Medicare Advantage

Your Salinas ANOC checklist: what to check before the Dec. 7 deadline for 2027

SALINAS, Calif. — The envelope that landed in your mailbox in late September is not junk. It is your plan's Annual Notice of Change, or ANOC, and it spells out what will be different about your Medicare coverage on January 1, 2027. The Annual Enrollment Period runs from October 15, 2026 through December 7, 2026, and that is the window Salinas residents have to compare, switch or stay put.

If you do nothing, your current plan simply renews for 2027 — with whatever changes the ANOC describes. That is why reading it matters.

Start with the ANOC

The Annual Notice of Change is the short document that arrives before the longer Evidence of Coverage. It compares this year's plan to next year's, line by line. When you open it, look for four things:

• The monthly premium for 2027.
• The medical deductible and copays for common visits.
• The Part D (drug) deductible, tiers and pharmacy network.
• Any change to extra benefits like dental, vision, hearing or over-the-counter allowances.

Keep your 2026 card and your ANOC together on the kitchen table. If a number changed in a way that matters to your budget or your care, that is your cue to look at other options.

Check your doctors and hospitals

Networks change every year. Before December 7, confirm three things for 2027:

• Your primary care doctor is still in-network.
• The specialists you see regularly are still in-network.
• The hospital you would want to use — for many Salinas-area residents that includes Salinas Valley Health Medical Center or Natividad — is still contracted with the plan.

Call the plan's member services number (on the back of your card) and ask them to confirm each provider for the 2027 plan year, not just today. Provider directories can lag, so a phone check is worth the time.

Check every prescription

Formularies — the list of drugs a plan covers — are refreshed each year. A medication that was on Tier 2 in 2026 may move to Tier 3 in 2027, or require prior authorization, or drop off entirely.

Make a list of every prescription you take, with dose and quantity, and run it through the plan's 2027 formulary or the Medicare Plan Finder at medicare.gov. Two program-level facts worth knowing as you compare:

• The Part D out-of-pocket cap for 2027 is $2,400 (up from $2,100 in 2026).
• The Part D maximum deductible for 2027 is $700 (up from $615 in 2026).
• The Medicare Prescription Payment Plan lets you spread drug costs across the year in monthly installments if you choose.

Know your choices in Monterey County

Salinas is in Monterey County, and Medicare Advantage and Part D plan availability is set at the county level. When you use the Plan Finder on medicare.gov and enter your ZIP code, you will see the full list of Medicare Advantage plans, standalone Part D plans, and the carriers offering them for 2027. That is the authoritative source — it updates as CMS finalizes the landscape each fall.

If comparing on a screen is not your thing, California's State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP) is called HICAP. Counselors are trained, free and do not sell plans.

What is not settled yet

A couple of 2027 numbers are still pending from CMS and typically arrive in November:

• The 2027 Part B standard premium and deductible.
• The 2027 IRMAA income brackets and surcharges for higher earners.

Watch medicare.gov in the coming weeks for those figures before you finalize a decision that hinges on Part B costs.

A simple review checklist

• Read the ANOC cover to cover.
• List your doctors, hospitals and prescriptions.
• Confirm each one against the 2027 plan.
• Use the Plan Finder at medicare.gov to compare alternatives.
• Call the plan or HICAP with any question you cannot answer from paper.
• Make your choice — or your decision to stay — by December 7, 2026.