carrier offering it through underwriting. The Plan G versus Plan N calculator shows the dollar gap between the two for your own doctor-visit pattern before you decide the N route is worth an application.
Florida adds two windows of its own, and no more. Section 627.6741 of the Florida Statutes requires carriers to accept applicants without regard to health during the six-month window after they are 65 or older and enrolled in Part B, and during the two months after coverage under a group health policy ends (Florida Legislature). The second window largely mirrors the federal employer-plan right. There is no birthday rule, no anniversary rule and no annual open season in the statute. A handful of other states have one; Florida does not, and the agent-run websites that say otherwise are wrong. State law can change, so confirm with the Department of Financial Services before relying on it, but as of this writing the statute is the whole list.
The four reasons people switch, and what each one actually costs
CMS lists four reasons to switch Medigap policies: you are paying for benefits you do not need, you need more benefits, you want a different company, or you want a policy that costs less (Medicare.gov). In Florida each one carries a different price tag.
| Reason | Typical example | Underwritten in Florida? | What else to weigh |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paying for benefits you do not need | Plan G to Plan N, or Plan G to high-deductible Plan G | Usually, unless your current carrier allows a downgrade within the company without full underwriting | Plan N adds copays of up to $20 per office visit and up to $50 per emergency visit, and it does not cover Part B excess charges. Issue age resets if you change carriers |
| Needing more benefits | Plan N to Plan G | Yes | The added benefit can carry a wait of up to six months. Issue age resets |
| Changing companies | Same plan letter, different carrier, usually after a rate increase | Yes | The new carrier’s rate at your current age, not at your original issue age, is the number to compare. Florida requires 45 days’ notice of a rate change, so you have time to shop before it lands |
| A lower premium | Same letter, lower-priced carrier in CHOICES | Yes | Same as above. A lower rate at 72 may still be higher than your 65-issue-age rate after the increase |
Sources: Medicare.gov, Medigap plan benefits; Florida DFS.
The first row deserves a note because it is the most common switch we are asked about. Some carriers allow a policyholder to move to a plan with fewer benefits within the same company, G to N or G to high-deductible G, with reduced or no underwriting. That is a company practice rather than a federal or Florida rule, it varies by carrier, and it can be withdrawn. Ask your carrier in writing whether it offers it and on what terms. If it does, a within-company downgrade keeps your original issue age, which is the single biggest reason to try that route before shopping a new company. Whether the downgrade is worth it at all depends on how often you see a doctor; our Plan G versus Plan N comparison and the high-deductible Plan G post work through the arithmetic.
For context on what sits underneath any Medigap policy: in 2026 the standard Part B premium is $202.90 a month and the Part B deductible is $283 (CMS). No Medigap switch changes either number. If the goal of a switch is to lower your total Medicare cost for the year, the annual Medicare cost estimator adds the Part B premium, the Medigap premium you enter and the plan’s cost-sharing together so you can compare two scenarios honestly.
How to switch without losing coverage: the sequence
Every rule in this section exists because someone cancelled the old policy first and then was declined for the new one. Medicare.gov’s instruction is one line: “Don’t cancel your first Medigap policy until you’ve decided to keep your second Medigap policy” (Medicare.gov).
- Check the rate before you apply. Pull the new carrier’s rate for your plan letter, your county and your current age from CHOICES. If it is not meaningfully lower than what you pay now, there is no application to make.
- Ask the two CMS questions. “Do you use medical underwriting for this Medigap policy?” and “Can you tell me if I’m likely to qualify?” A carrier that will not give you a straight answer to the second is telling you something.
- Apply while the old policy is in force. The application will ask you to promise to cancel your existing Medigap policy. That promise is fulfilled after acceptance, not before it.
- Wait for a written acceptance. Not a verbal one, not an agent’s assurance. Until the new carrier has issued the policy, you have not switched.
- Use the 30-day free look. Florida provides a 30-day free look on every Medicare Supplement policy, during which the new policy can be returned for a full refund of premium (Florida DFS). CMS’s guidance is to end the old coverage only after you have held the new policy for those 30 days.
- Expect to pay both premiums for the overlap month. CMS says so directly. Budget for it rather than treating it as a surprise.
- Cancel the old policy in writing, timed to the new effective date. Florida carriers may apply a short-rate charge of 10% if you cancel before the end of the premium period you have paid for, so align the cancellation with the paid-through date where you can.
- Keep the paperwork. If a guaranteed issue right applies to your switch, the application may require proof: the termination letter, the notice, the postmarked envelope. CMS’s guide says to keep all of it.
One protection works in your favor through all of this. If you have held your current policy for more than six months and the new policy has the same benefits, the new carrier “can’t exclude your pre-existing condition or make you wait before it covers it” (CMS, Choosing a Medigap Policy, Section 5). Florida’s statute says the same thing from the state side: a replacing insurer must waive pre-existing condition, waiting, elimination and probationary periods to the extent you already served them under the policy being replaced, and no Florida Medigap policy may limit pre-existing conditions for more than six months in any case (section 627.6741(2), Florida Statutes). The wait only bites on a benefit you did not have before, or if you have held the current policy less than six months.
What this looks like in Florida
Four Florida specifics change the switching decision here compared with the generic national advice.
Issue-age pricing cuts both ways. It is the reason a long-held Florida Medigap policy is often worth keeping through a rate increase: the increase is applied to a premium that was set at 65, while any replacement is priced at today’s age. It is also the reason to buy the right plan letter the first time. A 65-year-old in Tampa choosing between G and N in her six-month window is making a decision that is cheap to get right now and expensive to change at 72.
Rate increases come with notice and apply to the whole class. The Office of Insurance Regulation must approve a Florida Medigap rate change, it applies to the entire policy class rather than to you individually, and you get at least 45 days’ notice (Florida DFS). That 45 days is your shopping window. It is also a reason not to panic: an increase is not a signal that your carrier is singling you out, and the same increase has often hit the competitor you are about to apply to.
Your policy cannot be taken away for health reasons. Florida law bars a carrier from cancelling or non-renewing a Medicare Supplement policy for any reason other than nonpayment of premium or material misrepresentation (section 627.6741(2)(a), Florida Statutes). Your current policy is secure as long as you pay for it. A declined switching application does not touch it, which is the whole reason the sequence above works.
The fall season is still busy here, just not for Medigap. CMS’s 2026 landscape counts 133 Medicare Advantage and Part D plan options available in Hillsborough County (CMS CY2026 Landscape). A Tampa Medigap holder shops only the standalone drug plans within that list, but the list is why the mailbox fills up in October and why so many people assume the season applies to everything they hold. It applies to the Part D half. The Medigap half is governed by the windows in this post, and by the underwriting rules of whichever carrier you apply to.
Where to start
If you hold a Medigap policy and the October mail has you wondering whether to switch, three checks sort it out.
- Separate the two decisions. Review your Part D plan against the Annual Notice of Change and your current prescription list; that switch is yours to make between October 15 and December 7 with no health questions. Set the Medigap question aside from it.
- Price the Medigap switch at your current age before you apply. CHOICES gives you the new carrier’s rate by county, letter and age. Compare it with your current premium after any announced increase, and remember the new number is your issue age from here on.
- If you want fewer benefits, ask your own carrier first. A within-company move from G to N or to high-deductible G may be available with reduced underwriting and keeps your original issue age. A new company resets it.
If a switch still makes sense after those three, the sequence in this post keeps you covered through it. Virginia Barausky reviews the current Florida rate tables, the carrier underwriting questions and the Part D side of the decision in a single conversation, so the two windows get handled in the right order. There is no cost for the first conversation and nothing to buy. Schedule a call when you are ready.