AEP stands for the annual enrollment period, the autumn window in which anyone with Medicare may change how they hold it. It is the busiest few weeks in this market by a wide margin, and it is also the reason the federal marketing rules exist in the form they do, because the volume of contact around it is what those rules were written to control.
What the window is for
During the annual window a person may join, switch or drop a Medicare Advantage plan, and join, switch or drop a stand-alone drug plan. Changes made in it take effect at the start of the following year. It is the one window that is open to everybody on the calendar rather than on the strength of an event, which is why almost all deliberate switching happens inside it and why it is the period that gets marketed at.
The second window most people do not know about
There is a further window early in the year for people already in a Medicare Advantage plan, in which one change is permitted: to a different plan, or back to Original Medicare with the right to join a drug plan. It exists as a correction mechanism for a choice that turned out wrong, and it matters because the deadline people usually watch is not the last one. Medicare publishes the current dates, and its page is linked below.
Why the marketing rules cluster around these dates
Federal rules restrict when and how organisations may market in this market, prohibit unsolicited contact, and require a specific disclaimer from third party marketing organisations. Those rules exist because the autumn window concentrates an enormous amount of selling into a few weeks aimed at a population that is being contacted repeatedly. This site is on the other side of that line entirely: no form, no plan named, nothing sold, and nobody contacted.
Questions people ask about aep dates
What do the letters stand for?
Annual enrollment period. It is Medicare's autumn window, open to everyone rather than opened by an event.
When exactly does it run?
Medicare publishes the current dates on its own site, linked below. This page describes what the window is for rather than restating dates that move.
If I change my mind in January, is it too late?
Not necessarily. A second window early in the year allows one change for people already in a Medicare Advantage plan.
Why am I getting so many calls about it?
Because the window concentrates the selling. Unsolicited contact is prohibited in this market, so a cold call about Medicare is a rule being broken.