Medicare Advantage

Seven new Medicare Advantage plans land in Sacramento for 2027 — how to check one before Dec. 7

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.

SACRAMENTO — When the Annual Enrollment Period opens on October 15, 2026, shoppers in Sacramento will see seven Medicare Advantage plans that were not sold here last year. Sacramento is in Sacramento County, where the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) counts 32 Medicare Advantage plans for 2027, and seven of them are brand-new to the county.

New plans are not better or worse than the ones that have been around. They are just newer — which means there is no local track record to look at yet. That makes the usual homework (doctors, hospitals, prescriptions) the thing to focus on before the December 7, 2026 deadline.

Who is adding plans in Sacramento for 2027

Six carriers are bringing new Medicare Advantage plans to Sacramento County for next year. In alphabetical order:

• Aetna (CVS Health) — 2 new plans: Aetna Medicare Chronic Care (HMO C-SNP) and Aetna Medicare Eagle (HMO), both with drug coverage.
• Alignment Health Plan — 1 new plan: Alignment Health Honor Plus 060 (HMO), with drug coverage.
• Blue Shield of California — 1 new plan: Blue Shield Advantage (HMO), with drug coverage.
• Centene (WellCare) — 1 new plan: Wellcare Health Net Dual Align (HMO D-SNP), with drug coverage.
• Imperial Health Plan of California, Inc. — 1 new plan: Imperial Flex (HMO C-SNP), with drug coverage.
• SCAN Health Plan — 1 new plan: SCAN Costco Medicare Advantage (HMO), with drug coverage.

All seven include Part D drug coverage. Five are standard HMOs or HMO C-SNPs with prescription coverage; the two that are not open to everyone are the Special Needs Plans described below. The full 2027 Sacramento County roster appears in the table below.

The Special Needs Plans among the new arrivals

Four of the seven new plans are Special Needs Plans (SNPs), which only accept members who meet specific eligibility rules:

• Chronic Condition SNPs (C-SNPs) — for people living with certain chronic conditions. The new C-SNPs in Sacramento County are Aetna Medicare Chronic Care (HMO C-SNP) and Imperial Flex (HMO C-SNP).
• Dual-Eligible SNP (D-SNP) — for people enrolled in both Medicare and Medi-Cal. The new D-SNP in the county is Wellcare Health Net Dual Align (HMO D-SNP).

If you do not qualify for the SNP's category, you cannot enroll in it, even if it is otherwise available in your ZIP code. The Medicare Plan Finder at medicare.gov will show which SNPs you are eligible for when you enter your information.

How a new plan is different from one that is renewing

A renewing plan has a history CMS can measure: Star Ratings, member complaints, prior Annual Notice of Change letters, and a network that has been in place for a while. A new plan does not have those yet. CMS gives most new Medicare Advantage contracts time to collect data before assigning a Star Rating, so you will not see a star score next to a brand-new plan on the Plan Finder.

That is a neutral fact — not a warning. It means your personal check matters more than any score:

• Does the plan contract with your doctors, your preferred hospital and the specialists you already see?
• Are your prescriptions on the plan's formulary, and at what tier?
• Does the plan cover the pharmacy you actually use?
• If it is an HMO, do you need referrals? If it is an HMO-POS or PPO, how does out-of-network coverage work?

A renewing plan can change these things too each year — that is what the ANOC spells out — so the same checklist works for both.

How to vet any plan before December 7, 2026

The fastest way to compare a new plan with your current one is the Medicare Plan Finder at medicare.gov. You can:

1. Enter your ZIP code and your prescriptions. 2. Add your doctors and preferred pharmacy. 3. Compare up to three plans side by side, including the new ones.

If you prefer to talk to someone, call 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227), available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. For plan-specific questions — whether a particular doctor is still in network, or whether a drug needs prior authorization — call the plan itself using the number on its website or in its Summary of Benefits.

A few things that are useful to know for 2027: the Part D out-of-pocket cap rises to $2,400 (from $2,100 in 2026), and the Part D maximum deductible is $700 (up from $615 in 2026). The 2027 Part B standard premium and the 2027 IRMAA income brackets have not been announced yet; CMS usually publishes them in the fall.

If you do nothing

Nothing dramatic happens on December 8. If your current Medicare Advantage plan is offered again for 2027, you stay in it automatically, with the changes described in the ANOC your plan sent you in September. If your plan is one of the 13 in Sacramento County that are not returning for 2027, your plan has notified you and you have a Special Enrollment Period to pick a new one. There is also the Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period from January 1 to March 31, 2027, which gives current MA members one chance to switch.