People whose Medicare Advantage plan ends on December 31 can buy certain Medigap supplement policies without answering a single health question. The protection does not last forever. It opens before the plan ends and closes a little over two months afterward.

Medicare.gov says the right starts as early as 60 days before coverage ends and closes no more than 63 days after it. Outside those protected situations, Medicare.gov adds, there is no federal guarantee, and an insurer can charge more because of health problems. For a plan that ends December 31, 2026, the last day to apply falls in early March 2027.

Anyone in an Advantage plan that is being dropped has three things to sort out. The first is whether the plan is actually ending or only changing. The second is which Medigap letter fits the budget. The third is the date by which an application has to be in.

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Which Medigap plans come without health questions?

Medigap is the supplement that private insurers sell to cover some costs Original Medicare leaves behind. Medicare.gov’s page on when Medigap can be bought lists the plans open under this right as Plan A, B, C, D, F, G, K and L. It also says the rights may last an extra 12 months in certain circumstances.

One catch affects Plans C and F. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services says in its March 2026 Medigap guide that those two are no longer available to people who became new to Medicare on or after January 1, 2020. A member who joined Medicare before 2020 can still look at them. Someone newer to Medicare is shopping among the others.

The guide also notes that high-deductible versions of Plans F and G require the member to pay the first $2,950 of deductibles, copayments and coinsurance in 2026 before the policy pays. A lower premium can come with that kind of up-front exposure, so the deductible belongs in the comparison.

Which letter fits depends on how much a household wants to pay in premiums versus how much it can absorb in bills. That is a personal comparison, and the protected window is what lets an applicant shop it without worrying about a medical history.

What does a plan ending December 31 look like in real life?

A notice from CHRISTUS Health Plan shows how this plays out. The insurer says its Guardian (HMO), Plus (HMO) and Complete (HMO) Medicare Advantage plans end December 31, 2026, and members who do nothing move to Original Medicare on January 1, 2027.

The same notice lists a special enrollment period that runs from December 8, 2026 through February 28, 2027. It also tells members that the Medigap guaranteed-issue right expires 63 days after coverage ends, which it puts at March 4, 2027. The arithmetic is the same for any plan that ends December 31.

This right is different from the standard Medigap open enrollment period. The guide describes that one as a one-time-only, six-month period that starts the first month a person has Medicare Part B and is 65 or older. A member who passed that point years ago depends on the guaranteed-issue window instead.

The lesson reaches beyond one insurer. A plan can leave Medicare or stop serving a county, the member gets a termination letter, and the clock is set by the date coverage ends, not by the date the letter arrives. Anyone holding such a letter should find the coverage end date printed on it first.

Why does timing matter so much?

The same Medicare.gov page warns that Medigap coverage cannot start until Medicare Advantage coverage ends. That means an application can go in during the 60 days before the end date, but the new policy cannot take effect before the old plan stops. Applying early lines up a January 1 start without a gap in coverage.

Waiting is the risky choice. Once the 63 days pass, the federal guarantee is gone, and an insurer can charge more because of health problems. A person with a heart condition, diabetes or a recent surgery could face a much higher price for the policy they wanted.

The right also depends on returning to Original Medicare. Medicare.gov says it applies when a member goes back to Original Medicare instead of joining another Medicare Advantage plan. Members who choose a new Advantage plan for 2027 are not using the Medigap right at all.

Where can free, independent help be found?

Every state runs a State Health Insurance Assistance Program, known as SHIP. The SHIP network describes its counseling as local, one-on-one and at no cost, and says counselors help compare costs, coverage and options. That makes it a sound place to check which Medigap letters are sold in the state and what each insurer charges.

Medicare.gov’s Medigap pages, cited above, are the other starting point. They lay out the guaranteed-issue situations in plain terms, which helps a member walk into a phone call with an insurer already knowing what the law says.

Is the Medicare Advantage plan really ending December 31?

A missed date here is expensive. If the 63 days run out before an application is in, an insurer can look at health history and decline the policy or price it higher, and nothing in federal law makes it stop.

The 2027 Medicare Open Enrollment Decision Kit covers Medigap guaranteed-issue rights when a Medicare Advantage plan leaves, including a call script for the insurer’s phone line. It also holds a cost calculator spreadsheet that compares plans on cost, drugs and doctors, so the Medigap choice gets weighed against the full yearly cost.

Get the Medigap guaranteed-issue checklist and call script for a plan ending December 31 →

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This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.