Cancelled health insurance plans, little information from the federal government and general economic anxiety have dominated the start of open enrollment for Medicare, which ends Dec. 7.

Maine’s five area agencies on aging reported that all their slots for one-on-one help navigating open enrollment are already filled, and they are telling people to call 1-800-MEDICARE. 

Multiple agencies said calls from Medicare beneficiaries ramped up earlier this week after people started receiving letters notifying them that their plans have been cancelled. More than 49,000 Medicare Advantage plans will be discontinued next year. These terminated plans may be replaced with new plans, but Medicare beneficiaries still have to pick a new option. 

Medicare Advantage plans are approved by Medicare but offered by private insurance companies, and they often bundle all the coverage into one plan rather than break it up into Medicare Part A for hospital coverage, Part B for medical coverage and Part D for prescription coverage as traditional Medicare does. Both Medicare Advantage and traditional Medicare are primarily for adults 65 and older.

Betsy Sawyer-Manter, CEO of Seniors Plus, said assistance appointments typically are booked up every year, but this year feels “supercharged,” partly due to the state of the economy and the current cost of living, especially for Medicare beneficiaries who are on a fixed income.

“There’s a lot of anxiety around a whole lot of issues out there right now, and this complexity of Medicare just adds to it,” she said.

SeniorsPlus, which covers Androscoggin, Franklin and Oxford counties, filled its 315 slots for in-person appointments. It is now offering phone appointments or a service via mail where people can send in their information and the agency will send back recommendations.

However, agencies are still waiting for information from the federal government about premium costs for Part B, which covers medical expenses such as doctors’ visits and outpatient care. This makes it difficult to help people pick the best plan, Sawyer-Manter said.

Ann Shea, Medicare supervisor for the Eastern Area Agency on Aging, said a new factor this year is that the federal government gave insurers permission to cap the number of people they enroll in Medicare Advantage plans, so they may choose not to enroll new members. In the agency’s service areas of Penobscot, Hancock, Washington and Piscataquis counties, Shea said she’s seeing these insurers appear to be terminating everyone from their plans and then having people re-enroll.

These patient caps plus the other terminated plans “are really putting a lot of pressure on consumers, and they’re really frantic,” she said.

Eastern Area Agency on Aging filled all 445 assistance slots, but calls are still coming in. Shea said the organization is hearing from 80 and 90 year olds asking, “Why do they think this is something we should have to figure out every year?”

AgeMaine, which serves most of Cumberland and York counties, said it received more than 1,300 requests in October from Medicare beneficiaries for appointments to review their coverage. Last year, the organization received about 850 requests.

More than half of those requests have been in the last week after Mainers heard that their Martin’s Point Health Care plans had been discontinued, said Chloe Gray, volunteer programs manager for AgeMaine,  formerly called Southern Maine Agency on Aging. Aetna, United Healthcare and Wellcare have also discontinued plans in Cumberland and York counties.

In addition, InterMed notified patients in May that it would no longer accept Martin’s Point Medicare Advantage plans.

Gray said a majority of inquiries this year have been about discontinued plans and the network change with InterMed.

“Every year we expect to see some plans be discontinued, but, based on the demand, it seems the impact is more widespread this year,” Gray said.

Medicare Advantage plans are disappearing from more rural counties such as Somerset and Waldo, said Stacey Forkey, community services manager for Spectrum Generations.

She has noticed that people seem more cautious and are looking to change their Medicare Advantage plans or switch back to original Medicare.

“This may not always happen, but cost increases, network changes and unknowns of what will happen in 2027 do have beneficiaries erring on the side of caution,” Forkey said.

Spectrum Generations, which covers Kennebec, Knox, Lincoln, Sagadahoc, Somerset and Waldo counties, plus Harpswell and Brunswick, has filled 500 appointment slots.

Even people who like their current health insurance plan and want to keep it should still read through the 2027 version of the plan because details may have changed, said Vi Belanger, manager of community and memory services for the Aroostook Agency on Aging. One client she worked with saw a six-fold increase in price for an important prescription under his existing plan, she said. Her agency helped him find a new plan with a smaller price increase.

In addition, Medicare Part D has a higher out-of-pocket cap and deductible for medications, which means people will have to spend more before their full coverage kicks in, Belanger said.

The Aroostook Agency on Aging has filled its 270 appointment slots for assistance. However, information continues to change. Belanger said she’s still getting updates from the state about insurers changing details in their plans.

This story was originally published by The Maine Monitor, a nonprofit civic news organization. To get regular coverage from The Monitor, sign up for a free Monitor newsletter here.