Medicare 2026

Before Dec. 7, 2026: Four Medicare Moves in Las Vegas

LAS VEGAS — The window to change your Medicare coverage for 2027 opens October 15, 2026, and closes December 7, 2026. Any change you make in those eight weeks takes effect January 1, 2027. If you do nothing, your current plan simply rolls into next year with whatever updates are described in its Annual Notice of Change (ANOC).

That is the whole shape of the Annual Enrollment Period (AEP). What follows is what Las Vegas residents can actually do inside it, what will be waiting for them in Clark County, and where to get free, unbiased help.

What "AEP" actually lets you do

The Annual Enrollment Period is the one window every year when any person with Medicare — not just people with a special circumstance — can make these changes:

• Join a Medicare Advantage plan (Part C) for the first time, if you have Parts A and B.
• Switch from one Medicare Advantage plan to another.
• Drop a Medicare Advantage plan and go back to Original Medicare (Parts A and B).
• Join, switch, or drop a stand-alone Part D prescription drug plan.

Whatever you pick during the window starts January 1, 2027. You do not need to cancel your old plan separately; enrolling in a new Medicare Advantage or Part D plan automatically disenrolls you from the previous one.

One important note for Clark County: CMS currently lists 0 stand-alone Part D plans in the local Landscape file for the area. If you want drug coverage and you stay on Original Medicare, confirm your Part D options on Medicare.gov's Plan Finder before the window closes.

If you do nothing

Nothing changes automatically — but your plan might. Each fall, every Medicare Advantage and Part D plan mails an Annual Notice of Change by late September. It spells out, side by side, what your plan's premium, deductible, drug list and provider network will look like in 2027 compared with 2026.

Read it. If the 2027 version still fits your doctors, prescriptions and budget, you can let coverage renew on its own. If it doesn't, AEP is when you move.

For 2027 in Clark County, CMS data shows 11 plans will not return, 9 new plans are entering, and 15 are being renamed. If your plan is one of the ones leaving, the carrier is required to tell you in writing, and you'll get a Special Enrollment Period in addition to AEP.

The Las Vegas plan landscape at a glance

Las Vegas is in Clark County, where 74 Medicare Advantage plans are available for 2026, offered by 12 carriers. By plan type, that breaks down to 38 HMO, 21 HMO-POS and 15 PPO plans; 34 are Special Needs Plans (for people with certain chronic conditions, who are also on Medicaid, or who live in an institution). All 74 include drug coverage.

The carriers offering Medicare Advantage in the county are Aetna (CVS Health), Alignment Health Plan, Blue Cross Blue Shield (HCSC), Centene (WellCare), Champion Health Plan, Elevance Health (Anthem), Humana, Kaiser Permanente, Molina Healthcare of Nevada, SCAN Health Plan, Select Health and UnitedHealthcare. The table below lists every plan offered in the county so you can see what's on the menu before you start comparing.

With about 370,000 people age 65+ living in Clark County, it is one of the deeper Medicare markets in the Mountain West — which is useful context, but the only lineup that matters is the one that covers your doctors and your drugs.

What's confirmed for 2027 — and what isn't

CMS has published these 2027 figures already:

• Part D out-of-pocket cap: $2,400 (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 year.
• Part D maximum deductible: $700 (up from $615 in 2026). Plans can set a lower deductible, but not higher.
• Part D national base beneficiary premium: $41.33 for 2027. This is a formula input CMS uses, not what any specific plan charges.

Still to come: the 2027 Part B standard premium and deductible and the 2027 IRMAA income brackets (the higher premiums that apply above certain incomes). CMS typically announces those in November. For reference, in 2026 IRMAA surcharges begin above $109,000 in income for a single filer.

Two other current-year facts worth knowing while you shop: the Part D coverage gap (the old "donut hole") was eliminated in 2025, so Part D now has three phases instead of four, and the Medicare Prescription Payment Plan lets you spread your out-of-pocket drug costs across the calendar year in monthly installments instead of paying at the pharmacy counter.

After Dec. 7: what you can still do

Dec. 7 is the main deadline, but it is not the only one.

• Jan. 1 – March 31, 2027 is the Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period. If you are already in a Medicare Advantage plan on Jan. 1, you get one chance to switch to a different Medicare Advantage plan or return to Original Medicare (with a stand-alone Part D plan). It does not let people on Original Medicare join a Medicare Advantage plan for the first time.
• Special Enrollment Periods exist year-round for specific life events: moving out of your plan's service area, losing employer coverage, qualifying for Extra Help or Medicaid, or your plan leaving the market.

Getting free, local help in Las Vegas

You do not have to decide alone, and you do not have to talk to a sales agent to get answers.

• Nevada SHIP — the State Health Insurance Assistance Program, called Nevada SHIP here — offers free, one-on-one, unbiased counseling from trained volunteers. They do not sell insurance. Call 1-800-307-4444 or visit adsd.nv.gov.
• Medicare.gov/plan-compare lets you enter your prescriptions, pharmacy and doctors and see every plan in Clark County side by side.
• 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227), 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.