How can I undo a Medicare Advantage plan mistake?

Dear Toni: When I turned 65 in 2024, I enrolled in a Medicare supplement, Plan G, which increased its premium. I made a mistake by changing to a Medicare Advantage PPO during last year’s open enrollment time. Friends said a PPO plan was like being enrolled in a Medicare supplement with a prescription drug plan.

I should not have listened to them, and now I want out. Most specialists and radiology facilities are out of network, and the PPO plan is costing me a fortune. I’ve been advised by my primary care provider to return to original Medicare. Please tell me how to do that. — Sybil, Orlando, Florida

Dear Sybil: Medicare’s open enrollment period (Oct. 15-Dec. 7) is your only time to make the change from your Medicare Advantage PPO plan to a Medicare supplement. There is a process that you will have to go through.

The best way to disenroll from a Medicare Advantage plan is to enroll in a Medicare Part D prescription drug plan that fits your needs. That will automatically enroll you in original Medicare with a Part D plan.

There is one very important provision, though: You must have qualified for a Medicare supplement with health underwriting before enrolling in the new Part D plan.

Since you enrolled in your Medicare Advantage plan during 2025’s open enrollment period, you are out of Medicare’s special Medigap supplement enrollment period, a six-month window when a person does not have to answer health questions to enroll in a new Medicare supplement.

What happens if you have health issues that keep you from qualifying medically for a new Medicare supplement? For people in this situation, there is protection available within specific time limits. The information is explained in the Medicare guide titled “Choosing a Medigap Policy” available at medicare.gov.

That guide outlines your situation, Sybil: “You dropped a Medigap policy to join a Medicare Advantage plan for the first time, you’ve been in the plan less than a year, and you want to repurchase the Medigap policy.”

You should contact the issuer of the Medicare supplement that you canceled and ask if you are in the window of “less than a year” in which you can return to the Medigap policy you had.

If you are not in this special window, then a Medicare Advantage plan will be your only option.

Your providers and medical facilities could be in your area’s Medicare Advantage HMO, but you might have to change providers if you remain with the Medicare Advantage PPO.

Toni King is an author and columnist on Medicare and health insurance issues. If you have a Medicare question, email [email protected] or call 832-519-8664.