Medicare Advantage

Birmingham's 2027 Medicare Advantage plans: 8 carriers, 70 choices, side by side

Jefferson County has 70 Medicare Advantage plans for 2027. Compared with 2026, 4 plans are not coming back, 17 are new, and 20 continuing plans changed in some way you should check before December 7, 8 of them under a new name. This guide covers what those numbers mean for Birmingham, not which plan to pick.

Medicare AdvantageBirmingham, AL

Birmingham enters the 2027 plan year with a crowded Medicare Advantage shelf. According to the CMS Medicare Advantage Landscape Source File, Jefferson County — where Birmingham sits — has 70 Medicare Advantage plans available from 8 carriers. The table below lists every plan by carrier, its plan type (HMO, HMO-POS or PPO), and whether it's a Special Needs Plan.

If you live in Birmingham and you're shopping, switching or just checking that your current plan is still there, this page is meant to be your map.

What you'll see in the table

The full plan list is rendered as a table on this page. For each plan, you'll see the carrier, the plan name exactly as CMS lists it, the plan type, and a note that drug coverage is included. We are not attaching premiums, copays, deductibles, benefits or star ratings to any plan here — those details live on the Medicare Plan Finder at medicare.gov and in each plan's own documents, and they change year to year.

That's on purpose. The point of this article is availability: what is actually sold in Jefferson County for 2027, so you know your real menu before you compare specifics.

Who's selling Medicare Advantage in Jefferson County

Eight carriers offer Medicare Advantage plans in the county for 2027:

• Aetna (CVS Health): 8 plans (HMO and PPO, including 3 Special Needs Plans)
• Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama: 2 plans (PPO)
• Blue Cross Blue Shield (HCSC): 9 plans (HMO and PPO, including 3 Special Needs Plans)
• Devoted Health: 11 plans (HMO and PPO, including 6 Special Needs Plans)
• Humana: 16 plans (HMO and PPO, including 5 Special Needs Plans)
• Simpra Advantage: 3 plans (PPO, all 3 Special Needs Plans)
• UnitedHealthcare: 12 plans (HMO-POS and PPO, including 6 Special Needs Plans)
• VIVA Medicare: 4 plans (HMO, including 1 Special Needs Plan)

Some of these names may be familiar (Humana, UnitedHealthcare, VIVA Medicare, Blue Advantage), and some may be newer to Birmingham shoppers (Devoted Health, Simpra Advantage). Being on the county roster doesn't say anything about fit — it just means the plan is sold here.

HMO, HMO-POS or PPO: what the plan type means

The plan type controls how you use the plan more than the carrier name does.

• HMO plans usually require you to pick a primary care doctor and stay in the plan's network, except for emergencies.
• HMO-POS ("point of service") plans work like an HMO but let you go out of network for certain services, usually at a higher cost.
• PPO plans let you see out-of-network providers, generally with higher cost sharing than in-network care. Some PPOs in the roster are labeled "Regional PPO," which are approved to serve a multi-state region.

Of the 65 plans in Jefferson County, 28 are HMO, 9 are HMO-POS and 28 are PPO.

Special Needs Plans (SNPs): who they're for

Twenty-seven of the 65 plans are Special Needs Plans. These aren't open to everyone — you have to meet the eligibility rules. You'll see three kinds in the roster:

• D-SNP (Dual Eligible) — for people who have both Medicare and Medicaid. Examples in the roster include Aetna Medicare Dual Care (HMO D-SNP), HealthSpring TotalCare (HMO D-SNP), Humana Dual QMB Only (HMO D-SNP), UHC Dual Complete AL-Q1 (HMO-POS D-SNP) and VIVA Medicare Extra Value (HMO D-SNP).
• C-SNP (Chronic Condition) — for people with certain qualifying chronic conditions. Examples include HealthSpring Achieve (HMO C-SNP), DEVOTED C-SNP CHOICE 008 AL (PPO C-SNP) and UHC Complete Care AL-5 (HMO-POS C-SNP).
• I-SNP (Institutional) — for people who live in, or are expected to live in, a long-term care setting. Examples include Simpra Advantage Nursing Home Plan (PPO I-SNP) and UHC Nursing Home Plan EX-F001 (PPO I-SNP).

If you don't meet the SNP rules, you'd pick from one of the general (non-SNP) plans instead.

Drug coverage is built in

All 65 Medicare Advantage plans in Jefferson County include prescription drug coverage. That's why you won't see stand-alone Part D plans in this county's Medicare Advantage roster — with an MA-PD, your medical and drug coverage come from the same plan.

A few program-level Part D facts worth knowing for 2027:

• The Part D out-of-pocket cap is $2,100 in 2026 and $2,400 in 2027. Once you spend that much on covered drugs, you pay nothing for covered drugs for the rest of the year.
• The Part D maximum deductible is $615 in 2026 ($700 in 2027) (plans can set a lower one).
• The old "donut hole" coverage gap was eliminated in 2025. Part D now has three phases: deductible, initial coverage, and catastrophic.
• The Medicare Prescription Payment Plan is optional — it lets you spread your yearly drug costs into monthly payments instead of paying big amounts at the pharmacy counter.

Each plan sets its own formulary, tiers and pharmacy network, so two plans with drug coverage can look very different for the same prescription. Check the Plan Finder for your specific drugs.

Key dates for Birmingham shoppers

• Annual Enrollment Period: Oct. 15 – Dec. 7. You can join, switch or drop a Medicare Advantage plan, and changes take effect Jan. 1.
• Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment: Jan. 1 – March 31. If you're already in an MA plan on Jan. 1, you can make one change during this window — switch to another MA plan or return to Original Medicare (and add a stand-alone Part D plan if you need drug coverage).
• IRMAA (the income-related surcharge on Part B and Part D) starts above $109,000 in income for a single filer in 2026. It's based on your tax return from two years earlier.

How to compare the plans in the table

1. Start on medicare.gov/plan-finder, enter your ZIP code, and add your prescriptions and preferred pharmacy. That's the only way to see accurate 2027 costs for your situation. 2. Check whether your doctors and hospitals are in each plan's network before you enroll. 3. If you have both Medicare and Medicaid, or a qualifying chronic condition, look at the SNPs in the roster — you may have options a general shopper doesn't. 4. If you want free, unbiased one-on-one help, call Alabama SHIP (the State Health Insurance Assistance Program) or 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227), TTY 1-877-486-2048. SHIP counselors don't sell plans.