Medicare Advantage

How Medicare plan choices around Gilbert compare across the wider Phoenix metro

Maricopa County has 92 Medicare Advantage plans for 2027. Compared with 2026, 13 plans are not coming back, 17 are new, and 33 continuing plans changed in some way you should check before December 7, 13 of them under a new name. This guide covers what those numbers mean for Gilbert, not which plan to pick.

Gilbert sits inside one of the largest Medicare markets in the country, and the number of plan choices available to a 66-year-old here is shaped less by the town line and more by the county map around it. If you live in Gilbert and you've been wondering how your options compare with what a neighbor a few miles away in Chandler, Mesa or Tempe can pick from, the short answer is: for most of the East Valley, you're all shopping from the same shelf.

That's because Medicare Advantage and Part D plans are approved and sold at the county level. Gilbert is in Maricopa County, so the plan lineup available to Gilbert residents is the same lineup available across the rest of the metro's Maricopa side — from Phoenix and Scottsdale down through Chandler and Mesa. Cross into Pinal County to the south (think San Tan Valley or Florence) and the menu can look different, even if the drive is only 20 minutes.

Why your ZIP code matters more than your city name

Medicare doesn't think in city limits. When you type your ZIP code into the Plan Finder at medicare.gov, the tool looks up your county and pulls the plans approved to be sold there. Two houses on opposite sides of a county line can see two different menus, even if they share a school district or a grocery store.

For Gilbert, almost every address falls inside Maricopa County. That puts Gilbert residents in the same plan pool as people in Phoenix, Scottsdale, Glendale, Mesa, Chandler, Tempe, Peoria and Surprise. If a friend in Mesa tells you about a plan they're considering, odds are you can look at that same plan too.

The Maricopa County snapshot for 2027

Here's what the shelf looks like for anyone shopping from a Gilbert address for 2027:

• 88 Medicare Advantage plans available in Maricopa County
• 16 carriers offering Medicare Advantage plans that include drug coverage (MA-PD)
• A population of about 742,814 residents age 65 and older across the county

That's a lot of choices — more than most parts of the country. It also means comparing them side by side takes some time. The Plan Finder lets you narrow the list by the doctors you want to keep, the drugs you take and the pharmacies you use.

One note on stand-alone Part D drug plans: those are approved by region, not county, so the count you might see labeled "0" at the county level isn't the full picture. Stand-alone Part D plans are sold across Arizona; you'll see them when you run your ZIP code through medicare.gov.

How nearby areas can look different

Step outside Maricopa County and the plan list changes. Residents of Pinal County — home to Queen Creek's southern edge, San Tan Valley, Casa Grande and Florence — shop from a Pinal County menu, with a different number of plans and, sometimes, different carriers.

That's worth knowing if you're planning a move within the metro, or if you split time between two homes. A plan that works at your Gilbert address may not be sold at a second home an hour south, and the network of in-network doctors and hospitals can shift too.

What's the same everywhere in 2027

Some things don't change from county to county because they're set by federal law:

• The Part D out-of-pocket cap is $2,100 in 2026 and $2,400 in 2027. Once your covered drug spending hits that number, you pay nothing more for covered Part D drugs the rest of the year.
• The maximum Part D deductible a plan can charge is $615.
• 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 available if you'd like to spread your drug costs out in level monthly payments instead of paying at the pharmacy counter.
• IRMAA — the income-related surcharge on Part B and Part D — begins above $109,000 in income for a single filer in 2026.

Dates to put on the fridge

• Oct. 15 – Dec. 7: Annual Enrollment Period. You can join, switch or drop a Medicare Advantage or Part D plan. Changes take effect Jan. 1.
• Jan. 1 – March 31: Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment. If you're already in a Medicare Advantage plan, you get one chance to switch to another Advantage plan or return to Original Medicare (and pick up a Part D plan).

Where to get help that isn't a sales pitch

If you want unbiased, personalized help sorting through what's available at your Gilbert address, three places are worth bookmarking:

• medicare.gov — the official Plan Finder, with your real drug list and pharmacies.
• 1-800-MEDICARE — 24/7, free.
• Arizona SHIP (State Health Insurance Assistance Program) — free one-on-one counseling from trained volunteers who don't sell plans. In Arizona this is run through the state's Department of Economic Security.