Updated August 3, 2026. Quick answer: there are two trial rights and they cover different people. One is for someone who chose Medicare Advantage as their first Medicare decision at 65. The other is for someone who dropped a Medigap policy to try Advantage for the first time. Both are bounded at twelve months.
Trial right one: Advantage was your first choice
“If you joined a Medicare Advantage Plan when you were first eligible for Medicare Part A at 65, you can buy certain Medigap policies sold by an insurance company in your state, if you switch to Original Medicare within the first year of joining the Medicare Advantage Plan.”
So if Advantage was what you picked when you first became eligible, you have a year to decide it was wrong and move to Original Medicare with the right to buy a Medigap policy.
Trial right two: you dropped a Medigap policy to try Advantage
“If you drop a Medigap policy to join a Medicare Advantage Plan for the first time, you’ll have a single 12-month period (your trial right period) to get your Medigap policy back if the same insurance company still sells it once you return to Original Medicare.”
Read that carefully, because it contains a condition people miss: you get your old policy back if the same insurance company still sells it. If it does not, you may buy Plan A, B, C*, D*, F* or G* sold in your state instead — which may not be the policy you had.
It also says for the first time. This is a once-in-a-lifetime right, not an annual one.
The deadline is the part that catches people
Both trial rights run on the same clock: apply 60 days before your coverage ends, or no more than 63 days after it ends.
That is a narrow, hard-edged window sitting inside a twelve-month one. The twelve months is how long you have to decide; the 63 days is how long you have to act once the coverage actually ends. Missing the second while still inside the first is the common failure.
One more thing worth asking about locally: “Note: Your rights may last for an extra 12 months under certain circumstances. Contact your State Insurance Department for more information.”
What a guaranteed-issue right actually gets you
“If you have a guaranteed issue right, an insurance company: Must sell you a Medigap policy. Must cover all your pre-existing health conditions. Can’t charge you more for a Medigap policy because of past or present health problems.”
All three matter. A right to buy without a right to be priced normally would be worth very little.
If you are outside both
The other federal guaranteed-issue situations still exist — the full list — and some states add rights of their own, which is what the 51-state table is for.
General information drawn from Medicare, CMS and state insurance-department publications, not insurance advice. Medicare rules, plan availability and dollar figures change every year, and state rules differ. Every figure here is year-labelled and every source is named so you can check it against your own situation. We do not sell insurance and receive nothing if you buy a plan.