Medicare Advantage

17 carriers, 104 MA plans: how Santa Ana sorts out

Orange County has 111 Medicare Advantage plans for 2027. Compared with 2026, 21 plans are not coming back, 28 are new, and 51 continuing plans changed in some way you should check before December 7, 19 of them under a new name. This guide covers what those numbers mean for Santa Ana, not which plan to pick.

Choosing a Medicare Advantage plan in Santa Ana usually comes down to a few basic questions: Which carrier? Which plan type? And does the plan fit your health situation? Santa Ana sits in Orange County, where the 2027 Medicare Advantage lineup includes 92 plans from 16 carriers — and those plans come in several different shapes, from HMOs to PPOs to Special Needs Plans built for people with specific conditions or coverage.

What the Orange County lineup looks like

For plan year 2027, CMS lists 92 Medicare Advantage plans available in Orange County, offered by 16 carriers. Every one of those plans includes prescription drug coverage, which is why you'll sometimes hear them called "MA-PD" plans. There are no stand-alone Part D plans in the county file used for this snapshot, but people who stay with Original Medicare can still shop Part D plans separately on Medicare.gov.

The carriers offering Medicare Advantage plans in the county for 2027, in alphabetical order, are: Aetna (CVS Health), Align Senior Care, Alignment Health Plan, Astiva Health, Blue Shield of California, CalOptima Health OneCare, Centene (WellCare), Champion Heath Plan, Clever Care Health Plan, Elevance Health (Anthem), Humana, Imperial Health Plan of California, Kaiser Permanente, SCAN Health Plan, UnitedHealthcare and VillageHealth. Central Health Medicare Plan and Providence Medicare Advantage Plans are not offering plans in the county for 2027. Compared with 2026, 64 plans continue, 28 are new, 21 are not returning and 19 have been renamed; 32 continuing plans change something in their terms — the details are in each plan's ANOC. The table below lists every plan by carrier.

Some carriers offer only a handful of plans in the county; others offer more than a dozen. That is not a quality signal — it usually reflects how a carrier chooses to slice its product line (for example, splitting a general HMO from several Chronic Special Needs Plans).

HMO vs. HMO-POS

Most Medicare Advantage plans in Orange County — 75 of the 104 — are HMOs. In an HMO (Health Maintenance Organization), you generally:

• Pick a primary care doctor inside the plan's network.
• Get referrals from that doctor to see specialists.
• Use in-network providers for routine care. Out-of-network care usually isn't covered except in emergencies.

HMO-POS stands for HMO with a "point-of-service" option. These work like an HMO for most services, but let you go outside the network for certain services — often at a higher cost share. If you split time between Santa Ana and another city, or want a little more flexibility without jumping to a PPO, HMO-POS is worth reading closely.

PPO — and where PFFS fits in

Eight of the 104 Orange County plans are PPOs. A PPO (Preferred Provider Organization) usually lets you see any doctor who accepts Medicare and the plan's terms, without a referral. You'll pay less if you stay in-network, and more if you go out. PPOs tend to appeal to people who travel, split residences, or already see specialists they don't want to give up.

You may also see the term PFFS (Private Fee-for-Service). PFFS plans let you see any Medicare-approved provider who agrees to the plan's payment terms, visit by visit. No PFFS plans appear in the Orange County file for 2027, but the type still exists in the Medicare program nationally and is worth knowing if you move.

Special Needs Plans: who they're built for

Forty of the 104 Orange County plans are Special Needs Plans, or SNPs. SNPs are Medicare Advantage plans limited to people who fit specific criteria. There are three flavors:

• D-SNP (Dual): For people who have both Medicare and Medi-Cal (California's Medicaid program).
• C-SNP (Chronic): For people with certain chronic conditions, such as diabetes, chronic heart failure, chronic lung disorders or end-stage renal disease. Each C-SNP names the conditions it covers.
• I-SNP (Institutional): For people who live in a nursing home or need a nursing-home level of care at home.

You can't just pick a SNP because it looks appealing — you have to qualify. But if you do qualify, SNPs are designed around that population, with care coordination and drug formularies tailored to it. Orange County's SNP list for 2027 includes C-SNPs, D-SNPs and I-SNPs from a range of carriers in the county lineup. Check the plan table for the current offerings by carrier and type.

How to think about the choice

There is no single "right" plan type. A few practical questions can narrow things quickly:

• Do you already have doctors you want to keep? Check whether they're in-network before anything else. That single question rules plans in or out faster than any other.
• Do you want to skip referrals? That points you toward PPO or HMO-POS territory.
• Do you have Medi-Cal, a qualifying chronic condition, or live in a facility? A SNP may be a better fit than a general plan.
• Do you take specific prescriptions? Every 2027 MA plan in Orange County includes drug coverage, but formularies differ. The Part D annual out-of-pocket cap on covered drugs is $2,100 in 2026 and $2,400 in 2027. The Part D maximum deductible is $615 in 2026 and $700 in 2027. The old coverage gap ("donut hole") went away in 2025, so drug coverage now moves through three phases instead of four. If you'd like to spread drug costs across the year, ask about the Medicare Prescription Payment Plan.

Note on quality ratings: CMS publishes Star Ratings for Medicare Advantage contracts each fall. For the current cycle, no contracts serving this area are rated 4 stars or higher in the file we're using. Ratings can and do change year to year, so check Medicare.gov's Plan Finder for the latest numbers before you decide.

Enrollment dates to keep in mind

• Annual Enrollment Period: Oct. 15 – Dec. 7. Anyone with Medicare can join, switch or drop a Medicare Advantage or Part D plan; changes take effect Jan. 1.
• Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment: Jan. 1 – March 31. If you're already in an MA plan on Jan. 1, you get one chance to switch to another MA plan or return to Original Medicare (with a Part D plan).
• Special Enrollment Periods may apply if you move, lose other coverage, or qualify for a SNP.

Higher-income enrollees should also know that IRMAA surcharges on Part B and Part D begin above $109,000 in income for a single filer in 2026.