Medicare Advantage

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona's 2027 Medicare plans in Phoenix, plan by plan

Phoenix — Fall 2026. If you have a Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona Medicare Advantage plan in Phoenix, or you are weighing one for next year, the 2027 lineup is now set. The Annual Enrollment Period runs October 15 through December 7, 2026, and any choice you make takes effect January 1, 2027. If you do nothing, your current plan simply renews next year with whatever changes are spelled out in its Annual Notice of Change (ANOC).

MyMedicarePlans.org is an independent consumer news site and is not Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona. This article walks through what the carrier is offering in Maricopa County — the county Phoenix sits in — for the 2027 plan year, so you can line it up against your own doctors and prescriptions before the deadline.

What Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona offers in Phoenix for 2027

For the 2027 plan year, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona is offering four Medicare Advantage plans in Maricopa County. All four are HMOs, and all four include Part D prescription drug coverage. One is a Dual Eligible Special Needs Plan (D-SNP) designed for people who qualify for both Medicare and Medicaid.

The table below lists every plan, in alphabetical order:

• Blue Best Life Classic (HMO)
• Blue Best Life Plus (HMO)
• Blue Best Life Select (HMO) — new for 2027
• Health Choice Pathway (HMO D-SNP)

We're not listing premiums, copays, networks or star ratings here, because those are the pieces that depend on you — the specialist you see, the pharmacy you use, the drugs you take. Those details live in each plan's Summary of Benefits and Evidence of Coverage on medicare.gov.

What's new, what's not returning

Year-over-year, the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona lineup in Maricopa County is largely steady for 2027:

• New for 2027: 1 plan (Blue Best Life Select, an HMO with drug coverage).
• Not returning for 2027: 0 plans.
• Renamed: 0 plans.

Even when a plan name stays the same, benefits can shift from one year to the next — copays, drug tiers, extra benefits, and the provider network can all change. That is what the ANOC your plan mailed (or posted online) in late September is for. If you have not opened yours yet, that is the single most useful document to read before December 7.

How this fits into the broader Phoenix market

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona is one of 16 carriers offering Medicare Advantage plans in Maricopa County for 2027. Taken together, those carriers offer 92 Medicare Advantage plans countywide. So if a BCBS Arizona plan isn't the right fit, there is a wide field to compare against on medicare.gov.

A couple of plain-English reminders on plan types:

• HMO plans generally ask you to use the plan's network and pick a primary care doctor who coordinates referrals.
• D-SNP plans (like Health Choice Pathway here) are only for people who have both Medicare and Medicaid, and they coordinate those two sets of benefits.

Program-level numbers to know for 2027

A few figures CMS has already published for 2027 that apply no matter which plan you choose:

• Part D out-of-pocket cap: $2,400 in 2027 (up from $2,100 in 2026).
• Part D maximum deductible: $700 in 2027 (up from $615 in 2026).
• Part D national base beneficiary premium: $41.33 for 2027. This is a formula input CMS uses — it is not what any particular plan charges.
• The coverage gap (the old "donut hole") remains eliminated; Part D has three phases.
• The Medicare Prescription Payment Plan is still available if you want to spread out-of-pocket drug costs across the year in level monthly amounts.

The 2027 Part B standard premium and deductible, and the 2027 IRMAA income brackets for higher earners, have not been announced yet. CMS typically publishes those figures later in the fall, usually in November. We'd rather point you to the real number than guess at it.

How to check a BCBS Arizona plan against your doctors and drugs

Before you enroll — or stay put — in any plan, including the four above, run through this checklist:

1. Pull up medicare.gov's Plan Finder. Type in your ZIP code and your prescriptions. The tool will show each plan's estimated yearly drug cost at your pharmacy, and whether each drug is covered. 2. Check the provider directory. Make sure your primary care doctor, specialists and preferred hospital are in-network for the specific plan you're considering — not just "with Blue Cross." Networks differ plan by plan. 3. Check your pharmacy. Preferred vs. standard pharmacies can change your out-of-pocket costs. 4. Read the ANOC for the plan you have now. It flags every change for 2027 in one place. 5. Call 1-800-MEDICARE (24/7) if you want a neutral walk-through, or call the plan directly with benefit questions.

The deadline to make a change for 2027 coverage is December 7, 2026. If you are already in a Medicare Advantage plan on January 1, you also get a second window — the Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period, January 1 through March 31, 2027 — to switch to a different MA plan or go back to Original Medicare.