Medicare Advantage

Mesa's 2027 Medicare Advantage menu: 16 carriers, 79 plans, sorted by type

People in Mesa can choose from 92 Medicare Advantage plans for 2027, against 88 this year. 13 of this year’s plans are gone, 17 are new to Maricopa County, and 33 that continue have changed their premium, deductible, plan type or name, 13 of them under a new name.

Medicare AdvantageMesa, AZ

Mesa sits inside Maricopa County, and for the 2027 plan year the county's Medicare Advantage menu is one of the larger ones in the country. Sixteen carriers are offering 79 Medicare Advantage plans here, and every single one of them includes prescription drug coverage. If you live in Mesa and you're weighing your options for 2027, this piece walks through who is selling what, and how to read the list without getting lost.

The full lineup — every plan, its type, and whether it includes drug coverage — is in the table below. This story is meant to help you make sense of it.

What's on the menu in Mesa for 2027

Medicare Advantage availability is set at the county level, not the city level. So when we say Mesa has 88 plans, we really mean Maricopa County has 88 plans, and Mesa residents can shop from all of them.

Here's the carrier-by-carrier breakdown for 2027, in alphabetical order:

• Aetna (CVS Health): 9 plans (HMO, PPO; 1 Special Needs)
• Alignment Health Plan: 5 plans (HMO; 3 Special Needs)
• Banner Medicare Advantage: 3 plans (HMO; 2 Special Needs)
• Blue Cross Blue Shield (HCSC): 6 plans (HMO, PPO; 1 Special Needs)
• Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona: 3 plans (HMO; 1 Special Needs)
• Centene (WellCare): 6 plans (HMO; 3 Special Needs)
• Devoted Health: 10 plans (HMO, PPO; 3 Special Needs)
• Elevance Health (Anthem): 5 plans (HMO, HMO-POS; 4 Special Needs)
• eternalHealth: 4 plans (HMO, HMO-POS)
• Gold Kidney Health Plan: 3 plans (HMO-POS; 3 Special Needs)
• Humana: 14 plans (HMO, PPO; 2 Special Needs)
• Mercy Care Advantage: 3 plans (HMO; 3 Special Needs)
• Molina Healthcare of Arizona: 1 plan (HMO; 1 Special Needs)
• SCAN Health Plan: 6 plans (HMO, HMO-POS; 4 Special Needs)
• UnitedHealthcare: 8 plans (HMO-POS, PPO; 4 Special Needs)
• Verda Health Plan of Arizona: 2 plans (HMO; 1 Special Needs)

The table below lists every plan by name, its plan type, and confirms drug coverage. This is county-level availability drawn from the CMS Medicare Advantage Landscape Source File for 2027.

How to read the plan types

You'll see three main letters after each plan name — HMO, HMO-POS, and PPO — plus a few extra tags like C-SNP, D-SNP, and I-SNP. Here's the plain-English version:

• HMO (Health Maintenance Organization). You generally pick a primary care doctor and stay in the plan's network. Out-of-network care isn't usually covered except in emergencies. Mesa has 55 of these.
• HMO-POS (Point of Service). An HMO with a limited option to go out of network for certain services, often at a higher cost. Mesa has 16.
• PPO (Preferred Provider Organization). More flexibility to see out-of-network doctors, though usually for a higher share of the bill. Mesa has 17.
• SNP (Special Needs Plan). Built for a specific group: C-SNPs for people with certain chronic conditions like diabetes or heart failure, D-SNPs for people who have both Medicare and Medicaid, and I-SNPs for people living in a nursing home or needing that level of care. Mesa has 36 SNPs across carriers.

If you don't qualify for a Special Needs Plan, you can ignore those and focus on the general HMO, HMO-POS, and PPO options.

Drug coverage is built in — but the details matter

Every one of the 79 Medicare Advantage plans in Maricopa County for 2027 includes Part D prescription drug coverage. That's why Medicare shorthand often calls them "MA-PD" plans. It also means, for most people in Mesa, there's no need to buy a separate stand-alone Part D plan on top.

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

• The out-of-pocket cap on covered Part D drugs is $2,100. Once you hit it, you pay nothing more for covered drugs the rest of the year.
• The maximum Part D deductible any plan can charge is $615. Individual plans may charge less.
• The old coverage gap ("donut hole") is gone as of 2025. Part D now has three phases: deductible, initial coverage, and catastrophic.
• The Medicare Prescription Payment Plan lets you spread your drug costs across the year in monthly payments instead of paying big amounts at the pharmacy counter. It's optional and free to opt into.

Because each plan has its own formulary — the list of drugs it covers and how — always check that your specific medications are covered before you enroll.

How to narrow 88 plans down

Eighty-eight is a lot to look at. A few steps that tend to help:

1. Start with your doctors and hospitals. Look up the ones you use and see which plan networks include them. This alone can cut the list dramatically. 2. Add your prescriptions. Type each drug into the Medicare.gov Plan Finder — it'll show you how each plan covers it and estimate your yearly drug costs. 3. Think about how you use care. If you travel or want the option to see specialists without a referral, a PPO may fit better than an HMO. If you're happy with a set network, an HMO may be simpler. 4. Check for a Special Needs Plan if you qualify. If you have Medicaid, or a qualifying chronic condition, an SNP is worth a look. 5. Read the plan's own documents. The Summary of Benefits and the Evidence of Coverage are where premiums, copays, and rules live.

Key dates for 2027 coverage

• October 15 – December 7, 2026: Annual Enrollment Period. This is when most people pick or change their Medicare Advantage or Part D plan for 2027.
• January 1 – March 31, 2027: Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period. If you're already in a Medicare Advantage plan, you can switch to a different one or drop back to Original Medicare during this window.

Higher-income folks should also know about IRMAA — an income-based surcharge on Part B and Part D premiums. For 2026, it begins above $109,000 in income for a single filer.