Medicare Advantage

Kaiser Permanente Medicare Advantage in California for 2027: 48 Plans, County by County

SACRAMENTO — For the 2027 plan year, Kaiser Permanente will offer 48 Medicare Advantage plans across California, according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Medicare Advantage Landscape Source File. Every one of those plans is structured as an HMO, and every one includes prescription drug coverage. Seventeen of them are Dual Eligible Special Needs Plans (D-SNPs), designed for people who qualify for both Medicare and Medi-Cal.

This explainer is published by an independent Medicare education site. We are not the government, not affiliated with Medicare, and not Kaiser Permanente. The numbers below come from the CMS Landscape files for CY2026 and CY2027. Plan details — what a plan costs, which doctors are in-network, which drugs are covered, and how it is rated — are not in this article and should be checked on the Medicare Plan Finder at medicare.gov, by calling 1-800-MEDICARE, or in the plan's own Evidence of Coverage and provider and pharmacy directories.

What Kaiser Permanente offers statewide for 2027

CMS groups the carrier as Kaiser Permanente. In California for 2027, the Landscape file shows:

• 48 total Medicare Advantage plans, all HMOs.
• 48 plans with Part D drug coverage included.
• 17 D-SNPs, 0 C-SNPs, and 0 I-SNPs.
• 0 plans new for 2027, and 0 plans not returning from 2026.

For context, CMS lists 35 other Medicare Advantage carriers operating somewhere in California for 2027, and 394 Medicare Advantage plans statewide across all carriers combined. Kaiser Permanente is one slice of that larger map.

The 48-plan list falls into two broad groups. The "Senior Advantage" and "Sr Adv" plans are general-market HMOs tied to specific regions — Alameda, Fresno, Kern, Marin, San Mateo, San Francisco, San Joaquin, Solano, Stanislaus, Contra Costa, Santa Clara, Sacramento, Sonoma, the Inland Empire, Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego, Santa Cruz, and Ventura, among others. The "Dual Complete North" and "Dual Complete South" plans are the D-SNPs, numbered P1 through P25 across the state. The full breakdown appears in the plan tables on this page.

Plans with the widest county reach

A handful of Kaiser Permanente plans show up in more counties than the others, based on the CMS county-by-county file:

• Kaiser Permanente Sr Adv Enhanced Sac., Sonoma (HMO) — 8 counties.
• Kaiser Permanente Sr Advantage Basic Sac., Sonoma (HMO) — 8 counties.
• Kaiser Permanente Senior Advantage Basic Fresno (HMO) — 5 counties.
• Kaiser Permanente Senior Advantage Enhanced Fresno (HMO) — 5 counties.
• Kaiser Permanente Dual Complete North P18 (HMO D-SNP) — 5 counties.
• Kaiser Permanente Dual Complete North P25 (HMO D-SNP) — 4 counties.

Most of the remaining plans are offered in one, two, or three counties. "Widest reach" is not the same as "right for you" — a plan available in eight counties still has to serve your specific county, your specific doctors, and your specific medications.

What is new or not returning

For 2027, the Kaiser Permanente line of plans in California shows 0 new plans and 0 plans leaving the market, according to the year-over-year comparison in the CMS Landscape Source Files. In practical terms, the Kaiser Permanente lineup you may have seen in 2026 is carrying forward in structure. That does not mean every detail inside a plan is identical to last year — benefits, cost shares, drug formularies, and provider directories can change from one plan year to the next. The Annual Notice of Change (ANOC) that current members receive each fall is the document that spells out what, if anything, is different for 2027.

Checking whether a plan is offered in your county — and covers your doctors and prescriptions

Because Medicare Advantage is sold county by county, a plan on the statewide list may not be offered where you live. Three steps to check:

1. Go to medicare.gov/plan-compare and enter your ZIP code. The Plan Finder will show only the plans available in your county. 2. Open each plan's provider directory to confirm the specific doctors, clinics, and hospitals you use. HMO plans typically require you to use in-network providers except in emergencies. 3. Open each plan's drug formulary and enter the prescriptions you take, at the doses you take, to see how each one is covered.

If any of those three things does not line up — your county, your providers, or your prescriptions — that is the signal to keep looking.

What to do before December 7

The Annual Enrollment Period runs from October 15 through December 7, 2026. A plan you choose during that window takes effect January 1, 2027. A simple checklist:

• Read the ANOC from your current plan if you have one.
• Make a short list of your doctors, hospitals, and prescriptions.
• Use the Plan Finder on medicare.gov to compare the plans actually offered in your county.
• Confirm anything that matters to you — cost, coverage rules, networks — directly in the plan's Evidence of Coverage.
• If you have both Medicare and Medi-Cal, note that D-SNPs like Kaiser Permanente's Dual Complete North and South plans are built specifically for that situation.

December 7, 2026 is a date, not a pressure point. If you need more time to read, take it; just make the decision before the window closes.

Where to get free help

Two no-cost resources are open to everyone:

• medicare.gov — the official site, with the Plan Finder, formulary lookups, and plan documents.
• 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227) — available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, including TTY service at 1-877-486-2048.