Medicare Advantage

Star Ratings Explained: What Anchorage Should Know This Fall

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Every fall, before the Medicare Annual Enrollment Period opens on October 15, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) publishes updated Star Ratings for Medicare Advantage and Part D plans. The 2027 ratings are meant to give people a plain, government-issued look at how plans have performed on care and service — not a shopping leaderboard. If you live in Anchorage and you're weighing your options this season, it helps to understand what the stars actually measure before you let a number do your thinking for you.

What Star Ratings actually measure

Star Ratings are CMS's yearly quality snapshot. Medicare Advantage plans that include drug coverage are scored on roughly 40 measures; standalone Part D plans are scored on about a dozen. The measures fall into broad buckets:

• Staying healthy: screenings, tests, and vaccines members received.
• Managing chronic conditions: how well plans support people with diabetes, heart disease, and similar conditions.
• Member experience: survey results about getting appointments, care, and information.
• Member complaints and plan performance: how often people leave the plan, complaints filed, and problems getting care.
• Customer service: call center performance, appeals handling, and timely decisions.

Plans get an overall score from 1 to 5 stars, in half-star increments. Five stars is "excellent"; three stars is "average." The rating is about how the plan operated, not how cheap it is.

How and when the ratings are published

CMS releases the Star Ratings on Medicare.gov in October, right before Annual Enrollment begins. That timing is deliberate — the ratings are meant to be visible while you're comparing plans for 2027. You can look them up on the Medicare Plan Finder at medicare.gov/plan-compare, where each plan listing shows its current star score.

One quirk worth knowing: plans that earn 5 stars qualify for a special enrollment period that lets someone switch into them once between December 8 and November 30 of the following year. That's a program rule, not a recommendation to chase a specific plan.

Why the ratings are not a ranking

It's tempting to read Star Ratings as a "best-to-worst" list. They aren't. Two plans with the same star score can cover very different drugs, use different provider networks, and handle out-of-pocket costs differently. A higher-rated plan isn't automatically the right fit if your doctor isn't in its network or your prescriptions aren't on its formulary.

CMS publishes the ratings so you can factor quality into your decision — alongside coverage, cost, and access. MyMedicarePlans.org does not rank or recommend plans, and neither does CMS.

What's changing in 2027 that also matters

While you're looking at stars, keep the bigger 2027 picture in mind:

• Part D has a $2,100 out-of-pocket cap on covered drugs.
• The Part D maximum deductible is $615 in 2026 and $700 in 2027.
• The old coverage gap ("donut hole") is gone as of 2025 — Part D now has three phases.
• The Medicare Prescription Payment Plan lets you spread drug costs into monthly installments if you opt in.
• IRMAA income surcharges start above $109,000 for single filers in 2026.

These are program-wide rules, not plan features, so they apply no matter which plan you choose.

Anchorage-area context

Anchorage is in Anchorage Municipality, and plan availability is set at that county level. That means the list of Medicare Advantage and Part D plans you'll see on Medicare.gov — and the Star Ratings attached to them — is specific to the Municipality, not just the city. If you're helping a parent in another Alaska borough, their options and ratings may look different.

How to use the ratings without letting them decide for you

A practical approach for the October 15 – December 7 window:

1. Start on medicare.gov and enter your ZIP code and prescriptions. 2. Look at each plan's star score as one signal — especially the customer service and member experience measures. 3. Check whether your doctors, hospitals, and pharmacies are in-network. 4. Confirm your drugs are on the formulary and see what tier they fall into. 5. If something is unclear, call 1-800-MEDICARE (TTY 1-877-486-2048) or your local State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP). In Alaska, that's the Alaska Medicare Information Office.