Per direction from The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the Special Election Period for Individuals Affected by a Government Entity-Declared Disaster or Other Emergency (also known as the DST-SEP) election process will change effective April 1, 2025.
In addition to changes for affected individuals (“customers”), there will be changes to how you, our brokers, may access DST-SEP information. Please see below for dates and details.
What this means for your customers
Beginning on April 1, customers impacted by a declared emergency or disaster:
- must call CMS at 1-800-MEDICARE(1-800-633-4227)* to see if they qualify for or to make a DST-SEP election.
- may no longer self-enroll into a plan using a DST-SEP.
- may no longer work with a broker to enroll into a plan using a DST-SEP.
Please also note:
- Applications with a DST-SEP election dated:
- On or before March 31: Will be processed.
- After March 31: Will not be processed for the DST-SEP. Next steps:
- Our enrollment team sees if the customer is eligible for another SEP.
- If no applicable SEP is found, the customer’s application will be denied, and they’ll receive a letter notifying them of the denial.
- Salesforce will be updated with application status.
- An explanatory notice outlining this and other SEP changes will be included in paper sales enrollment kits.
What this means for you
Broker access to DST-SEP declarations will change as follows:
- Until February 28: You will continue to receive DST-SEP declaration notification emails from us.
- Until March 31: You may continue to access DST-SEP declarations on Producers’ University (login required).
- On or after April 1:
- Depending on disaster type (e.g., state, FEMA), you will need to access disaster declaration information on state government websites or on FEMA.gov.
- Please direct impacted customers to call CMS at 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227) to determine if they qualify for or to use a DST-SEP.
- Again, customer applications including a DST-SEP election, and which are dated and received after March 31, are no longer accepted by the plan. See the section above for the review and notification process.
- The explanatory notice mentioned above will also be available on Producers’ University to use with electronic sales enrollment kits.
This change is designed to ensure the integrity of the DST-SEP, providing enrollment options only for those customers impacted by a declared emergency or disaster.
If you have any questions, please contact The Cigna Agent Resource Line (CARL) or your local Broker Manager team.
Cigna Agent Resource Line: 866.442.7516
The information on this website is for agent use only and not intended for the general public.
