“Enrollment Applications cannot be solicited or accepted outside of a valid election period. Marketing and/or selling outside of eligible periods is prohibited and is subject to corrective and/or disciplinary action up to and including termination.”

What this means:

Yes, between and the agent :

 Take an appointment

 Conduct a meeting

 Leave an enrollment kit and enrollment application

Yes, between October 1 and October 15 the member may:

 Review the materials

No, the member may not sign or submit an enrollment application until October 15.

Yes, the agent may take receipt of an enrollment application on or after October 15.

Yes, at the time the agent takes possession of the enrollment application (on or after October 15) the agent would sign and submit the enrollment application.

This is the actual regulation from Chapter 2 section 40.

Special Rule for the Annual Election Period (AEP):

Medicare Advantage (MA) organizations may not solicit submission of paper enrollment forms or accept telephone or on-line enrollment requests prior to the beginning of the AEP. Brokers and agents under contract to MA organizations may not accept or solicit submission of paper enrollment forms prior to the start of the AEP. MA organizations and their brokers and agents also should remind beneficiaries that they cannot submit enrollment requests prior to the start of the AEP.

Despite these efforts, CMS recognizes that MA organizations may receive unsolicited paper enrollment forms prior to the start of the AEP, given that marketing activities may begin prior to this date. If an MA organization receives unsolicited paper enrollment forms on or after October 1st but prior to the start of the AEP, it must retain and process them as follows:

Within 7 calendar days of the receipt of a paper enrollment request, the MA organization must provide the beneficiary with a written notice that acknowledges receipt of the complete enrollment request, and indicates that the enrollment will take effect on 1 of the following year (refer to Exhibits 4, 4a, 4b and 4c for model notices).

For AEP enrollment requests received prior to the start of the AEP, the MA organization must submit all transactions to CMS systems (MARx) on the first of the AEP with an “application date” of the same date. For example, unsolicited AEP paper enrollment requests received October 1 through must be submitted on October 15th with an “application date” of October 15th of the current year in the appropriate data field on the enrollment transaction. If a beneficiary has submitted more than one AEP paper enrollment request prior to the start of the AEP, the beneficiary will be enrolled in a plan based on the first application that is processed.

Once the MA organization receives a MARx TRR from CMS indicating whether the individual’s enrollment has been accepted or rejected, it must meet the remainder of the requirements (e.g., sending a notice of the acceptance or rejection of the enrollment within 10 calendar days following receipt of the TRR from CMS) provided in §40.4.2.

Note: If organizations receive incomplete unsolicited AEP paper enrollment requests prior to the start of the AEP, they must follow existing guidance for working with beneficiaries to complete the applications (refer to §40.2.2).

Again, this policy applies only to the receipt of unsolicited paper enrollment forms prior to the beginning of the AEP. To help ensure a successful AEP season, it is imperative that organizations follow these steps and submit valid enrollment transactions promptly as directed.