Medicare 2026

Part D Cap Hits $2,400 in 2027: What El Paso Should Know

EL PASO — Fall 2026 is when Medicare's moving pieces for next year start landing on kitchen tables across El Paso. Some 2027 numbers are already locked in by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). Others — including the Part B premium most people pay every month — are still to come. Here is what a reader on this side of the Franklin Mountains can act on now, and what to wait for before making a final call during the Annual Enrollment Period.

What CMS has already confirmed for 2027

Three Part D figures are set in writing 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 cap, you pay $0 for covered prescriptions the rest of the year.
• Part D maximum deductible: $700 in 2027, up from $615 in 2026. This is the most a stand-alone Part D plan or the drug side of a Medicare Advantage plan can charge before coverage kicks in; many plans set a lower deductible.
• Part D national base beneficiary premium: $41.33 for 2027. This is a formula number CMS uses behind the scenes — it is not what any specific plan charges you.

The coverage gap (the old "donut hole") was eliminated in 2025, so Part D now has three phases: deductible, initial coverage, and catastrophic. The optional Medicare Prescription Payment Plan is still available if you want to spread drug costs across the year in monthly installments instead of paying at the pharmacy counter.

What CMS has not announced yet

Two big numbers for 2027 are still pending:

• The 2027 Part B standard premium and deductible. CMS usually publishes these later in the fall, often in November.
• The 2027 IRMAA income brackets and surcharges for higher-income enrollees (for reference, 2026 IRMAA begins above $109,000 in income for a single filer). These are typically announced alongside the Part B figures.

We won't guess at those numbers, and you shouldn't trust anyone who does. When CMS posts them, they will be on medicare.gov.

Watch for your Annual Notice of Change

If you already have a Medicare Advantage or Part D plan, your insurer mails (or emails) an Annual Notice of Change (ANOC) by late September. It is the single most useful piece of paper you will see this season.

The ANOC tells you — for your specific plan — what the 2027 premium, deductible, copays, drug tiers, provider network and extra benefits will look like compared with 2026. If nothing in that letter concerns you, you do not have to do anything; your plan simply renews on January 1, 2027.

A few things worth checking line by line:

• Your regular prescriptions and their 2027 tier placement.
• Whether your primary care doctor and the El Paso-area hospitals you use are still in network.
• Any change to extra benefits like dental, vision, hearing, OTC allowances or transportation.
• The 2027 maximum out-of-pocket for medical costs.

How plan availability is moving in El Paso County

Plan availability is set by county, and El Paso is in El Paso County, where 91 Medicare Advantage plans from 12 carriers are offered in 2026, all of them with drug coverage. There are 0 stand-alone Part D plans listed in the county's 2026 landscape, which matters for anyone on Original Medicare who wants drug coverage — in that case most residents pair Original Medicare with a stand-alone Part D plan sold statewide, or move to a Medicare Advantage plan that includes drugs.

For 2027, CMS data indicates 18 plans are not returning, 16 are new, and 19 have been renamed in the county. "Renamed" does not necessarily mean redesigned — but the ANOC will tell you what, if anything, actually changed about your plan.

The carriers offering Medicare Advantage with drug coverage in El Paso County in 2026 include Aetna (CVS Health), Alignment Health Plan, Blue Cross Blue Shield (HCSC), Centene (WellCare), Devoted Health, El Paso Health Medicare Advantage, Elevance Health (Anthem), Humana, Molina Healthcare of Texas, ProCare Advantage, Provider Partners Health Plans, and UnitedHealthcare. The table below lists every plan offered in the county so you can see the full lineup rather than take anyone's word for which carriers serve the area.

How to decide this fall

A practical order of operations for an El Paso resident weighing 2027:

1. Read your ANOC when it arrives. Mark any change that affects a drug, doctor or benefit you use. 2. Make a short list of must-haves: specific doctors, specific prescriptions, whether you travel outside Texas, and whether you qualify for a Special Needs Plan (D-SNP for people with both Medicare and Medicaid, C-SNP for certain chronic conditions, I-SNP for institutional care). 3. Compare at medicare.gov/plan-compare, which lets you enter your zip code and prescriptions and see every plan available to you side by side, with 2027 details once plans load them in October. 4. Wait for the 2027 Part B and IRMAA numbers before you finalize your math if your income is near a bracket. They will be out before the December 7 deadline. 5. Enroll by December 7, 2026 if you want a change for January 1, 2027. If you stay put, your current plan renews with the changes described in the ANOC.

If you have a Medicare Advantage plan and change your mind after January 1, there is also the Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period (January 1 – March 31, 2027), when you can switch to another Advantage plan once or return to Original Medicare.