Medicare Advantage

Medicare and Medicaid in California: 50 Dual Special Needs Plans for 2027

SACRAMENTO — Californians who have both Medicare and Medi-Cal will see 50 Dual Special Needs Plans (D-SNPs) available somewhere in the state for 2027, drawn from the 394 Medicare Advantage plans listed in the CMS Medicare Advantage Landscape for California. D-SNPs are one of three Special Needs Plan types in the state file; the others are Chronic Condition SNPs (77) and Institutional SNPs (8). Availability is county by county, so the plan a neighbor talks about may or may not be sold where you live.

What a D-SNP is, and who qualifies

A Dual Special Needs Plan is a type of Medicare Advantage plan built for people who are enrolled in both Medicare and Medicaid — in California, that second program is Medi-Cal. Every D-SNP on the 2027 California list is an HMO D-SNP, and every one includes Part D prescription drug coverage.

Dual eligibility comes in two broad flavors. "Full" dual eligibles qualify for the complete Medi-Cal benefit, including help with Medicare cost sharing and services Medicare does not cover, such as long-term services and supports. "Partial" dual eligibles qualify through one of the Medicare Savings Programs, which help with Medicare premiums and sometimes other cost sharing, but do not open up the full Medi-Cal benefit package. The California Department of Health Care Services — the state Medicaid agency — is the office that confirms which category a person falls into, and that confirmation is what determines D-SNP eligibility. A plan cannot override that determination.

Because D-SNPs coordinate Medicare and Medi-Cal benefits, they are only open to people who hold, or newly qualify for, both programs. If Medi-Cal eligibility ends, continued enrollment in the D-SNP is affected; this is one reason D-SNP members are asked to keep their Medi-Cal renewal paperwork current.

The statewide count and the carriers offering D-SNPs

For 2027, the CMS Landscape file lists 50 D-SNPs in California, offered by the following organizations: Alameda Alliance for Health, Alignment Health Plan, Blue Shield of California, CalOptima Health OneCare, CCHP (Chinese Community Health Plan), CenCal CareConnect, Centene (WellCare), Central California Alliance for Health, Community Health Group, Community Health Plan of Imperial Valley, Contra Costa Health Care Plus (HMO D-SNP), Elevance Health (Anthem), Gold Coast Health Plan, Health Plan of San Joaquin / Mountain Valley Health Plan Advantage D-SNP (HMO), HEALTH PLAN OF SAN MATEO, Humana, IEHP DualChoice, Kaiser Permanente, Kern Family Health Care Medicare (D-SNP), L.A. Care Health Plan, Molina Healthcare of California, San Francisco Health Plan, Santa Clara Family Health Plan, and SCAN Health Plan.

The mix includes county-organized health systems that only serve one or two counties — for example, CalOptima Health OneCare Complete in Orange County, SFHP Care Plus in San Francisco, DualConnect from Santa Clara Family Health Plan, CareAdvantage from Health Plan of San Mateo, L.A. Care Medicare Plus, Kern Family Health Care Medicare, IEHP DualChoice in the Inland Empire, Gold Coast Health Plan Total Care Advantage in Ventura County, and CenCal CareConnect on the Central Coast — as well as multi-county and statewide carriers such as Kaiser Permanente (which lists 17 regionally numbered D-SNPs), Elevance Health (Anthem), Centene (WellCare), Molina Healthcare of California, Humana, Alignment Health Plan, Blue Shield of California, and SCAN Health Plan. A few plans are new for the coming year, including two Wellcare Health Net Dual Align entries from Centene, and several others were renamed from their 2026 titles. The full list, with county counts, appears in the tables on this page.

How often a dual-eligible person can change plans

Dual-eligible Californians have more flexibility than the typical Medicare beneficiary. The Annual Enrollment Period runs October 15 – December 7, 2026, and a choice made during that window takes effect January 1, 2027. In addition, people who have both Medicare and full Medi-Cal, and people enrolled in a Medicare Savings Program, generally have a Special Enrollment Period that lets them make one plan change per calendar quarter during the first three quarters of the year. There is also an Open Enrollment Period from January 1 through March 31 each year that allows a one-time switch among Medicare Advantage plans.

Rules can change, and the specific SEP that applies depends on a person's eligibility category. The current CMS enrollment-period rules are posted at Medicare.gov.

Checking a plan in your county

The statewide list of 50 D-SNPs is not the list for any one county. Each plan is sold in a specific set of counties — some in a single county, some in nine. For example, within the Centene (WellCare) lineup, Wellcare Health Net Dual Align is offered in 9 counties under one contract and 1 county under another, while Wellcare Health Net Dual Liberty is offered in 8 counties. The HPSJ/MVHP Advantage D-SNP (HMO D-SNP) is listed in 4 counties, and several Elevance Health (Anthem) Full Dual Advantage Aligned entries show county counts of 8, 7 and 1.

To see what applies at your address:

• Go to Medicare.gov and use the Medicare Plan Finder with your ZIP code.
• Call 1-800-MEDICARE (TTY 1-877-486-2048), available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
• Ask the plan directly for its Evidence of Coverage, Summary of Benefits and provider and pharmacy directories.

These are the sources that carry premiums, cost sharing, drug lists, provider networks and star ratings. This article does not.

Free help

Help with Medicare and Medi-Cal questions is free. Medicare.gov offers plan comparisons, enrollment-period rules and plan documents. 1-800-MEDICARE can walk through eligibility, enrollment windows and the plans listed in your county. For Medi-Cal eligibility specifically, the California Department of Health Care Services and local county social services offices make the determination that a D-SNP relies on.