Medicare Advantage plans that are not back in 2027

Where the drop is largest

State totals hide the county view. In Los Angeles County, 17 plan IDs of 2026 are not filed again for 2027 while 13 new ones appear, so the county ends with 70 open plans against 74 a year earlier. The finder's summary line gives that count for every county; the large county pages list the plans by name.

Closure, merger or new ID: how to tell

CMS identifies a plan by its contract and plan number (H1234-005-0). When an insurer combines two plans for the next year, members of the plan that disappears are usually moved ("crosswalked") into the remaining one, keep their coverage without doing anything, and get the new plan's premium and cap. When an insurer drops a county or ends a plan without a successor, the coverage simply stops on December 31. The Annual Notice of Change, or a separate non-renewal letter, says which case applies to you. If you have neither, call the number on your member card before December 7.

The trap of doing nothing

Members of a plan that is ending and who choose nothing return to Original Medicare on January 1. They keep Parts A and B, but they lose the drug coverage that came with the Advantage plan, and without a stand-alone drug plan they start counting months toward the Part D late penalty after a 63-day gap. They also lose the out-of-pocket cap: Original Medicare alone has none.

Plans that stay but change

A plan that keeps its ID can still change a great deal: premium, cap, drug deductible, network, extra benefits. The finder shows the 2026 premium next to the 2027 one when they differ ("was $12 in 2026"), using the same plan ID in both CMS files. A rise in the cap is not displayed line by line, but the Annual Notice of Change lists it, and it is often the larger change in money: a cap that moves up by $2,000 matters more than a premium that moves up by $5 a month.

Drug plans too

Stand-alone drug plans shrank as well, from 367 plan versions to 323. A drug plan that stops is replaced by nothing unless you choose: members get a notice and can pick another plan during the annual period. People with Extra Help whose plan leaves are in many cases reassigned by CMS to another plan priced at or below the regional subsidy, and receive a letter saying which one; they can still pick a different plan, and with Extra Help they can change drug plans once a month.

Your extra rights when a plan leaves

When the insurer discontinues your plan in the area where you live, or tells you it will, you can change to Original Medicare or to another Advantage plan outside the annual calendar (42 CFR 422.62(b)(1)). Federal law also gives people whose Advantage coverage ends this way a guaranteed right to buy certain Medigap policies, without health questions or higher pricing, if they apply within 63 days after the coverage ends (Social Security Act §1882(s)(3)). Outside such situations, Medigap insurers in most states can review your health before selling a policy, which is why this window matters to anyone thinking of going back to Original Medicare.

A checklist before December 7

• Write down the date on your non-renewal letter: the guaranteed Medigap window and the special election period are counted from it or from the end of coverage.
• Find your plan ID on your member card and look for it in your county's list: if it is not there, read your notice.
• Note your doctors, your hospital and your drugs, and check them against the two or three replacement plans you consider.
• Compare the replacement plans' out-of-pocket caps as well as their premiums with the two-plan comparator.
• If you are leaving Advantage for Original Medicare, apply for Medigap within the guaranteed-issue window and add a drug plan from the Part D list so that coverage starts January 1.