Medicare Advantage

Seven new Medicare Advantage plans arrive in San Francisco for 2027

For 2027, San Francisco is looking at 46 Medicare Advantage plans: 7 new, 12 gone since 2026, and 35 still here but changed on premium, deductible, plan type or name, 13 of them under a new name. Below, how the lineup shifted in San Francisco County and what to compare, with no plan ranked or recommended.

San Francisco, fall 2026 — When the 2027 Medicare Advantage lineup goes live on October 15, San Francisco shoppers will see seven plans on the Medicare Plan Finder that were not sold here last year. They come from four carriers, and they are the ones you will want to look at most carefully, because a brand-new plan has no local track record for you to lean on.

San Francisco is in San Francisco County, where Medicare sets plan availability. According to CMS Medicare Advantage Landscape Source Files, 7 of the 46 Medicare Advantage plans offered in the county for 2027 are new this year. The rest are renewing plans — some unchanged in name, 13 renamed, and 12 that will not be returning.

Here is what is new, who is offering it, and how to size up a plan that has no history yet before the December 7 deadline.

The seven new plans for 2027, by carrier

In alphabetical order by carrier, the Medicare Advantage plans new to San Francisco County for 2027 are:

• Aetna (CVS Health) — Aetna Medicare Chronic Care (HMO C-SNP); Aetna Medicare Eagle (HMO). Both include drug coverage.
• Alignment Health Plan — Alignment Health Honor Plus 060 (HMO). Includes drug coverage.
• Imperial Health Plan of California, Inc. — Imperial Flex (HMO C-SNP). Includes drug coverage.
• SCAN Health Plan — SCAN Costco Medicare Advantage (HMO); SCAN Inclusive (HMO); Sutter Senior Advantage, a SCAN Medicare Plan (HMO). All three include drug coverage.

The table below lists every Medicare Advantage plan sold in San Francisco County for 2027, including these new ones alongside renewing plans from the other carriers.

Plan types and Special Needs Plans in the new group

All seven new plans for 2027 are HMOs. Six are regular HMOs; three are HMO Chronic Condition Special Needs Plans (C-SNPs), designed for people living with certain chronic illnesses.

Special Needs Plans only accept members who meet their eligibility rules. The three new C-SNPs are Aetna Medicare Chronic Care, Imperial Flex, and (as a renewing design familiar to SNP shoppers but new to this county's lineup) you will also see C-SNPs among the carriers' continuing plans. If you are considering a C-SNP, the plan verifies your qualifying condition with your doctor before you enroll.

Every one of the seven new plans includes Part D prescription drug coverage, so you would not need a stand-alone drug plan on top.

How a brand-new plan differs from a renewing one

The practical difference is history. A renewing plan has a Star Rating, a published formulary with a year of real-world claims behind it, and a provider network you or your neighbors may already have experience with. A new plan has:

• No Star Rating yet. CMS calculates ratings from member experience, clinical quality and complaint data. A plan in its first year does not have enough of that data, so it is listed as "not yet rated." This is normal and is not a judgment about the plan.
• A fresh network and formulary. Everything is published for 2027 — the provider directory, the drug list, the pharmacy network, the Summary of Benefits — but there is no prior year to compare it against.
• No Annual Notice of Change (ANOC). ANOCs explain what changed from last year. A new plan has nothing to change from, so the Summary of Benefits and Evidence of Coverage are what you read instead.

None of that makes a new plan better or worse than a renewing one. It just means you check it the same careful way, from scratch.

Checking a plan against your doctors and prescriptions before December 7

Before you enroll in anything — new plan or renewing one — walk through these steps on medicare.gov:

1. Make a list of your prescriptions, with the exact name, dose and how often you take them, plus the pharmacy you use. 2. Make a list of your doctors and any hospitals or specialists you want to keep seeing. Include the clinic or medical group name if you know it; in San Francisco the medical group can determine which HMOs a doctor accepts. 3. Open the Medicare Plan Finder at medicare.gov and enter your ZIP code. You can filter for Medicare Advantage plans in San Francisco County and add your drugs. The tool will show how each plan covers them. 4. Open each plan's provider directory (linked from the plan's page or the carrier's site) and look up every doctor by name. For a brand-new plan, call your doctor's office directly to confirm they are contracted for 2027 — directories are updated through the fall. 5. Call the plan if anything is unclear. The plan's enrollment line, 1-800-MEDICARE (TTY 1-877-486-2048), and medicare.gov are the authoritative sources.

Do this before December 7, 2026. Anything you enroll in during the window starts January 1, 2027. If you take no action, your current plan renews with whatever changes are described in its ANOC — the notice carriers mail each September.

A few 2027 figures worth knowing

As you compare plans, two Part D numbers are set for 2027:

• The Part D out-of-pocket cap rises to $2,400 in 2027 (it is $2,100 in 2026). Once your drug spending hits that cap, you pay $0 for covered drugs for the rest of the year.
• The Part D maximum deductible is $700 in 2027 (it is $615 in 2026). Plans may set a lower deductible or none at all for some tiers.

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 them in November.