Medicare Advantage

Medicare and Medi-Cal in Long Beach: the 2027 Dual Special Needs Plans

For 2027, Long Beach is looking at 124 Medicare Advantage plans: 26 new, 23 gone since 2026, and 61 still here but changed on premium, deductible, plan type or name, 23 of them under a new name. Below, how the lineup shifted in Los Angeles County and what to compare, with no plan ranked or recommended.

LONG BEACH, Calif. — If you have both Medicare and Medi-Cal, you have a specific kind of plan built for you: a Dual Special Needs Plan, or D-SNP. For 2027, Los Angeles County — the county Long Beach sits in — will have eight D-SNPs from seven carriers, according to the CMS Medicare Advantage Landscape file. That lineup, plus a few rule changes worth knowing, is what this guide walks through as the Annual Enrollment Period (Oct. 15 – Dec. 7, 2026) gets underway.

What a D-SNP is, in plain words

A Dual Special Needs Plan is a type of Medicare Advantage plan built for people who have both Medicare and Medicaid (called Medi-Cal in California). It covers your Medicare benefits — hospital, medical and usually prescription drugs — and is designed to work alongside the help Medi-Cal provides. The idea is one plan, one card and more coordination between your doctors, your pharmacist and the people helping with services Medi-Cal pays for.

D-SNPs are not the only Special Needs Plans in the county. Los Angeles County also has C-SNPs (for people with certain chronic conditions, 41 of them for 2027) and I-SNPs (for people who live in a nursing home or need that level of care, 5 for 2027). This article is about the D-SNPs.

The 8 D-SNPs available in Los Angeles County for 2027

The table on this page lists every Medicare Advantage plan sold in the county, including each D-SNP. Here are the D-SNPs for 2027, in alphabetical order by carrier:

• Blue Shield Medicare + Medi-Cal Plan (HMO D-SNP) — Blue Shield of California (renamed; was Blue Shield TotalDual Plan)
• Wellcare Health Net Dual Align (HMO D-SNP) — Centene (WellCare) (new for 2027)
• Anthem Full Dual Advantage Aligned (HMO D-SNP) — Elevance Health (Anthem)
• Kaiser Permanente Dual Complete South P9 (HMO D-SNP) — Kaiser Permanente
• L.A. Care Medicare Plus (HMO D-SNP) — L.A. Care Health Plan
• Molina Medicare Complete Care Plus (HMO D-SNP) — Molina Healthcare of California
• SCAN Connections (HMO D-SNP) — SCAN Health Plan
• SCAN Connections at Home (HMO D-SNP) — SCAN Health Plan

All eight include prescription drug coverage. For costs, networks, drug lists and extra benefits, use the Medicare Plan Finder at medicare.gov, call 1-800-MEDICARE, or read the plan's own Evidence of Coverage. Those details vary by plan and by person, so there is no shortcut around checking your own situation.

Who qualifies: full vs. partial dual eligibility

To join a D-SNP you need to have Medicare (Part A and Part B) and some level of Medi-Cal. California's Medi-Cal program decides which category you fall into. The two broad groups are:

• Full dual eligible: you qualify for full Medi-Cal benefits. Medi-Cal generally pays your Medicare premiums and cost-sharing, and covers services Medicare does not, such as long-term services and supports.
• Partial dual eligible: you qualify for one of the Medicare Savings Programs (for example, QMB, SLMB or QI). Medi-Cal helps with some Medicare costs — most often the Part B premium, and in some cases Medicare copays and deductibles — but you do not get full Medi-Cal benefits.

Different D-SNPs are designed for different groups. Some are built only for full duals; others accept partial duals too. The quickest way to confirm your category is to contact your county Medi-Cal office or check your most recent Medi-Cal notice. Then call the plan or 1-800-MEDICARE to confirm it matches the D-SNP you are considering.

How often you can change plans

Most people with Medicare use the Annual Enrollment Period (Oct. 15 – Dec. 7) or the Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period (Jan. 1 – March 31) to switch. People who are dual eligible or who have Extra Help with drug costs usually have more flexibility than that.

Under current rules, if you have Medi-Cal or Extra Help you generally get a monthly opportunity to either:

• join an integrated D-SNP (one that lines up your Medicare and Medi-Cal with the same company), or
• leave a Medicare Advantage plan and go back to Original Medicare with a stand-alone drug plan.

These rules have shifted in recent years and continue to evolve, so before you act, confirm what applies to you right now by calling 1-800-MEDICARE (TTY 1-877-486-2048), 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

How to confirm your eligibility

Three steps that work in this order:

1. Check your Medi-Cal status. Look at your most recent Medi-Cal notice, log in at BenefitsCal, or contact the Los Angeles County Department of Public Social Services. They can tell you whether you have full Medi-Cal or a Medicare Savings Program, and at what level. 2. Confirm your Medicare enrollment. Sign in at medicare.gov or check your red, white and blue Medicare card to be sure Part A and Part B are both active. 3. Match it to a plan. Once you know your category, use the Plan Finder at medicare.gov or call 1-800-MEDICARE to see which D-SNPs in Los Angeles County accept your dual status, which providers are in network, and which drug lists cover your medications.

What is changing for 2027

A few things worth noting as you read your mail this fall:

• If you already have a Medicare plan, you should receive an Annual Notice of Change (ANOC) by late September 2026 explaining what is different for 2027. Read it. Across Los Angeles County, 23 plans are not returning for 2027, 26 are new, and 23 have been renamed.
• The Part D out-of-pocket cap rises to $2,400 in 2027 (from $2,100 in 2026). The Part D maximum deductible rises to $700 (from $615). These apply across Medicare drug coverage, including D-SNPs.
• The 2027 Part B standard premium and deductible and the 2027 IRMAA income brackets have not been published yet; CMS typically announces them later in the fall.
• Doing nothing is a choice: if your current plan is offered again, it renews on Jan. 1, 2027 with the changes listed in the ANOC.