Read Your Medicare Annual Notice of Change Carefully

Big mistake.

The Annual Notice of Change — sometimes called by its “ANOC” acronym — lays out how your costs and coverage will be different next year in your drug (Medicare Part D) or Medicare Advantage (Part C) plan, which is the alternative to original Medicare sold by health insurers. If you assume the 2026 plan will be identical to your 2025 plan, you’ll be wrong.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen an Annual Notice that said ‘no change,’” said Danielle Roberts, founding partner of Boomer Benefits, a brokerage firm that sells Medicare Advantage and Medicare supplement plans.

(There is no ANOC for Medicare parts A and B, known as traditional or original Medicare, because they are government plans and don’t change each year.)

Expect big changes in the notices of change

The notices for 2026 plans, experts say, are likely to contain especially dramatic changes due to turmoil at health insurers selling the plans and rising Medicare costs.

Some updates in the Annual Notice of Change will be to Medicare’s 2026 premiums and deductibles, which may be sharply higher. Others will be decisions from insurers that could make your current plan more expensive, less attractive or generally worse for you when choosing next year’s plan during Medicare’s open-enrollment period, which runs from Oct. 15 to Dec. 7.

You could find your Part D plan won’t cover certain prescriptions that it did in 2025 or will charge more for them, and might have a new or higher deductible. The pharmacy you frequent might no longer offer the lowest prices. Your Medicare Advantage plan could have different doctors and hospitals in its networks than this year, while prior-authorization rules to see specialists could get more restrictive and your out-of-pocket costs may get higher.

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Contact Montgomery County, MD SHIP if you have questions about your coverage for 2026