Aries is considering enrolling in a Medicare Advantage plan with prescription drug coverage after leaving a stand-alone PDP. Which option is available to Aries?

Aries is considering enrolling in a Medicare Advantage plan with prescription drug coverage after leaving a stand-alone PDP. Which option is available to Aries?

• A. Stay in the PDP and add a separate MA plan.
• B. Enroll in a Medicare Advantage plan with prescription drug coverage, which will disenroll him from his PDP.
• C. Enroll in a plan that only covers dental.
• D. Wait until the next open enrollment period to decide.

Answer: (B)

Enrolling in a Medicare Advantage plan that includes prescription drug coverage creates single, integrated coverage and ends any involvement with a standalone PDP. When Aries joins an MA plan with drug coverage, the PDP enrollment is automatically terminated because the MA-PD replaces the separate drug plan. So the available path after leaving the PDP is to switch to a Medicare Advantage plan with prescription drug coverage, which disenrolls him from the PDP. Staying in a PDP and adding a separate MA plan isn’t possible because you can’t hold a standalone drug plan and a Medicare Advantage plan with drug coverage at the same time. A plan that only covers dental isn’t aligned with replacing a PDP with an MA-PD, and waiting for the next open enrollment period wouldn’t address the immediate need to enroll in integrated MA-PD coverage.

Enrolling in a Medicare Advantage plan that includes prescription drug coverage creates single, integrated coverage and ends any involvement with a standalone PDP. When Aries joins an MA plan with drug coverage, the PDP enrollment is automatically terminated because the MA-PD replaces the separate drug plan. So the available path after leaving the PDP is to switch to a Medicare Advantage plan with prescription drug coverage, which disenrolls him from the PDP.

Staying in a PDP and adding a separate MA plan isn’t possible because you can’t hold a standalone drug plan and a Medicare Advantage plan with drug coverage at the same time. A plan that only covers dental isn’t aligned with replacing a PDP with an MA-PD, and waiting for the next open enrollment period wouldn’t address the immediate need to enroll in integrated MA-PD coverage.