Medicare 2026

San Antonio Medicare: your window to change 2027 coverage opens Oct. 15

SAN ANTONIO — Starting October 15, 2026, people with Medicare in San Antonio can change how they get their coverage for next year. The window closes December 7, 2026, and any switch made during it takes effect January 1, 2027.

This is the Annual Enrollment Period, the one stretch each fall when almost anyone with Medicare can rework their plan without needing a special reason. If you do nothing, nothing breaks: your current plan simply rolls into 2027 if it is offered again, with whatever adjustments are spelled out in the Annual Notice of Change (ANOC) your plan mails or emails you in September.

Here is what San Antonio residents can actually change during the window, when the new coverage kicks in, and where to get free local help.

What you can actually change between Oct. 15 and Dec. 7

During the Annual Enrollment Period, a person with Medicare can:

• Join a Medicare Advantage plan (with or without drug coverage) for the first time.
• Switch from one Medicare Advantage plan to another.
• Drop a Medicare Advantage plan and go back to Original Medicare (Parts A and B).
• Join a stand-alone Part D drug plan, switch to a different one, or drop drug coverage.

San Antonio is in Bexar County, where CMS lists 100 Medicare Advantage plans from 15 carriers for the 2026 plan year. The table below lists every plan offered locally so you can see the full lineup — carriers include Aetna, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Humana, UnitedHealthcare and others. For 2027, 28 plans are not returning in the area, 26 are new, and 11 have been renamed. Your ANOC will tell you if your specific plan is one of them.

One thing to know: this window is not the time to buy or switch a Medigap (Medicare Supplement) policy. Medigap has its own rules, and in most cases you need to pass medical underwriting outside your first six months on Part B.

When new coverage starts

Any change you make between October 15 and December 7, 2026 starts on 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 old one.

If you change your mind after January 1, there is a second, narrower window called the Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period, which runs January 1 – March 31, 2027. During that window, people already in a Medicare Advantage plan can switch once to another Medicare Advantage plan or drop back to Original Medicare (and add a stand-alone Part D plan).

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

A few 2027 numbers are already set by CMS:

• The Part D out-of-pocket cap rises to $2,400 in 2027 (up from $2,100 in 2026).
• The Part D maximum deductible rises to $700 in 2027 (up from $615 in 2026).
• The Part D national base beneficiary premium for 2027 is $41.33. This is a formula input used in Part D pricing — it is not what any particular plan charges.

Other 2027 figures have not been announced yet. CMS usually publishes the standard Part B premium and deductible, along with the IRMAA income brackets and surcharges, later in the fall (typically November). We will update our coverage when those numbers are released; for 2026, IRMAA surcharges start above $109,000 in income for a single filer.

Also worth remembering: the Part D "donut hole" coverage gap was eliminated starting in 2025, so Part D now has three phases instead of four. And the Medicare Prescription Payment Plan — an optional program that spreads your drug costs into even monthly bills across the year — is still available in 2027.

Read your Annual Notice of Change first

Before you compare anything, pull out your plan's ANOC. It arrives from your current plan by late September and spells out what is changing for 2027: premium, deductible, drug tiers, provider network, extra benefits like dental or over-the-counter cards. If nothing material is changing and your doctors and medications are still covered, staying put is a perfectly valid choice.

If something is changing — or if your plan is one of the 28 in Bexar County not returning in 2027 — you will want to compare plans at medicare.gov/plan-compare before December 7.

Free local help in San Antonio

You do not have to figure this out alone, and you do not have to call a sales line. Two no-cost, unbiased sources:

• Texas HICAP (the State Health Insurance Assistance Program, or SHIP, for Texas). Trained counselors sit down with you (in person or by phone), look at your drug list and doctors, and walk through the plans without selling anything. In Texas, the program is run by the Texas Health and Human Services Commission; reach it at 1-800-252-9240.
• 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227). Open 24/7. Medicare's own representatives can help you enroll, disenroll, or confirm what you are in now.
• Medicare.gov Plan Finder. The official tool for comparing Medicare Advantage and Part D plans side by side with your prescriptions entered.

Local libraries and senior centers in San Antonio often host enrollment events during October and November — call ahead to confirm dates.