Medicare Advantage

Sacramento's 2027 Medicare Menu: 23 Advantage Plans to Sort Through

Sacramento County has 32 Medicare Advantage plans for 2027. Compared with 2026, 13 plans are not coming back, 7 are new, and 23 continuing plans changed in some way you should check before December 7, 9 of them under a new name. This guide covers what those numbers mean for Sacramento, not which plan to pick.

If you're turning 65 in Sacramento or already on Medicare, this fall's decisions come with a lot of choices. According to CMS Medicare Advantage and Part D Landscape data, Sacramento is in Sacramento County, where 23 Medicare Advantage plans are available for 2027 — fewer than the 38 offered in 2026, but still enough to make picking one feel like work.

The good news: you don't have to sort through them alone, and understanding what's actually on the menu is the first step to feeling confident about your pick.

What "38 plans" actually means

When CMS says 23 Medicare Advantage plans are available in Sacramento County, that's the count of distinct plan options a person with Medicare could enroll in for 2027. Some are HMOs, some are PPOs, and some are Special Needs Plans built for people with specific conditions or dual Medicare-Medicaid eligibility.

Nine carriers offer Medicare Advantage with prescription drug coverage (MA-PD) in the area. That's a healthy field of competition, but it also means the comparison work is real.

What about stand-alone drug plans?

Stand-alone Part D plans — the drug-only plans that pair with Original Medicare — are counted separately from Medicare Advantage. If you stay with Original Medicare and want drug coverage, you'll want to check current stand-alone Part D options directly on medicare.gov, since availability can shift year to year.

Either way, everyone with Medicare drug coverage benefits from the annual cap on out-of-pocket prescription costs: $2,100 in 2026 and $2,400 in 2027. The Part D deductible can be no higher than $615 in 2026 and $700 in 2027.

Star Ratings: a tool, not a verdict

CMS publishes Star Ratings (1 to 5 stars) each year to measure plan quality — things like customer service, member complaints, and how well plans manage chronic conditions. Ratings can change year to year, and a rating applies to a contract, not necessarily to every plan under it.

Use Star Ratings as one input among several, alongside whether your doctors are in-network, whether your prescriptions are covered, and how the plan handles the specialists and pharmacies you actually use.

Key dates for 2027 coverage

• October 15 – December 7, 2026: Annual Enrollment Period. This is when most people compare, switch, or drop Medicare Advantage and Part D plans for 2027.
• January 1 – March 31: Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period. 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.

If your income is above $109,000 as a single filer (or the equivalent married threshold), you may also owe IRMAA — an income-related surcharge on Part B and Part D premiums in 2026.

How to shop without getting overwhelmed

With 38 Medicare Advantage options and roughly 243,370 residents 65 and older in the county, Sacramento's Medicare market is big but navigable. A few grounded steps:

1. Make a list of your current doctors, hospitals, and prescriptions. 2. Run those through the Plan Finder at medicare.gov, which lets you filter by what actually matters to you. 3. If you want a real person to talk to, call California's HICAP (the state's SHIP program) for free, unbiased counseling. 4. Give yourself more than one sitting. Most people don't nail it in an afternoon — and that's fine.