Dates To Know for This Year's Open Enrollment Season (+ Resources)

The 2026 Dates Insurance Agents Should Know for Open Enrollment — Plus Tips To Tackle It Efficiently.

Table of Contents

• Key 2026 Open Enrollment Period Dates
• 2026 Medicare Annual Election Period
• Exceptions Outside of the 2026 Open Enrollment Period
• How to Maximize Productivity During the Annual Enrollment Period
• Using an AMS for Enrollment Season Efficiencies

Each year, there is a designated period when people can enroll in or make changes to their health insurance plans for the upcoming year. This is known as the annual enrollment period. It applies to various types of coverage, including Medicare, employer-provided health insurance, and individual/under-65 plans, such as those offered through the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

As a reliable resource for your clients, it's essential to be aware of the key dates for each type of coverage, so you can help them make informed decisions. Below, you'll find the important enrollment periods for the upcoming enrollment season, plus some helpful tools to help your agency stay organized during the busiest time of the year.

Key 2026 Open Enrollment Period Dates

As enrollment season approaches, it's essential to be aware of key dates and understand the unique exceptions your clients may qualify for.

2026 Individual Market/ACA Open Enrollment Period

For 2026, the Individual Market OEP (including ACA coverage) for healthcare plans runs from November 1, 2025, to January 15, 2026. Consumers who enroll by December 15, 2025, will have coverage starting January 1, 2026. Those who enroll after December 15th but before the January 15th deadline will have coverage beginning February 1, 2026. 

Note: ACA regulations require brokers to obtain a signed Consent to Contact and Attestation to stay compliant.

Action item: Send "save the date" emails to ACA clients by October 15th, highlighting key deadlines.

2026 Medicare Annual Election Period (for Medicare Advantage and Part D Plans)

The Medicare Annual Election Period (AEP) for 2026 coverage is October 15th to December 7, 2025. During this period, your clients can:

• Switch between Original Medicare and Medicare Advantage plans
• Change Medicare Advantage plans
• Enroll in or cancel Medicare prescription drug coverage (Part D)
• Move from one prescription drug plan to another

For those who already have a Medicare Advantage plan, AEP runs from January 1st to March 31, 2026. During this time, enrollees can 

• Switch to a new Medicare Advantage plan
• Return to Original Medicare
• Adjust their prescription drug (Part D) coverage. 

Any changes they make to their Medicare insurance coverage will go into effect on the first day of the following month.  

Note: Medicare regulations require a signed Scope of Appointment form from every client, whether new or existing, at least 48 hours before meeting with them. Learn more about Scope of Appointment regulations and how your senior insurance agency can stay compliant.

Individuals turning 65 and becoming eligible for Medicare can enroll at any time, even if their birthday falls outside the Annual Enrollment Period. You can easily keep track of these aging-in clients with an industry-specific agency management system (AMS), which we'll discuss later in this article.

Action item: Stay in touch with senior insurance clients to make AEP more efficient.

Exceptions Outside of the 2026 Open Enrollment Period (OEP)

Certain life events and qualifying situations can allow people to change their plans outside of the traditional enrollment season. These qualifying events include:

• Losing or leaving a job
• Getting too old for a parent's plan (age varies by plan)
• COBRA ending
• Insurance running out
• Getting divorced
• Moving to a new area
• Getting married
• Having or adopting a baby

In addition to life events, other exceptions include job-based health insurance enrollment periods. These dates may vary depending on the employer's preference; however, most companies typically set their dates sometime in the fall so that their policies take effect on January 1st.  

Action Item: Add qualifying life event questions to your regular client check-ins.

How To Maximize Productivity During the Annual Enrollment Period

AEP and OEP can be challenging, but here are some ways to save time without compromising high-quality customer service. Using the right technology can help your individual health, group benefits, or senior insurance agency streamline processes and gain more time back in your day.

Using an AMS for Enrollment Season Efficiencies

The right agency management system (AMS) can streamline your workflows and enhance your organization's efficiency throughout the busy enrollment season. AgencyBloc’s suite of insurance solutions help your team boost policy sales, improve client retention, and ensure regulatory compliance:

• AMS+, #1 Recommended Agency Management System: Centralize your entire office with an end-to-end agency management system (AMS) built for your needs. Our robust insurance AMS features a suite of tools designed specifically for health, benefits, and senior insurance agencies and their uplines.
• Drive growth with built-in sales enablement tools, including a built-in VoIP dialer, electronic compliance management, automated lead routing, and lead nurturing workflow automation.
• Retain customers with client retention tools, including health insurance policy management, retention workflow automation, email marketing, productivity tracking, downline agency, agent management, and more.
• Track essential client data, like prescriptions, pharmacies, and providers, with Rx Collect, and reduce time spent fixing errors and entering data manually. Then, automatically connect Rx Collect data with your agency’s quoting and enrollment tools (SunFire, ConnectureDRX, etc.) to save even more time.
• Engage+, the Go-To Marketing Tool for Agents. Our newest solution offers powerful digital marketing tools, including semi-customizable websites, email templates, and a ready-to-use content library.
• Commissions+, the Best-in-Class Commissions Processing Tool: Ensure accuracy, reduce worry, and make managing commissions easier. Leverage our proprietary commission mapping software to upload carrier and upline commission statements efficiently, then calculate splits, payouts, and total commissions earned.
• Identify any discrepancies quickly with our Commission Not Received Report and generate agent statements with detailed breakdowns of commission earned, bonuses, and any additional one-time payments.
• Quote+, the Only End-to-End Small Group Quoting & Enrollment Solution: Reduce time spent on servicing small group clients by up to 50% every renewal season with access to a private, broker-controlled online marketplace that helps you quote small groups for ACA, level-funded, GRx, and more.
• In addition to an intuitive online experience, Quote+ helps your team turn small group benefits quotes into client-ready proposals, allows you to gather medical health questionnaires seamlessly, provides a step-by-step enrollment portal for employees, and simplifies the carrier submission process.

AgencyBloc is the #1 Recommended Insurance Industry Growth Platform for health insurance agencies and uplines. With the AgencyBloc experience, you'll get help from our sales consultants, data specialists, and step-by-step resources to ensure you have the support you need. Access to our vast library of Knowledge Base documentation and Academy video tutorials to learn how your agency can have a successful enrollment season.

This blog was originally published on August 8, 2020, and most recently updated on August 5, 2025.

Posted by Shannon Beck on Tuesday, August 5, 2025 in Sales Enablement

1. open enrollment