Medicare Open Enrollment 2027: Advantage Plan Traps & the Real Cost of Part D (Part 2 of 3)

Medicare expert Diane Omdahl of 65 Incorporated — author of Medicare for You: A Smart Person's Guide — joins Terry, Richard, and Pam for Part 2 of this Medicare Open Enrollment series, and the message gets more specific: your Annual Notice of Change won't tell you everything.

Diane explains why you have to dig into your plan's provider directory yourself (Medicare's official tool has real accuracy problems), what's really happening to dental, vision, and "extra benefit" allowances in Medicare Advantage plans, and why PPOs offering out-of-network flexibility often aren't the safety net people think they are. She also breaks down a guaranteed-issue loophole most people don't know about — if your Advantage plan disappears entirely with no replacement offered, you get a short window to buy a Medigap policy with no health underwriting.

The back half digs into standalone Part D drug plans: disappearing $0-premium options, coinsurance creeping into cheaper drug tiers, the end of the federal premium cap, and why the cheapest monthly premium is often the most expensive plan overall. Diane also shares how her tool, HeyMOE (heymoe.com), compares far more drug plans and pharmacies than Medicare.gov's Plan Finder.

Coming up next: trusted, no-sales-pitch resources to help you make these decisions with real, personalized help.

Links:

• Sixty-Five Incorporated
• Find the plan that works for you (gov)
• Medicare For You: A Smart Person's Guide (Amazon)
• 34 health systems dropping Medicare Advantage plans | 2026 (Beckers Hospital Review)
• Humana exit notices loom for 600,000 Medicare Advantage members (Healthcare Finance)
• HeyMOE – Medicare Part D Comparison Tool (HeyMOE.com)

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