Medicare Advantage Disenrollment Period

Medicare Advantage Disenrollment Period

The Medicare Advantage Disenrollment Period (MADP) is a period that allows Medicare Advantage enrollees to disenroll from their plan and return to Original Medicare. The MADP occurs annually from January 1 to March 31, and during this time, Medicare Advantage enrollees can switch to Original Medicare with or without a Part D plan.

Key features of the Medicare Advantage Disenrollment Period include:

• It only applies to those who are enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan.

• It allows Medicare Advantage enrollees to switch back to Original Medicare.

• During this period, beneficiaries can also enroll in a stand-alone Part D prescription drug plan if they choose to do so.

• Any changes made during the MADP take effect on the first day of the following month after the changes are made.

For example, if a Medicare Advantage enrollee decides to switch to Original Medicare during the MADP in February, their coverage under Original Medicare will begin on March 1. If they also choose to enroll in a Part D plan during this period, their coverage under the Part D plan will also begin on March 1.

Next Up

The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, known as ERISA, was enacted to protect employees from the mismanagement of benefits promised to them. It does that by imposing fiduciary duties on anyone who exercises discretionary authority over a benefit plan or its assets, from benefits committee members and HR leaders to the brokers and consultants who advise them.
The Supreme Court closed its October 2025 Term on June 30, 2026, and for once the biggest story for employee benefits is what the justices didn’t take up.
July brings one of our most substantial releases yet, with major updates across Insights+, Catalyst, and Vista. Insights+ is now faster and more efficient, with reports generated automatically the moment a request is submitted, along with real-time edits. Catalyst also gets significantly more powerful, with new AI-powered exports tailored to each employer, deeper visibility into commercial lines, and expanded AI assistant coverage into retirement and peer benchmarking. Vista makes report generation simpler and more flexible, building a broker-branded financial report from whatever benefits and carrier documents you have. Read on for the full details.