Seniors' Knowledge and Experience With Medicare's Open Enrollment Period and Choosing a Plan: Key Findings from the Kaiser Family Foundation 2012 National Survey of Seniors

These key findings from the Foundation’s 2012 National Survey of Seniors relate to seniors’ knowledge and experience with Medicare’s open enrollment period and choosing a plan.

The survey finds one in four seniors say they are unaware of this annual opportunity to review and change their Medicare coverage, with even larger shares who say they are unaware of Medicare’s open enrollment period among blacks and Hispanics and those seniors in fair or poor health, with low incomes, and without a high-school diploma.

Medicare’s 2013 open enrollment period runs from October 15 through December 7. During this time, the Medicare program encourages beneficiaries to review their benefits and coverage options, including traditional Medicare, private Medicare Advantage plans, and Medicare Part D prescription drug plans.

Designed and analyzed by Foundation researchers, the survey was conducted this summer among a nationally representative, non-institutionalized sample of 2,031 seniors, with a margin of error of plus or minor 3 percentage points for results based on the full sample.

Key Findings (.pdf)

Toplines (.pdf)