Medicare Open Enrollment begins tomorrow, which means that eligible senior and disabled Missourians will be able to compare new health care options and find the plan that works best for them.
I recently sat down with Scott Minea to discuss what’s new this year. He’s the executive director of MO SHIP, a nonprofit organization that provides unbiased assistance for those navigating the Medicare landscape.
Medicare Open Enrollment runs from October 15 to December 7.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Rebecca Smith: Another year, another enrollment. We're just a couple days out from Medicare Open Enrollment. So, what's going on this year? How are things going and what are you guys preparing?
Scott Miniea: Yeah, well, life in Medicare world is getting more interesting every year, partly because the number of Medicare beneficiaries has gone up. Big picture, in Missouri, we have 1.3 million Medicare beneficiaries.
The average MA [Medicare Advantage] premium change from $10.66, down to $8.56, so it's a slight increase here or decrease, pardon me, in 2026. So, we like to see that, you know, it's saving people money.
There are 157 Medicare Advantage plans available in 2026 compared to 139 the prior year, and It's nice to have options.
Open Enrollment is the time when you can make the change to your Part D plan or your Medicare Advantage plan for the year, and you have just the eight weeks or so of time to get those changes made that will take effect on January 1.
There are some things that I have not even seen yet because we aren't actively enrolling, but there's a new AI component that Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services has talked about
I have not seen that personally yet, just to play with it, but I'd be interested, very interested to see how that works out, and how effective, what how people work and how people respond to it.
The other thing though, with regard to the website, they've required multi-factor authentication. So, logging in and you have to have access to a cell phone or something that you can punch in a code, that kind of thing that we're all doing now, everywhere. That's there on the Plan Finder.
If you're a new user, you cannot create a Plan Finder account, a medicare.gov account without an email address.
If you're an older user, meaning you already have it set up, you’re grandfathered in, you don't have to have an email address attached to your account, but now you do.
Rebecca Smith: Do you all have any concerns about staffing this year — just being able to help all the Missourians that might need assistance?
Scott Miniea: We are a limited resource. We help everybody who comes to us, but we do run out of slots before Open Enrollment is over.
I would say by December 1, we are way beyond all of our slots being gone — more like Thanksgiving, usually. Around Thanksgiving, we will run out of the slots that are available.
You can call here in the next day or two, and we'll start as soon as Open Enrollment is going. We'll be here taking appointments and setting appointments for people, but, again, it's kind of a flip of the draw whether you get in fast enough to get one of the appointments.
If you are unable to get an appointment with us this year that you would be — your option would be to contact 1-800-MEDICARE. They're great and do a lot of great things. They're ramping up just like we are.
Another option, obviously, is always to go to a broker or an agent to get your coverage that way, or obviously, do it directly yourself.
Rebecca Smith: Well thanks so much for your time today, Scott. I really appreciate it.
You can find a list of enrollment assistance events — here.
