Medicare 2026

Before You Open Your ANOC: 2027 Medicare in NYC

New York City — It is fall 2026, and Medicare's Annual Enrollment Period for 2027 coverage opens October 15 and closes December 7. CMS has already locked in next year's Part D figures, but two numbers most New Yorkers watch closely — the standard Part B premium and the IRMAA income brackets — are still on the way. Here is what is confirmed, what is pending, and what every resident of New York County should actually read before deciding.

What CMS has confirmed for 2027

Three Part D figures are already official for 2027:

• 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 reaches that amount, you pay $0 for covered prescriptions for the rest of the year.
• Part D maximum deductible: $700 in 2027, up from $615 in 2026. This is the most a stand-alone or Medicare Advantage drug plan can charge as a deductible; many plans set theirs lower.
• Part D national base beneficiary premium: $41.33 for 2027. This is a formula input CMS uses — it is not what any specific plan charges you.

The three-phase Part D design that began in 2025 (no more coverage gap, or "donut hole") continues into 2027. And the Medicare Prescription Payment Plan — the optional program that lets you spread your drug costs across the calendar year in monthly installments instead of paying at the pharmacy counter — is still available.

What CMS has not announced yet

Two of the numbers New Yorkers ask about most are still pending:

• The 2027 Part B standard premium and deductible. CMS normally publishes these in the fall, often in November.
• The 2027 IRMAA income brackets and surcharges, which are the higher Part B and Part D amounts paid by beneficiaries with higher incomes. These are released alongside the Part B figures. For reference, in 2026 IRMAA begins above $109,000 in income for a single filer.

Until CMS posts them officially, we won't publish projections, and we'd gently suggest ignoring anyone who does. These are the kinds of numbers worth getting from the source.

The one letter every enrollee should actually open

If you are already in a Medicare Advantage or stand-alone Part D plan, your insurer mailed (or emailed) you an Annual Notice of Change by the end of September. The ANOC is a plain comparison between what your plan looks like in 2026 and what it will look like in 2027 — premium, deductible, drug tier placements, provider network notes, extra benefits, and prior authorization rules.

It is the only document that tells you precisely what is changing on your plan. We can't do that here, and neither can any article that doesn't have your plan ID in front of it.

If you do nothing during AEP, your current plan simply renews on January 1, 2027 — assuming it is still offered — with the changes described in the ANOC. Nothing is cancelled automatically for inaction.

How plan availability is shifting locally

New York City sits across five counties; plan availability in Medicare is set at the county level. In New York County, CMS's 2026 Landscape file lists 75 Medicare Advantage plans from 16 carriers, including HMO, HMO-POS and PPO options, and a large share — 40 of the 75 — are Special Needs Plans designed for people who have both Medicare and Medicaid, who live in a nursing facility, or who have certain chronic conditions. Every one of those 75 plans includes drug coverage. No stand-alone Part D plans are listed in the New York County file for 2026, because the market here is served through MA-PD plans.

For 2027 in New York County, our tracking of the CMS plan files shows some movement: 20 plans are not returning, 6 are new, and 2 are being renamed. If one of the non-returning plans is yours, your insurer is required to send a non-renewal notice, and you get a Special Enrollment Period to choose something else — you are not stuck.

The table below lists every plan available in the county, grouped by carrier. Carriers active locally include Aetna (CVS Health), Blue Cross Blue Shield (HCSC), Centene (WellCare), Elderplan, ElderServe Health, Elevance Health (Anthem), EmblemHealth, Hamaspik, Healthfirst Medicare Plan, Humana, Longevity Health Plan, MetroPlus Health Plan, Senior Whole Health of New York, UnitedHealthcare, VillageCareMAX, and VNS Health Medicare.

How to decide, step by step

A reasonable order of operations for an NYC resident this fall:

1. Open the ANOC for your current plan and mark anything that changed — especially your drugs' tier placements and any new prior authorization requirements. 2. Make a current list of your prescriptions, your doctors, and the hospitals you want to keep. This is what you'll plug into Medicare's Plan Finder. 3. Compare on medicare.gov's Plan Finder. It uses your real drug list and ZIP code to estimate your total yearly cost under each available plan, which is a far more useful number than premium alone. 4. Wait for the Part B and IRMAA announcements if your decision depends on them — you still have until December 7. 5. Call for help if you need it. New York's SHIP program (called HIICAP here) offers free, unbiased, one-on-one counseling.

If you miss the December 7 deadline and you're on a Medicare Advantage plan, you still have the Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period from January 1 through March 31, 2027, which lets you make one change — switch to a different MA plan or return to Original Medicare (with a Part D plan).