Medicare Advantage

Your Pomona Medicare review for 2027: what to check before Dec. 7

For 2027, Pomona 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.

POMONA, Calif. — It is fall 2026, the mail is arriving, and Medicare's Annual Enrollment Period is open through Dec. 7, 2026. Any change you make in that window takes effect Jan. 1, 2027. If you do nothing, your current plan simply renews next year — with whatever changes are spelled out in the notice your insurer already sent you. That notice is the whole reason to sit down with your Medicare paperwork now.

This checklist is for Pomona residents doing a plan review for 2027. It walks through the documents to read, the details to double-check, and where to go for help.

Step 1: Read the Annual Notice of Change

Every Medicare Advantage and Part D plan mails an Annual Notice of Change (ANOC) by the end of September. It is the single most important piece of Medicare mail you get all year. It shows, side-by-side, what your plan looks like in 2026 and what it will look like in 2027.

Look for changes to the monthly premium, the deductible, the copays for primary care and specialists, the drug tier list (called the formulary), and the extra benefits like dental, vision, hearing, over-the-counter cards and transportation. Any of those can shift year to year, even if the plan name stays the same.

The longer companion document, the Evidence of Coverage (EOC), spells out the rules in detail. Keep it for reference; you do not need to read every page.

Step 2: Check your doctors and hospitals for 2027

Networks change. A doctor who is in-network in 2026 may not be in 2027, and vice versa. Before Dec. 7:

• Make a short list of the providers you actually use — primary care, specialists, and the hospital you would want to be admitted to.
• Look each one up in the plan's 2027 provider directory (on the insurer's website or by calling member services).
• If you are Kaiser, UCLA Health, or a specific medical group patient, confirm the plan still contracts with that system for 2027. In Pomona, that often means checking whether Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center and the specialists you see there remain in-network.

Do not rely on last year's directory. Ask the insurer to confirm in writing or by email if a provider's status matters to you.

Step 3: Check your prescriptions against the 2027 formulary

Formularies (the plan's drug list) are updated every year. A medication that was on a low tier in 2026 can move up in 2027, require prior authorization, or drop off altogether.

• Write down each drug, the dose, and how often you take it.
• Run it through the Medicare Plan Finder at medicare.gov, which will show your total estimated drug costs across every plan available in your ZIP code.
• Confirm your preferred pharmacy is a "preferred" pharmacy in the 2027 plan — that alone can change what you pay at the counter.

Two Part D figures are already set for 2027: the annual out-of-pocket cap on covered drugs rises to $2,400 (up from $2,100 in 2026), and the maximum plan deductible rises to $700 (up from $615 in 2026). The Medicare Prescription Payment Plan, which lets you spread drug costs into monthly installments, continues into 2027 and you can opt in through your plan.

Step 4: Know what is available in Los Angeles County

Plan availability in Medicare is set at the county level. Pomona is in Los Angeles County, where CMS lists 121 Medicare Advantage plans from 21 carriers for 2026. Carriers offering plans in the county include Aetna (CVS Health), AHF, Align Senior Care, Alignment Health Plan, Astiva Health, Blue Shield of California, Centene (WellCare), Central Health Medicare Plan, Champion Heath Plan, Clever Care Health Plan, Elevance Health (Anthem), Elite Health Plan, Inc., Humana, Imperial Health Plan of California, Inc., Kaiser Permanente, L.A. Care Health Plan, Molina Healthcare of California, SCAN Health Plan, UCLA Health Medicare Advantage Plan, UnitedHealthcare and VillageHealth. The table below lists every plan.

Forty-seven of those are Special Needs Plans (SNPs) — designed for people with specific chronic conditions (C-SNP), those who have both Medicare and Medi-Cal (D-SNP), or those in an institutional setting (I-SNP). If you qualify, an SNP may be worth comparing.

Step 5: Decide, then act by Dec. 7

You have a few options during Annual Enrollment:

• Keep your current Medicare Advantage or Part D plan (do nothing; it renews with the ANOC changes).
• Switch to a different Medicare Advantage plan.
• Move from Medicare Advantage back to Original Medicare, and add a stand-alone Part D drug plan.
• Move from Original Medicare into a Medicare Advantage plan.

If you enroll in a new Medicare Advantage or Part D plan through medicare.gov or the insurer, your old plan is automatically dropped when the new one begins Jan. 1, 2027.

One more window to remember: if you are in a Medicare Advantage plan on Jan. 1, 2027, and something is not working, the Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period runs Jan. 1 – March 31, 2027. You can switch to another Medicare Advantage plan or return to Original Medicare once during that window.

What is not yet known for 2027

CMS has not yet announced the 2027 Part B standard premium or deductible, or the 2027 IRMAA income brackets and surcharges (which affect higher-income enrollees). Those figures are usually released in the fall, typically November. Watch medicare.gov for the official announcement — and be cautious about anyone quoting a "projected" figure before CMS publishes.

Where to get help in Pomona

• Medicare Plan Finder: medicare.gov/plan-compare (the official side-by-side tool).
• 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227), 24/7.
• California's State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP) is called HICAP. It offers free, unbiased Medicare counseling. Call 1-800-434-0222 to reach the Los Angeles County office.