Medicare’s Annual Enrollment Period runs October 15 to December 7, and plans and agents can begin marketing next year’s coverage on October 1. That means your real deadline is late September, not mid-October. Work backward from October 1 and you have roughly six weeks from mid-August to build, review, and stage everything.
What are the Medicare AEP dates you need to plan around?
Four dates govern the entire season, and missing the first one costs you the two weeks that set up everything after it.
| Date | What it means | What you should be doing |
|---|---|---|
| Now through Sept 30 | Pre-marketing window | Build, test, and clear compliance review. No next-year plan marketing yet. |
| October 1 | Marketing for next plan year may begin | Campaigns go live. You can promote, but not enroll. |
| October 15 | AEP opens, enrollments accepted | Peak competition begins. Shift from awareness to conversion. |
| December 7 | AEP closes | Final push. Coverage from AEP enrollments starts January 1. |
The October 1 to October 15 gap is the part most marketers underuse. You can generate interest for two weeks before anyone can act on it, which is exactly when list building and appointment setting should be running hard.
What should you do in the six weeks before October 1?
Build and clear review, in that order, because compliance review is the step that blows up timelines. Everything below assumes you are starting in mid-August.
- Audit last season honestly. Pull last year’s cost per lead and cost per enrollment by channel. Not impressions. The channels that looked busy and the channels that produced enrollments are rarely the same list.
- Fix tracking before you spend. Call tracking, form attribution, and CRM handoff need to work in August, because you will not have time to debug them in October.
- Rebuild audiences now. Aging-in lists, prior-year non-converters, and site retargeting pools all take time to populate.
- Produce creative in September, not October. Every asset that needs compliance sign-off should be finished with time to absorb a round of changes.
- Book inventory early. This matters more in 2026 than usual, for the reason below.
- Staff the phones. A campaign that generates calls nobody answers is a campaign that funded your competitors’ quarter.
Why is 2026 harder than a normal AEP year?
Because the midterm elections land in the middle of it. Political advertising floods local inventory through early November, and AEP opens October 15, which puts the highest-stakes weeks of your season directly inside the most expensive ad market of the cycle.
That collision has two practical consequences. Rates on broadcast, cable, and local digital inventory climb during the overlap, and your message competes for attention against wall-to-wall political noise.
Plan for it rather than discovering it. Book what you can before the crunch, weight more budget into the post-election window from November 4 through December 7 when inventory frees up and competition thins, and consider channels political buyers use less. Our breakdown of advertising during election season 2026 covers how that inventory squeeze behaves and when it releases.
How do CMS marketing rules affect what you can actually say?
Significantly, and this is the part where getting it wrong costs more than a bad campaign. Medicare Advantage and Part D marketing is regulated by CMS, and the rules cover far more than most marketers expect.
The categories that shape campaign work include timing restrictions on when next-year plan marketing may begin, limits on unsolicited contact, requirements governing how certain materials are reviewed and submitted, disclosure requirements that apply to third-party marketing organizations, and prohibitions on language implying government endorsement or creating urgency that misleads.
Two things matter more than any specific rule. CMS updates these guidelines annually, so a checklist from a prior season is not a safe reference. And the requirements differ depending on whether you are a plan, a licensed agent, or a third-party marketing organization, which means the same ad can be compliant for one party and not another.
Treat this post as a planning calendar, not a compliance reference. Before anything runs, have your compliance officer review it against the current plan year’s CMS guidance, and build review time into the September schedule rather than treating it as a formality at the end.
What should the campaign look like once AEP opens?
Different from the pre-October work, because the job changes from building interest to closing it. Once October 15 arrives, every competitor is live and the cost of attention goes up.
Search intent rises sharply and stays elevated through early December. That is where budget should concentrate, because someone searching plan comparisons in late October is close to a decision. Broad awareness spending is better placed before AEP opens, when it is cheaper and there is time for it to work.
Reaching a 65-and-over audience through streaming has also stopped being a niche play. Older viewers moved to connected TV in large numbers, and OTT advertising allows household-level targeting that broadcast cannot match, which matters when your addressable audience is defined by age and geography.
How should you split the budget across the season?
Weight it toward the two windows where money works hardest: the pre-open build and the post-election stretch.
Front-load enough in September to have audiences warm and creative tested before October 1. Hold a meaningful reserve for the November 4 to December 7 window, when political spending clears out and the procrastinators who make up a large share of late enrollments are finally paying attention.
The middle of AEP, roughly October 15 through the election, is the most expensive attention you will buy all year. Spend there deliberately rather than by default. If you are still building your Q4 numbers, our Q4 marketing budget template gives a structure for splitting a seasonal budget across channels.
What happens after December 7?
The season is not over, though most marketing stops as if it were. The Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period runs January 1 through March 31 and allows people already in a Medicare Advantage plan to make a change.
That window is far less contested because most competitors have gone quiet, and the people using it are often dissatisfied with a choice they made in December. Costs are lower and intent is high.
December 8 is also when your data is freshest. Log what worked while the season is still in memory, because next August you will be trying to reconstruct it.
Frequently asked questions
When is Medicare AEP 2026?
October 15 through December 7, with coverage from those enrollments beginning January 1. Marketing for the upcoming plan year may begin October 1, two weeks before enrollments can be accepted.
When should Medicare AEP marketing start?
Campaign building should start in August, with creative finished and through compliance review during September. The campaigns themselves cannot promote next year’s plans until October 1.
Can you advertise Medicare plans before October 1?
Not for the upcoming plan year’s specific plans. General educational and brand awareness activity is treated differently from plan marketing, and the distinction is one to confirm with your compliance officer rather than assume.
How do CMS marketing rules affect Medicare advertising?
They govern timing, unsolicited contact, material review, third-party marketing disclosures, and the claims you may make. CMS updates the guidelines annually, so every season needs a fresh compliance review rather than last year’s checklist.
Does the 2026 election affect Medicare AEP advertising?
Yes. Midterm political advertising competes for the same local inventory through early November, raising rates during the first weeks of AEP. Budget weighted toward the post-election window generally goes further.
What is the difference between AEP and the Open Enrollment Period?
AEP runs October 15 to December 7 and is open to all Medicare beneficiaries. The Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period runs January 1 to March 31 and only allows those already enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan to switch.
The takeaway: put October 1 in your calendar as the deadline, not October 15, and schedule compliance review for the second week of September. Those two decisions determine whether you enter the season ready or spend the first two weeks catching up.
If you want the season mapped against your market and your inventory, that is the kind of planning our healthcare marketing and senior living teams do, alongside the wider digital marketing program. Upwynn Marketing is an Orlando-based, data-driven agency using 90+ data sources for targeting, with no long-term contracts and hands-on support. We are a marketing agency and not a compliance advisor, so plan materials should still clear your own regulatory review.
Written by Liz Mbwambo, Founder + CEO of Upwynn Marketing, an Orlando data-driven marketing agency. Connect with Liz on LinkedIn.
