Medicare Advantage

How Medicare plan choices in Daly City compare with nearby Bay Area counties

If you live in Daly City and are sizing up Medicare for 2027, it helps to know that your choices are shaped by the county line, not the city limits. Daly City sits in San Mateo County, and that is the geography Medicare uses when it decides which Medicare Advantage and Part D plans are sold where you live. Cross into San Francisco or Santa Clara County, and the menu can look different — sometimes a little, sometimes a lot.

This piece is a plain snapshot of what that looks like around the Peninsula this fall, using public plan-availability counts from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). It is not a ranking, and it is not a shopping list. It is a way to understand why a neighbor a few miles away might have a different set of options than you do.

Why the county line matters

Medicare Advantage and Part D plans are approved to be sold in specific service areas, which CMS defines by county. That is why two people who both say they live "in the Bay Area" can be looking at very different plan lists. If you move across a county line — even a short drive — your options may change, and a plan you liked may not be offered at your new address.

For Daly City residents, the county to focus on is San Mateo. If you split time between homes, or you are helping a parent in a different county, check each address separately at medicare.gov.

What the numbers look like in San Mateo County

Here is the current area-level picture for San Mateo County, which includes Daly City:

• 33 Medicare Advantage plans available for 2026
• 11 carriers offering Medicare Advantage plans that include drug coverage (MA-PD)
• 0 stand-alone Part D prescription drug plans listed in the area data
• An estimated 132,242 residents age 65 and older

A couple of quick notes on those figures. The "plans available" count is the number of distinct Medicare Advantage plans a Daly City resident could choose from, not the number of companies. And a "0" for stand-alone Part D does not mean there is no way to get drug coverage — many Medicare Advantage plans in the county include Part D built in.

How this compares with nearby counties

Because CMS sets availability county by county, the lineup shifts as you move around the Peninsula and the Bay. San Francisco County sits directly north of Daly City, Santa Clara County is to the south, and Alameda County is across the Bay. Each has its own count of Medicare Advantage plans, its own list of carriers, and its own Part D options.

We are not printing side-by-side counts for those counties here because the goal of this snapshot is to help Daly City readers understand their own area first. If you have family or a second home in one of those neighboring counties, the Plan Finder tool at medicare.gov will show the exact count and lineup for that ZIP code.

The practical point: do not assume a plan a friend in Oakland or San Jose likes is sold in Daly City, and do not assume the reverse.

Star Ratings, in plain English

CMS gives Medicare Advantage and Part D contracts a Star Rating from 1 to 5, based on things like customer service, member complaints, and how well plans manage chronic conditions. Ratings are updated each fall.

In the most recent San Mateo County ratings data, no contracts in the area were rated 4 stars or higher. That is a fact about the current ratings snapshot, not a judgment about any specific plan. Ratings can shift year to year, and they are only one input among many — the doctors and hospitals in a plan's network, the drug list, and your own health situation matter too.

Program-level facts to keep in mind for 2027

A few Medicare rules apply everywhere, no matter which county you live in:

• The Part D out-of-pocket cap is $2,100 in 2026 and $2,400 in 2027. Once your covered drug spending hits that ceiling, you pay nothing more for covered drugs the rest of the year.
• The Part D maximum deductible is $615 in 2026 and $700 in 2027.
• The old "donut hole" coverage gap was eliminated in 2025. Part D now has three phases instead of four.
• The Medicare Prescription Payment Plan is an optional program that lets you spread your Part D costs across monthly payments during the year.
• IRMAA — an income-related surcharge on Part B and Part D — begins above $109,000 in income for a single filer in 2026.

Key dates

• Annual Enrollment Period: October 15 – December 7. This is when most people can join, switch, or drop a Medicare Advantage or Part D plan.
• Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment: January 1 – March 31. If you are already in a Medicare Advantage plan, this is a second window to change to another one or return to Original Medicare.