Medicare 2026

Before AEP in Charlotte: 2027 Part D caps and what's missing

Fall 2026 — If you have Medicare in Charlotte, the Annual Enrollment Period for 2027 coverage runs October 15 through December 7, 2026. Some of the numbers you need to compare plans are already public. Others — the ones tied to Part B and higher-income surcharges — are not. Here is what CMS has confirmed for 2027, what it hasn't, and how to think about your choices locally while you wait on the rest.

What CMS has confirmed for 2027

Three Part D figures are locked in for next year:

• Part D out-of-pocket cap: $2,400 in 2027 (up from $2,100 in 2026). Once your covered drug costs hit that amount, you pay $0 for covered drugs the rest of the year.
• Part D maximum deductible: $700 in 2027 (up from $615 in 2026). Plans can set a lower deductible, but no Part D plan can charge more than this.
• Part D national base beneficiary premium: $41.33 for 2027. This is a formula input CMS uses — not what any specific plan charges you.

Also worth remembering: the old "donut hole" coverage gap was eliminated starting in 2025, so Part D has three phases now (deductible, initial coverage, catastrophic). The Medicare Prescription Payment Plan is still available in 2027 — it lets you spread your drug costs across the year in monthly payments rather than paying at the pharmacy counter.

What CMS has not announced yet

Two things Charlotte readers often ask about are not out yet:

• The 2027 Part B standard premium and deductible.
• The 2027 IRMAA income brackets and surcharges (the extra amounts higher-income enrollees pay for Part B and Part D).

CMS typically publishes these in the fall, usually in November. We will not estimate them, and you should be cautious of any site that does. For reference, in 2026, IRMAA surcharges start above $109,000 in income for a single filer.

Read your Annual Notice of Change

If you are already in a Medicare Advantage or Part D plan, your carrier mailed (or will mail) an Annual Notice of Change by late September. The ANOC is the single most useful document you'll get this fall. It compares your plan's 2026 rules to its 2027 rules side by side: premium, deductible, drug tiers, provider network changes, extra benefits, and whether the plan is being renamed, consolidated, or discontinued.

If you do nothing, and your plan is offered again next year, you stay in it with the 2027 changes shown in the ANOC. That's fine for many people — but only if you've actually read it.

Charlotte's local picture

Plan availability is set at the county level. Charlotte is in Mecklenburg County, where CMS lists 94 Medicare Advantage plans from 11 carriers for 2026, and 0 stand-alone Part D plans in the county's landscape file. Of the Medicare Advantage plans, 94 include drug coverage, and 38 are Special Needs Plans designed for people with specific conditions, dual Medicaid eligibility, or who live in a nursing home.

The county's population age 65 and older is roughly 137,905, so this is a large and competitive market. The 11 carriers offering Medicare Advantage plans here for 2026 are Aetna (CVS Health), Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina, Blue Cross Blue Shield (HCSC), Centene (WellCare), Devoted Health, HealthTeam Advantage, Humana, Liberty Medicare Advantage, Longevity Health Plan, Provider Partners Health Plans, and UnitedHealthcare. The table below lists every plan.

For 2027, the lineup shifts: 19 plans are not returning, 14 are new, and 10 have been renamed. That doesn't tell you whether any single plan got better or worse — only that change exists. Your ANOC (or the new plan's Summary of Benefits) is where the specifics live.

How to use the window

A sensible order of operations in Charlotte this fall:

1. Pull out your ANOC and highlight anything that changed: premium, drug tier for your medicines, your doctors, your pharmacy. 2. List your prescriptions with doses and your preferred pharmacy — you'll need this to compare drug coverage. 3. Use the Plan Finder at medicare.gov to compare 2027 plans side by side in ZIP 28202, 28211, 28270 — whichever is yours. 4. If you want free, unbiased help, call North Carolina's SHIP program (SHIIP) at 1-855-408-1212. They don't sell anything. 5. Make any change by December 7, 2026. It takes effect January 1, 2027.

If you enroll in a Medicare Advantage plan and change your mind, the Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period (January 1 – March 31, 2027) gives you one more chance to switch to another MA plan or return to Original Medicare.