Medicare 2026

Medicare open enrollment 2026: your Webster Groves deadline guide

WEBSTER GROVES, Mo. — Medicare's Annual Enrollment Period opens Wednesday, Oct. 15, and runs through Sunday, Dec. 7. For the roughly seven weeks in between, people with Medicare in Webster Groves can review their coverage for 2027, switch plans, or move between Original Medicare and Medicare Advantage. Any changes you make take effect Jan. 1.

This is the one window each year when almost every kind of Medicare change is on the table — and it lands as a few important program-level numbers are shifting for 2027.

What you can actually do between Oct. 15 and Dec. 7

The Annual Enrollment Period, sometimes called AEP or fall open enrollment, is broad on purpose. During these dates you can:

• Switch from Original Medicare to a Medicare Advantage plan, or the other way around.
• Change from one Medicare Advantage plan to another.
• Join, drop, or switch a stand-alone Part D prescription drug plan.
• Sign up for Part D for the first time if you skipped it when you first became eligible (a late-enrollment penalty may still apply).

Whatever you choose during this window starts Jan. 1, 2027. If you make more than one change before Dec. 7, the last choice is the one that counts.

Why 2027 is a year to actually look

Even if you like your current coverage, 2027 brings changes worth checking against your own situation.

The Part D out-of-pocket cap is $2,100 in 2026 and $2,400 in 2027. Once your covered drug spending hits that limit, you pay nothing for covered prescriptions for the rest of the year. The maximum Part D deductible a plan can charge is $615 in 2026 and $700 in 2027.

The old coverage gap — the "donut hole" — is gone. Part D now has three phases: deductible, initial coverage, and catastrophic. If paying for medications in big chunks is hard on your budget, you can also ask your plan about the Medicare Prescription Payment Plan, which spreads your drug costs into monthly bills across the year at no extra charge.

Higher-income beneficiaries should also know that IRMAA surcharges on Part B and Part D begin above $109,000 in income for a single filer in 2026.

How Webster Groves fits in

Webster Groves is in St. Louis County, and Medicare Advantage and Part D plan choices are set at the county level. That means every household here sees the same menu of plans as neighbors elsewhere in the county — but the plan that fits best still depends on your doctors, your prescriptions, and your budget.

Every fall, insurers can add plans, drop plans, change drug formularies, adjust provider networks, and change what they charge. Your "Annual Notice of Change" (ANOC) letter, which arrives in September, lays out what's different about your current plan for 2027. It's worth reading before you shop. The 2027 plan lineup is also detailed in each plan's ANOC and on Medicare.gov's Plan Finder.

A simple checklist before Dec. 7

• Pull out your ANOC and Evidence of Coverage from your current plan.
• Make a current list of your prescriptions, dosages, and pharmacies.
• List the doctors and hospitals you want to keep using.
• Use the Plan Finder at medicare.gov to compare plans available in St. Louis County side by side.
• If anything is confusing, call for free help before you enroll.

Where to get unbiased help in Missouri

You don't have to sort this out alone, and you don't have to talk to an insurance agent to get answers.

• Medicare.gov — the official Plan Finder and enrollment tool.
• 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227) — 24/7, including TTY at 1-877-486-2048.
• CLAIM — Missouri's State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP), which offers free, one-on-one Medicare counseling to Webster Groves residents. You can reach CLAIM at 1-800-390-3330.