Medicare Advantage

Medicare in Trumbull: 36 Plan Choices for 2026

TRUMBULL, Conn. — If you're sorting through Medicare coverage for 2026, the first question most people ask is a simple one: how many options do I actually have? In and around Trumbull, the answer is: quite a few.

Trumbull is in Fairfield County, where 36 Medicare Advantage plans are available for 2026, according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Medicare Plan Finder and the annual MA/Part D Landscape files. Those plans come from 6 carriers offering Medicare Advantage with prescription drug coverage (MA-PD) in the county.

That's a lot of choice — enough that a careful comparison really pays off.

What the 2026 numbers look like in Fairfield County

Here's the local availability picture, straight from CMS data:

• 36 Medicare Advantage plans available in Fairfield County
• 6 carriers offering MA-PD coverage in the area
• 0 stand-alone Part D drug plans listed in the county's MA landscape file for this article's data set (stand-alone Part D plans are sold at the state/regional level, so if you're staying on Original Medicare, you'll still see drug plan options on Medicare.gov)
• 0 contracts rated 4 stars or higher in the local MA landscape data

Star Ratings, by the way, are CMS's 1-to-5 quality score for Medicare contracts. They're a helpful data point — not a scoreboard — and they can shift each year.

Why "how many plans" matters more than it sounds

Thirty-six is a big menu. It's easy to feel stuck before you start. But the count matters for a practical reason: with that many choices, two plans that look similar on the surface can treat your doctors, your prescriptions, and your pharmacies very differently.

The goal isn't to read all 36 brochures. It's to narrow the field using facts about your own care.

A simple way to decide

Try these steps before Dec. 7:

1. List your doctors and hospitals. Network fit is usually the biggest factor. 2. List your prescriptions, with exact doses. Each plan has its own formulary. 3. Pick your pharmacy. Preferred vs. standard pharmacies can change your drug costs. 4. Decide the lane: Original Medicare (with or without a Medigap policy and a stand-alone Part D plan) or Medicare Advantage (which usually bundles drug coverage). 5. Run your list through Medicare.gov's Plan Finder. It compares plans using your drugs and your pharmacies.

2026 program facts worth knowing

Some rules apply no matter which plan you choose:

• Part D out-of-pocket cap: $2,100 for 2026. Once your covered drug spending hits that, you pay $0 for covered drugs the rest of the year.
• Part D maximum deductible: $615 (plans can set a lower one).
• The coverage gap ("donut hole") is gone as of 2025. Part D now has three phases instead of four.
• Medicare Prescription Payment Plan lets you spread drug costs across the year in monthly installments — optional, and free to opt into.
• IRMAA surcharges for higher-income enrollees start above $109,000 in income for a single filer in 2026.

Key dates for Trumbull residents

• Annual Enrollment Period: Oct. 15 – Dec. 7. Changes made now take effect Jan. 1.
• Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment: Jan. 1 – March 31. If you're already in an MA plan and it isn't a fit, you get one switch.