Maryland Seniors Lose Medicare Advantage Plans: What to Do Now

Thousands of Maryland Medicare beneficiaries are opening their mailboxes to find notices they never wanted to receive: their Medicare Advantage plan is ending. Whether due to an insurer exiting the Maryland market, a plan being discontinued in specific counties, or a broader pullback by carriers facing financial pressure, the result is the same — seniors who thought their coverage was settled now face an urgent and confusing decision about what comes next. If you or someone you love received one of these notices, the most important thing to understand is that you are not without options, and you are not without time — but that time is limited, and the choices you make in the next few weeks will affect your healthcare costs for years.

When a Medicare Advantage plan is discontinued, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) automatically triggers a Special Enrollment Period (SEP) for affected enrollees. This SEP typically allows you to enroll in a new Medicare Advantage plan, return to Original Medicare (Parts A and B), or in some cases, enroll in a Medicare Part D prescription drug plan if you're returning to Original Medicare. The SEP window generally runs from the date you receive your notice through the end of February if the plan termination takes effect January 1, though the exact dates on your notice should be treated as your personal deadline. Do not assume you have until the Annual Enrollment Period (October 15–December 7) — that window is for routine changes, not emergency transitions like this one.

For Maryland seniors specifically, returning to Original Medicare is not the financial disaster it might seem at first glance — provided you act quickly to pair it with supplemental coverage. Original Medicare covers roughly 80% of approved outpatient costs after you meet your Part B deductible ($257 in 2025), leaving you responsible for the remaining 20% with no out-of-pocket cap. That unlimited exposure is what makes supplemental coverage so important. The two main tools available to you are Medigap (also called Medicare Supplement Insurance) and hospital indemnity insurance, and understanding the difference between them is essential before you make any decisions.

Medigap plans are standardized policies sold by private insurers that wrap around Original Medicare and pay some or all of the costs Medicare doesn't cover. In Maryland in 2025, the most comprehensive option is Plan G, which covers the Part A hospital deductible ($1,676 per benefit period), Part B coinsurance (that 20%), skilled nursing facility coinsurance, and foreign travel emergency care, among other benefits. Plan G does not cover the Part B deductible, which you pay once per year. Monthly premiums for Plan G in Maryland vary by insurer and your age, but typically range from roughly $120 to $220 per month for a 65-year-old, rising with age. Plan N is a lower-premium alternative that requires small copays (up to $20 for office visits, up to $50 for emergency room visits that don't result in admission) and does not cover Part B excess charges. For many Maryland seniors, the math on Plan G or Plan N works out favorably compared to the unpredictable cost-sharing of Medicare Advantage, especially if you have regular specialist visits or anticipate a hospitalization.

Here is where Maryland's birthday rule becomes critically important for anyone in this situation. Maryland is one of thirteen states — along with California, Idaho, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, and Oregon — that gives Medigap enrollees a guaranteed-issue window around their birthday each year. In Maryland, you have a 30-day window starting on your birthday to switch from one Medigap plan to another plan with equal or lesser benefits, without the insurer being allowed to ask health questions or deny you based on pre-existing conditions. If you are currently enrolled in a Medigap plan and want to upgrade or switch insurers to get a better rate, your birthday window is your annual opportunity to do so without medical underwriting. However, if you are coming from Medicare Advantage and enrolling in Medigap for the first time, the birthday rule does not apply — you would need to qualify medically unless you are within a guaranteed-issue SEP triggered by your plan's termination. This is why acting during your SEP window is so valuable: it may be the last time you can get Medigap coverage without answering health questions.

Hospital indemnity insurance is a separate and often misunderstood product that deserves serious consideration, particularly for seniors who either cannot qualify for Medigap medically or who want to keep a lower-cost Medicare Advantage plan and add a financial safety net on top of it. A hospital indemnity plan pays you a fixed cash benefit — say, $200 or $300 per day — for each day you are hospitalized, regardless of what Medicare pays. Some plans also pay benefits for ICU stays, outpatient surgery, or skilled nursing facility admissions. These plans are not a replacement for Medigap; they do not wrap around Medicare the way Medigap does. But for a Maryland senior who is re-enrolling in a Medicare Advantage plan and wants protection against the plan's inpatient cost-sharing, a hospital indemnity plan can help offset those costs. Monthly premiums for hospital indemnity plans are generally lower than Medigap — often $30 to $80 per month depending on the benefit level and your age — making them accessible for seniors on tighter fixed incomes.

The Maryland Insurance Administration (MIA) is the state agency that regulates all insurance products sold in Maryland, including Medigap and hospital indemnity plans. Their website at insurance.maryland.gov provides a list of licensed insurers, a complaint portal, and resources specifically for Medicare beneficiaries. If you receive a notice that your plan is ending and you are unsure whether the notice is legitimate, or if an agent contacts you with an offer that seems too good to be true, the MIA is the right place to verify licensing and file complaints. Maryland also has a State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP) called the Maryland SHIP, reachable through the Maryland Department of Aging, which provides free, unbiased counseling from trained volunteers who can walk you through your specific options without trying to sell you anything.

One expensive mistake Maryland seniors commonly make during plan transitions is enrolling in the first Medicare Advantage plan they are offered as a replacement, without comparing it carefully to Original Medicare plus a Medigap plan. Medicare Advantage plans can look attractive because of their $0 or low monthly premiums, but the true cost of a plan includes your deductibles, copays, coinsurance, and out-of-pocket maximum — which in 2025 can be as high as $9,350 for in-network services under Medicare Advantage. If you are a frequent healthcare user with multiple specialists, prescription medications, or a chronic condition requiring regular monitoring, the total annual cost of a Medicare Advantage plan may exceed what you would pay under Original Medicare plus Plan G, even after accounting for Medigap premiums. Running this comparison with a SHIP counselor or a licensed independent broker — one who represents multiple carriers, not just one — can reveal significant differences.

If you are among the Maryland seniors who received a plan termination notice and you have not yet taken action, the single most important step is to call 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227) or visit Medicare.gov to confirm your SEP dates and understand exactly which enrollment options are available to you. From there, contact the Maryland SHIP at 1-800-243-3425 for free counseling, and consider requesting quotes from at least three Medigap insurers to compare premiums for the same standardized plan letter. Because Medigap plans with the same letter designation (Plan G from Insurer A versus Plan G from Insurer B) must cover exactly the same benefits by law, the only meaningful difference between them is price and the insurer's financial stability rating — making comparison shopping straightforward and genuinely worthwhile.