Medicare Advantage

Sacramento Medicare 2026: 38 Advantage Plan Options

SACRAMENTO — If you're turning 65 soon or already on Medicare, you have a lot of choices to sort through this year. Sacramento is in Sacramento County, where 38 Medicare Advantage plans are available for 2026, according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) plan data.

Sacramento's 2026 Medicare Landscape at a Glance

That's a wide field of options for the roughly 243,000 residents age 65 and older living across the county. Having more plans can be a good thing — but it also means it pays to slow down and compare carefully before you enroll.

How the Numbers Break Down

Here's what the 2026 plan landscape looks like in Sacramento County, based on CMS data:

• 38 Medicare Advantage plans available
• 9 insurance carriers offering Medicare Advantage with prescription drug coverage (MA-PD)
• 0 stand-alone Part D prescription drug plans listed separately in this county's snapshot

The Medicare Advantage figure counts each plan option, not each company. Because nine carriers are competing here, many of them offer more than one plan design — for example, an HMO version and a PPO version, or plans built around different provider networks.

If you want stand-alone Part D drug coverage (typically paired with Original Medicare and a Medigap policy), you'll want to run your ZIP code through Medicare's Plan Finder at medicare.gov to see the full list of drug plans available to you.

What "38 Plans" Actually Means for You

A big menu doesn't mean you have to consider all 38. In practice, most people narrow the list quickly by asking a few simple questions:

• Are my doctors and hospitals in the network?
• Are my prescriptions on the plan's formulary?
• Does the plan work where I travel or spend part of the year?
• What are the total yearly costs — not just the monthly premium?

Once you filter by those, the field usually shrinks to a manageable handful. The point of having many plans isn't to try them all — it's to raise the odds that one of them fits your specific situation.

Star Ratings in the Sacramento Area

CMS publishes Star Ratings each year to measure plan quality on things like customer service, member complaints, and how well plans manage chronic conditions. For the 2026 plan year in Sacramento County, CMS data shows zero contracts rated 4 stars or higher in this county's snapshot.

Star Ratings are one input to consider, but they're not the whole story. A plan's network, drug list, and total costs often matter more day to day. Use ratings as a tiebreaker, not the deciding factor.

Key 2026 Program Facts Every Sacramento Enrollee Should Know

These apply nationwide, not just in Sacramento, but they shape what your coverage will look like next year:

• Part D out-of-pocket cap: $2,100. Once your covered drug spending hits that limit in 2026, you pay $0 for covered prescriptions the rest of the year.
• Part D maximum deductible: $615.
• The coverage gap ("donut hole") is gone as of 2025. Part D now has three phases instead of four.
• Medicare Prescription Payment Plan. This optional program lets you spread your drug costs across monthly payments instead of paying big bills at the pharmacy counter.
• IRMAA surcharges (higher Part B and Part D premiums for higher earners) begin above $109,000 in income for a single filer in 2026.

Key Dates to Circle

• Annual Enrollment Period (AEP): October 15 – December 7. This is when you can join, switch, or drop a Medicare Advantage or Part D plan for the coming year.
• Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period: January 1 – March 31. If you're already in a Medicare Advantage plan, you get one chance during this window to switch to a different MA plan or return to Original Medicare.

Missing these windows usually means waiting a full year, unless you qualify for a Special Enrollment Period.