Medicare in Lake Wales, after 65 and every fall

Your Medigap window and your yearly review

• Medigap's window opens once

  Your Medigap Open Enrollment Period lasts six months, starting the first month you have Part B and you're 65 or older, and Medicare.gov is clear that it doesn't repeat. Florida law sets the same six months. Outside it, federal law usually gives you no right to switch policies, so if you're nearing 65, that window goes on the calendar first.

• Every fall, a fresh look at your plan

  From October 15 to December 7 each year you can join, drop or switch a Medicare Advantage or drug plan, Medicare.gov explains, with the change starting January 1. Each fall your plan also sends an Annual Notice of Change listing what changes in January, and we can read it together before you decide.

• AdventHealth Lake Wales, before you switch

  AdventHealth Lake Wales on South 11th Street is the hospital CMS Care Compare lists in town. A new plan's network can differ from your old one, so before you switch, the hospital and the doctors you see go into that plan's provider directory search, not just a glance at a flyer.

• Social Security from Lake Wales

  Questions about Medicare itself go to 1-800-MEDICARE. For the business Social Security handles, its locator puts the Winter Haven office first for ZIP 33853, 13.9 miles off by its count, with Lakeland second, and a my Social Security account can save you the trip.