If you live in Belton, Raymore, Harrisonville, Pleasant Hill or anywhere else in Cass County and you have a Medicare Supplement plan, Missouri gives you a protection that most states do not. It is called the anniversary rule. Many people who have it have never heard of it. Here is what it is, what it is not, and how to use it.
First, a quick refresher on Medigap
A Medicare Supplement plan, also called Medigap, pays the parts of a hospital or doctor bill that Original Medicare leaves to you. Plans are sold by letter: Plan G, Plan N and so on. By law, every Plan G covers the same things no matter which company sells it. What changes from company to company is the monthly price and the customer service.
Under federal law, you get one six-month window when you first have Part B at 65 or older. During it, any company must sell you any plan it offers, no health questions asked. After that window closes, companies in most states can ask about your health and can turn you down. That is why many people feel stuck with the company they picked at 65, even as the price climbs year after year.
What Missouri adds
Missouri’s Medicare supplement regulation (20 CSR 400-3.650) gives people a guaranteed issue right when they end a Medigap policy within 30 days before or after its annual anniversary date. In plain words:
- Once a year, around the anniversary of the date your policy started, a window opens.
- During that window, you can move to a different insurance company.
- The new company must accept you without health questions, as long as you choose the same plan you already have (the same plan letter).
- The window runs within 30 days before or after your policy anniversary.
Because every Plan G is the same Plan G, this means you can shop on price and service once a year without health questions. If another company offers the same letter for less, you can move. If not, you stay. Nothing is lost by looking.
What the rule does not do
It is important to be clear about the limits.
- It does not let you change plan letters without health questions. Moving from Plan N to Plan G, for example, is a different plan, so the anniversary rule does not apply. That kind of change usually needs health questions unless another guaranteed issue right applies.
- It does not apply to Medicare Advantage. The rule is only for Medicare Supplement policies.
- It does not cross the state line. Kansas does not have an anniversary or birthday rule. If you move from Cass County to Johnson County, Kansas, you would follow Kansas rules going forward. See Missouri vs Kansas.
- It does not happen by itself. Nobody mails you a reminder. You have to know your anniversary date and act during the window.
Finding your anniversary date
Your anniversary is the date your current policy took effect, not your birthday and not January 1. You can find it on your policy’s schedule page, on your first bill, or by calling the company. Once you have it, write it on your calendar for every year. If you are our client, we track it for you.
Why Cass County people should care
The rule applies to every Missouri resident with a Medigap policy. It matters a little more here for two reasons.
First, Cass County sits right by the state line. Many families have one member in Belton or Raymore and another in Overland Park or Olathe. The Missouri sibling has this yearly protection. The Kansas sibling does not. Advice that works for one may not work for the other.
Second, people who bought a plan at 65 and never shopped it again are the ones most likely to be paying more than they need to for identical coverage. The anniversary rule is built for exactly that situation.
How a review works with us
- Tell us your plan letter, your company and your anniversary date.
- We check the plans we offer for the same letter and compare prices and company service records.
- If a move makes sense, we time the application for your window and make sure the new policy starts the day the old one ends. You are never without coverage.
- If staying is better, we tell you that, and we check again next year.
There is no fee for this. The price of a Medigap plan is the same whether you buy it through us or straight from the company.
What to do next
If you have a Medicare Supplement plan in Cass County and have not compared it since you bought it, find your anniversary date and call us first. We are local and independent, and we work with many insurance companies, so we are not pushing you toward any one of them. We will tell you honestly whether your window is coming up and whether a change is worth it. You can also start on our Medicare Supplements page, or book a free review.