Medicare 2026

Medicare in 2027: what Los Angeles residents can lock in now, and what waits until fall

LOS ANGELES — The Annual Enrollment Period for 2027 Medicare coverage runs October 15 through December 7, 2026, and this year Angelenos are choosing with a split picture: Medicare's drug benefit numbers for 2027 are already set, but the Part B premium and the IRMAA income brackets have not been released yet. That gap matters because the first piece of mail many readers will open this fall — the Annual Notice of Change from their current plan — only tells part of the 2027 story.

Here is what is confirmed, what is still coming, and how plan availability is shifting in Los Angeles County.

What is already confirmed for 2027

CMS has published the Part D figures that apply to every Medicare drug plan, whether it is a stand-alone drug plan or the drug portion of a Medicare Advantage plan:

• Part D out-of-pocket cap: $2,400 in 2027 (up from $2,100 in 2026). Once your out-of-pocket spending on covered drugs hits that cap, you pay $0 for covered drugs the rest of the calendar year.
• Part D maximum deductible: $700 in 2027 (up from $615 in 2026). This is the ceiling; plans can set a lower deductible, and some set none.
• Part D national base beneficiary premium: $41.33 for 2027. This is a formula input Medicare uses to calculate certain surcharges — it is not what any specific plan charges.

The coverage gap (the old "donut hole") remains eliminated, as it has been since 2025. Part D now has three phases: deductible, initial coverage, and catastrophic. The Medicare Prescription Payment Plan — the option to spread your drug costs across monthly bills instead of paying them at the pharmacy counter — continues in 2027, and you can opt in through your plan.

What CMS has not announced yet

Two numbers Los Angeles readers often ask about are not out yet:

• The 2027 Part B standard premium and deductible. CMS typically announces these in the fall, often in November.
• The 2027 IRMAA income brackets and surcharges — the extra amounts higher-income beneficiaries pay for Part B and Part D. These are usually released at the same time as the Part B figures. For reference, in 2026 IRMAA begins above $109,000 in income for a single filer.

Until CMS publishes them, any specific number you see online for 2027 Part B or IRMAA is a projection, not a confirmed figure. It is reasonable to wait for the official announcement before finalizing budgeting decisions tied to Part B.

The Annual Notice of Change: read this first

If you already have a Medicare Advantage plan or a Part D drug plan, your insurer must send you an Annual Notice of Change (ANOC) by the end of September. It spells out exactly what is changing in your plan for 2027 — premium, deductible, drug tiers, provider network, extra benefits, and copays.

A few practical notes for Los Angeles readers:

• If your plan is not returning in 2027, the ANOC (or a separate non-renewal letter) will say so, and you will have a Special Enrollment Period to pick a new plan.
• If your plan is renamed, the letter will tell you the new name — it may feel like a different plan, but your enrollment carries over unless you act.
• If you do nothing and your plan still exists in 2027, you stay enrolled automatically, with the ANOC changes.

How plan availability is moving in Los Angeles County

Los Angeles is in Los Angeles County, where Medicare Advantage availability is set. For the 2026 plan year, the CMS Landscape file shows 121 Medicare Advantage plans from 21 carriers in the county, serving a population of about 1.49 million residents age 65 and older. Of those plans, 89 are HMO, 24 are HMO-POS, and 8 are PPO; 47 are Special Needs Plans (for people with specific conditions, dual Medicare-Medicaid eligibility, or who live in institutional settings); and all 121 include drug coverage.

For 2027, the county's lineup shifts: 23 plans are not returning, 26 are new, and 23 have been renamed. We are not naming which plans fall into which bucket — your ANOC or non-renewal letter will tell you for your plan specifically.

Carriers offering Medicare Advantage with drug coverage in the county for 2026 include Aetna (CVS Health), AHF, Align Senior Care, Alignment Health Plan, Astiva Health, Blue Shield of California, Centene (WellCare), Central Health Medicare Plan, Champion Heath Plan, Clever Care Health Plan, Elevance Health (Anthem), Elite Health Plan, Humana, Imperial Health Plan of California, Kaiser Permanente, L.A. Care Health Plan, Molina Healthcare of California, SCAN Health Plan, UCLA Health Medicare Advantage Plan, UnitedHealthcare, and VillageHealth. The table on this page lists every plan by carrier.

One county-level note Los Angeles readers should know: the Landscape file shows 0 stand-alone Part D plans attached to this county's Medicare Advantage landscape data. If you have Original Medicare and want drug coverage, use medicare.gov's Plan Finder to see every stand-alone Part D plan available in your ZIP code — the Plan Finder draws from a separate Part D file.

A simple checklist before December 7

1. Open your ANOC when it arrives and compare the 2027 column to 2026. 2. Check that your doctors and preferred pharmacy are still in-network for 2027. 3. Check that your prescriptions are still on the formulary and look at the drug tier. 4. Weigh the confirmed 2027 Part D numbers ($2,400 cap, $700 maximum deductible) against your expected drug use. 5. If something is off, use Plan Finder at medicare.gov or call 1-800-MEDICARE to compare options before December 7, 2026.