New Medicare Advantage Enrollment Disruption Due to the Federal Employee Program Plan

Published by Emily Markovic

Emily Markovic | Editor

Emily Markovic is the editor at Ritter Insurance Marketing and has been with the company since 2018. She has a Bachelor of Arts degree in English with a writing concentration from Messiah University. When she is not writing for the Ritter blog and Ritter, she enjoys spending time with her adorable nephews, walking around Hobby Lobby, trying new coffee shops, and baking!

• January 13, 2025

Federal employees anticipating new Medicare Advantage (MA) plan coverage may have experienced interference with their enrollment due to auto reenrollment into their existing Federal Employee Program (FEP) plan.

Learn more about this issue and discover solutions you can offer to clients.

What Happened?

Some federal employees who recently obtained Medicare Part B and elected a new MA plan during the Annual Enrollment Period (AEP) have received a disenrollment letter from their new MA carrier stating they were disenrolled due to “other coverage.” These individuals were automatically reenrolled into their existing FEP plan, despite submitting a request to terminate their FEP coverage effective January 1, 2025.

Retirees must actively disenroll from the FEP plan when enrolling into another plan as disenrollment is not automatic.

Members who were disenrolled by their new MA plan and reenrolled into the FEP plan will incur the monthly cost of that plan in January unless they were able to submit a new application prior to January 1.

Solutions

If you work with federal employees disenrolled from MA plan due to an FEP error, the following actions can be taken.

Submit a New Application Using an SEP

If your client did not use the Exceptional Circumstances Special Enrollment Period (OEC SEP) during AEP, you may complete a new application for their desired MA plan using this SEP. If your client used the OEC SEP during AEP, you may complete a new application using an applicable SEP.

File an Appeal

If your client submitted a formal request to disenroll from their FEP plan but were still re-enrolled, they may file an appeal with Medicare. While this step is not mandatory, it can help document and formally address the issue.

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We will share any additional updates as we receive them. Enrollment issues can be stressful, but Ritter is ready to support you so you can better serve your clients. Reach out to your Ritter sales specialist today with specific questions and assistance and register on RitterIM.com for free to unlock all of our tools and services!