The Medicare plan annual enrollment period for 2026 coverage is set to begin Oct. 15 and run through Dec. 7.
It could be one strange annual enrollment period.
Medicare serves about 69 million Americans who are ages 65 and older, have severe kidney failure or are disabled.
The annual enrollment period affects only the 35 million enrollees who use, or want to use, Medicare Advantage plans to fill in the many gaps in original Medicare coverage, and the 23 million who have, or want to have, standalone Medicare Part D prescription drug plans.
Congress and the administration of former President Joe Biden tried to hold prescription drug costs down for the enrollees by making changes that put a $2,100 cap on what enrollees will have to spend out of pocket on covered prescription drugs.
The cap on some enrollees' catastrophic drug spending has pushed plans to squeeze benefits in other areas. Efforts by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to tighten federal subsidy spending on private Medicare plans have squeezed the plans even more. Then, on Oct. 1, much of the federal government shut down.
All of the squeezing, and the effects of human nature, are doing weird things to Medicare plans and the enrollment period.
See the accompanying gallery for seven of those strange effects.
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