How to Help a Parent Through Medicare Open Enrollment (2027 Plan Year)

Medicare Open Enrollment runs October 15 through December 7, 2026. During that window, your parent can switch Medicare Advantage plans, change Part D drug plans, or move between Original Medicare and Medicare Advantage for coverage that starts January 1, 2027. If they do nothing, their current plan renews with whatever changes the insurer made for next year.

Most adult children get pulled into this the same way: a thick envelope shows up at Mom's house, she asks if it matters, and suddenly you are the family's Medicare person. The good news is that the job is smaller than it looks. You are checking five things, in order, and most of them take an evening.

Here is the sequence that works.

The dates that matter

Two things are new for 2027 that affect many parents. The yearly out-of-pocket cap on covered Part D prescriptions rises from $2,100 to $2,400, and the temporary program that held down stand-alone Part D premiums ends after 2026, so some drug plans will reprice. CMS projects that premiums overall stay stable, but those are national averages. What your parent will actually pay is in their own ANOC letter.

Step 1: Find the Annual Notice of Change letter

Start with the mail pile. The ANOC is the single most useful document in this process because it lists, side by side, what the plan covers and costs this year versus next year. Insurers are required to send it, and it usually arrives in late September in a plain envelope that is easy to toss.

Read it with your parent and circle anything that changed:

• Monthly premium, deductible, and copays
• Whether their doctors, specialists, and hospital are still in network
• Whether each prescription is still on the plan's drug list, and at what tier
• Extras like dental, vision, hearing, or an over-the-counter allowance
• Any note that the plan is ending or merging with another plan

If the letter says the plan is being discontinued, treat that as the top priority. Your parent will need to pick a new plan by December 7 or they may be moved into Original Medicare without drug coverage.

Can't find the letter? Call the number on the back of your parent's plan card and ask them to resend the ANOC, or log in to the plan's member portal. Once you have it, take a photo and save it to your parent's Neela Vault alongside their insurance card. Every later step in this process refers back to this letter, and you will want it on your phone when you are on hold with Medicare or sitting with a counselor.

Step 2: Get permission to talk to Medicare for your parent

Medicare and the plan cannot discuss your parent's coverage with you unless your parent has given written permission. Doing this early saves a lot of three-way phone calls.

There are two layers:

1. Medicare itself. Your parent signs Form CMS-10106, Authorization to Disclose Personal Health Information. It can be submitted through their Medicare.gov account or mailed in. Once it is on file, 1-800-MEDICARE will talk to you directly.
2. The insurance plan. Each Medicare Advantage or Part D plan has its own authorized-representative form. Call the member services number on the card and ask for it.

A signed authorization form is different from power of attorney. The forms above let you ask questions and get information. If your parent wants you to be able to make and sign enrollment decisions on their behalf, that typically requires a power of attorney or legal representative status. Our guide to getting power of attorney for an aging parent [INTERNAL LINK: POA post, contentId 394118652656] walks through that process.

If your parent does not have a Medicare.gov account yet, this is a good moment to set one up together. It is where the ANOC, claims, and the official plan comparison tool all live.

Step 3: Check doctors, pharmacy, and prescriptions

This is where most plan problems hide, and it is the step your parent is least likely to do alone. Three lists, checked against the ANOC and the plan's online directory:

Doctors. Write down every provider your parent sees, including the primary care doctor, specialists, the hospital they would go to, and any physical therapy or home health agency. Confirm each one is in network for 2027. Call the office if the directory is unclear, since directories lag behind reality.

Pharmacy. Confirm the pharmacy they actually use is a preferred pharmacy on the plan. Preferred versus standard pharmacy status can change copays noticeably.

Prescriptions. This is the big one. Pull your parent's current medication list, including dose and how often they take it, and check every drug against the plan's 2027 formulary. Look for drugs that moved to a higher tier, now need prior authorization, or dropped off the list entirely.

If you keep your parent's medications in Neela, this list is already in one place and you can read it straight off your phone while you work through the formulary. If you are starting from scratch, our printable medication list [INTERNAL LINK: Medication List post, publishing Oct 15] gives you a template to build from.

Write the answers down. A simple three-column note (doctor or drug, covered in 2026, covered in 2027) is all you need, and it becomes the basis for comparing other plans in the next step.

Step 4: Compare plans with Plan Finder and SHIP

If Step 3 turned up a problem, or if the premium jumped, it is worth seeing what else is available. Two free, unbiased resources do most of the work.

Medicare Plan Finder at Medicare.gov is the official comparison tool. When you are logged in to your parent's account, it already knows their current plan and prescriptions, so you can enter the pharmacy and see estimated yearly drug costs for every plan in their county. Sort by total estimated cost, not monthly premium. A low premium with a high deductible and a bad formulary match often costs more over the year.

SHIP (the State Health Insurance Assistance Program) provides free, one-on-one Medicare counseling in every state. Counselors are not affiliated with any insurer and will sit with you and your parent, in person or by phone, and walk through the options. Find your local program at shiphelp.org or by calling 1-877-839-2675. Appointments fill quickly in October and November, so book early.

A few comparison habits that help:

• Compare at most three plans at a time. More than that and the decision stalls.
• Use the same prescription list and pharmacy for every plan so the numbers are apples to apples.
• Check the plan's star rating on Plan Finder. Ratings of 4 or higher are a reasonable floor.
• If your parent travels or spends winters elsewhere, ask how the plan handles out-of-area care.
• Skip the sales calls and TV ads. Agents are paid by plans; SHIP counselors are not.

Stay alert to one thing while you compare. Switching from Medicare Advantage back to Original Medicare may require buying a Medigap supplement, and outside of certain protected windows, Medigap insurers in most states can decline coverage or charge more based on health history. A SHIP counselor can tell you whether your parent has guaranteed-issue rights before you make that move.

Step 5: Decide, enroll, and put the paperwork somewhere you can find it

Once you and your parent have landed on a plan, enroll through Plan Finder, by calling 1-800-MEDICARE, or by calling the new plan directly. Enrolling in a new Medicare Advantage or Part D plan automatically ends the old one, so there is nothing to cancel. Keep the confirmation number.

If the current plan still fits, that is a fine outcome too. Your parent does not need to do anything, and you have confirmed it on purpose rather than by default.

Either way, a few things are worth saving before you close the laptop:

• The ANOC letter and the enrollment confirmation
• A photo of the new plan card when it arrives in December
• The 2027 drug list with your parent's medications marked
• The signed authorization forms from Step 2
• Your three-column doctor and drug check from Step 3

Keeping these together in your parent's Neela Vault means that in January, when the pharmacy says a copay changed or a specialist's office asks for the new card, you are not digging through a drawer at their house. It also means the sibling who is on call next can see the same information you can.

Mark December 7 on your own calendar as a hard stop, and set an earlier reminder for the week of November 15 to confirm the enrollment went through. Plans occasionally lose applications, and a quick call to 1-800-MEDICARE confirms what is on file.

Frequently asked questions

Can I handle Medicare Open Enrollment for my parent?

You can do the research, make the calls, and sit with them through the decision. To get information from Medicare or the plan directly, your parent needs to sign an authorization form first. To sign enrollment paperwork on their behalf, you generally need power of attorney or another form of legal representative status.

What happens if my parent misses the December 7 deadline?

Their current plan renews for 2027 with the changes listed in the ANOC. If they are in a Medicare Advantage plan, they get one more chance to switch between January 1 and March 31. Outside of that, changes usually wait until the next Open Enrollment unless your parent qualifies for a Special Enrollment Period, for example after a move or a loss of other coverage.

My parent's plan is ending. What do we do?

Pick a new plan by December 7. If the ANOC says the plan is terminating, your parent also has a Special Enrollment Period that runs a bit past the normal deadline, and they have guaranteed-issue rights to buy a Medigap policy if they choose Original Medicare. A SHIP counselor can confirm the exact dates for your state.

Does the Part D out-of-pocket cap include the monthly premium?

No. The 2027 cap of $2,400 applies to what your parent pays for covered prescriptions during the year. Premiums are separate and do not count toward it.

Is there help if my parent has limited income?

Yes. The Extra Help program lowers Part D premiums, deductibles, and copays for people with limited income and resources. Medicare Savings Programs can help with Part B premiums. SHIP counselors can screen for both in the same appointment.

One evening, five checks

Medicare Open Enrollment looks like a wall of fine print, but the actual work for a family is contained: find the letter, get permission to ask questions, check the doctors and prescriptions, compare if something changed, and save the paperwork where everyone who helps can see it. Done once, it gets easier every year, and your parent gets coverage that was chosen rather than defaulted into.

If you are organizing your parent's medical paperwork for the first time, our guide to what to do once you have the medical records [INTERNAL LINK: got-the-records bridge post, contentId 390362234584] is a natural next step.

This article is for general information and is not insurance, legal, or financial advice. Medicare rules and plan details vary by state and change each year. Confirm anything that affects your parent's coverage with Medicare.gov, your State Health Insurance Assistance Program, or the plan itself.

Sources

• CMS: Medicare Advantage and Medicare Prescription Drug Programs Expected to Remain Stable in 2027 (Sep 28, 2026)
• CMS Form 10106: Authorization to Disclose Personal Health Information
• State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP)
• Medicare.gov Plan Finder