Medicare Advantage

Wellcare's 2027 Medicare Advantage plans in Riverside: one dropped, one renamed

Riverside, Calif. — Fall 2026 is when Riverside County residents on Medicare get a look at what their plans will be like next year. For people who have (or are considering) a Wellcare Medicare Advantage plan, the 2027 picture in Riverside County is close to this year's — but not identical. Wellcare will offer four Medicare Advantage plans in the county for 2027, one fewer than it offers in 2026, and one of the plans carries a new name even though the coverage ID is the same.

MyMedicarePlans.org is an independent consumer news site; we are not Wellcare, Centene or Medicare. We publish this kind of city-level snapshot each fall so readers can see what their carrier is actually offering before the Annual Enrollment Period closes on December 7, 2026.

What Wellcare Medicare Advantage plans are offered in Riverside County for 2027?

For 2027, Wellcare offers 4 Medicare Advantage plans in Riverside County, the county Riverside sits in. All 4 are HMOs, all 4 include Part D prescription drug coverage, and 2 of the 4 are Special Needs Plans — one D-SNP (for people with both Medicare and Medi-Cal) and one C-SNP (for people with certain chronic conditions).

The full list, in alphabetical order, is in the table below. The plans are:

• Wellcare Health Net Dual Liberty (HMO D-SNP) — with drug coverage
• Wellcare Low Premium (HMO) — with drug coverage
• Wellcare Simple Focus (HMO) — with drug coverage
• Wellcare Specialty Simple (HMO C-SNP) — with drug coverage

CMS groups Wellcare under the parent company Centene. By federal rule, we can tell you the plans exist and what type they are, but we cannot quote premiums, copays, deductibles, networks, drug lists or star ratings here — those come from each plan's own documents and from medicare.gov.

What is new, renamed or not returning from Wellcare in Riverside for 2027?

Compared with 2026, Wellcare's Riverside County lineup has one plan not returning, zero brand-new plans, and one renamed plan for 2027.

The renamed plan is the D-SNP: what was called Wellcare Dual Liberty (HMO D-SNP) in 2026 appears for 2027 as Wellcare Health Net Dual Liberty (HMO D-SNP). A name change is not necessarily a benefits change, but it is a signal to read the ANOC closely for anything that did change.

If you are enrolled in the plan that is not returning, Wellcare and Medicare will send you a notice. You will have a Special Enrollment Period to pick another plan, in addition to the regular Annual Enrollment window.

How does Wellcare's lineup fit into the rest of Riverside County's Medicare Advantage market?

Wellcare is one of 18 carriers offering Medicare Advantage plans in Riverside County for 2027. Across all carriers, the county has 88 Medicare Advantage plans available next year, so Wellcare's four plans sit inside a much larger menu of HMOs, PPOs and Special Needs Plans from other insurers.

That matters because the "right" plan is the one that covers your doctors, your hospitals and your prescriptions at a cost you can live with — not the one with the biggest ad budget. If you want to compare Wellcare's plans against what other carriers in the county offer, the Medicare Plan Finder at medicare.gov lets you line them up side by side.

How do I check a Wellcare plan against my own doctors and prescriptions before December 7?

Use the Medicare Plan Finder at medicare.gov, or call 1-800-MEDICARE (TTY 1-877-486-2048), 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Both are free, and both are the authoritative sources for plan details.

A short checklist that works for any Medicare Advantage plan, Wellcare or otherwise:

1. Doctors and hospitals. On medicare.gov, enter the plan name and your providers. Then confirm with the provider's office directly — networks can change mid-year. 2. Prescriptions. Enter each drug, dose and pharmacy into Plan Finder. The tool will show you the plan's formulary tier and your estimated yearly drug costs. 3. Special Needs Plan eligibility. A D-SNP requires Medicare plus Medi-Cal. A C-SNP requires a qualifying chronic condition. If you do not qualify, those two Wellcare plans are not options for you. 4. Read the ANOC. If you are already in a Wellcare plan, the Annual Notice of Change you received by the end of September describes exactly what is different for 2027.

What are the 2027 dates and dollar figures I need to know?

The Annual Enrollment Period runs October 15 through December 7, 2026. A plan choice made in that window takes effect January 1, 2027. If you do nothing and your plan is still offered next year, it renews automatically with the changes listed in its ANOC.

For 2027, CMS has published these Part D program figures:

• Part D out-of-pocket cap: $2,400 in 2027 (up from $2,100 in 2026).
• Part D maximum deductible: $700 in 2027 (up from $615 in 2026).
• Part D national base beneficiary premium: $41.33 for 2027 (this is a formula input used across the program, not the premium any specific plan charges).

The 2027 Part B standard premium and deductible, and the 2027 IRMAA income brackets, had not been announced as of early fall 2026. CMS typically publishes those in November. The coverage gap (the old "donut hole") has been gone since 2025 — Part D now has three phases.

There is also a Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period from January 1 to March 31, 2027, if you enroll in a Medicare Advantage plan and want to switch to a different MA plan or go back to Original Medicare.