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If the individual’s cancellation request is received by the plan after the effective date of the enrollment or disenrollment, the cancellation generally cannot be processed.2 The plan must inform the individual that they are an enrollee of its plan. Any change to enroll in another plan after coverage begins requires a valid enrollment period and will have a prospective effective date.

An individual enrolled in an MA plan who cancels a request to enroll in a different plan remains enrolled in their current MA plan. The individual does not have the option of switching to Original Medicare instead of continuing enrollment in the same MA plan.

Cancellation of Medicare MSA Enrollment Request – Part C only:

An individual who elects a Medicare MSA plan during the AEP, and who has never before enrolled in a Medicare MSA plan, may cancel that enrollment request by December 15 of the year in which they requested enrollment in the Medicare MSA plan. This cancellation will ensure the enrollment request does not go into effect on January 1. An individual who cancels an MSA enrollment request after the end of the AEP on December 7 must be eligible for an election period other than the AEP if they wish to request enrollment in a plan for a January 1 effective date. See 42 CFR § 422.62(d)(2)(ii).

70.2.2 – Cancellation Transaction Rejection by CMS Systems (TRC 284)

When a plan receives a TRC 284 (Cancellation Rejected), the plan must investigate the circumstances behind the rejection in order to ensure proper processing of an enrollment transaction. If the rejection was due to incorrect data on the transaction, the plan must correct the data and resubmit it to CMS. If the rejection was due to an error the plan is unable to resolve, and the request to cancel is valid, the plan must promptly submit the request to CMS (or the RPC) for resolution and contact the MA-PD Help Desk (1-800-927-8069) to report not being able to submit the cancellation.

70.2.3 – Cancellation Due to Notification from CMS (TRC 015)

A plan receives a TRC 015 (Enrollment Removed) to indicate that an enrollment it received has been cancelled; CMS systems will reflect the enrollment as never having taken effect. A cancellation may be the result of an action on the part of the individual, CMS, or another plan.

Upon receipt of TRC 015, CMS encourages the plan to notify the individual of the enrollment cancellation.

2 An exception to this is a cancellation request during the Outbound Education and Verification (OEV) process. A cancellation request received during the OEV can extend past the effective date of enrollment, only if the 15-day time frame to complete the OEV process extends the cancellation deadline past the effective date of enrollment. An enrollee has seven days from the date of the letter or call (i.e., successful OEV contact), or the last day of the month in which the enrollment was submitted, whichever is later to cancel their enrollment.