Medicare Advantage

Medicare and Medicaid in Delaware: 6 Dual Special Needs Plans for 2027

DOVER, Del. — Delawareans who hold both Medicare and Medicaid will have 6 Dual Special Needs Plans (D-SNPs) to consider for 2027, drawn from the state's broader slate of 38 Medicare Advantage plans, according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Medicare Advantage Landscape Source Files for the 2027 plan year. Those six plans are offered by three carriers and sit alongside 7 Chronic Condition Special Needs Plans (C-SNPs) and 1 Institutional Special Needs Plan (I-SNP) elsewhere in the state's lineup.

Availability is county by county. A plan listed statewide may or may not be sold in Kent, New Castle or Sussex. The county-level tables on this page show which of the 6 plans reach a given ZIP code.

What is a D-SNP in Delaware and who qualifies in 2027?

A Dual Special Needs Plan is a type of Medicare Advantage plan built for people who have both Medicare and Medicaid. In Delaware for 2027, 6 such plans appear on the CMS Landscape, each one offering drug coverage.

Qualifying means being enrolled in Medicare (usually by age 65, or earlier through disability) and also being eligible for Medicaid, either full dual or partial dual status. Delaware confirms Medicaid eligibility through the Division of Medicaid & Medical Assistance; the plan itself does not make that determination. Partial duals — people in programs like QMB, SLMB or QI who get help with Medicare costs but not full Medicaid benefits — may qualify for certain D-SNPs, while others are limited to full-benefit duals. The plan's enrollment materials spell out which category it accepts.

How many D-SNPs are offered in Delaware for 2027, and which carriers offer them?

Delaware's 2027 CMS Landscape lists 6 D-SNPs from three carriers. In alphabetical order by carrier, the carriers and their D-SNP counts are:

• AmeriHealth Caritas VIP Care (HMO-D-SNP) — 2 plans
• Centene (WellCare) — 2 plans
• Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield — 2 plans

The plan names, as filed with CMS for 2027, are AmeriHealth Caritas VIP Care (HMO D-SNP) and AmeriHealth Caritas VIP Care Choice (HMO D-SNP); Wellcare Delaware First Health Dual Align (HMO-POS D-SNP) and Wellcare Delaware First Health Dual Select (HMO-POS D-SNP), the latter renamed from Wellcare Dual Select (HMO-POS D-SNP); and Highmark Health Options Duals (HMO D-SNP) and Highmark Health Options Duals Select (HMO D-SNP). Each of the six is filed as being offered in 3 counties on the statewide view, but actual availability still needs to be verified at the ZIP-code level. The full table on this page shows plan type and county footprint for each.

Alongside the D-SNPs, the 2027 Delaware Landscape includes 7 C-SNPs — for people with qualifying chronic conditions such as diabetes or chronic heart failure — and 1 I-SNP, for people living in a nursing facility or needing a comparable level of care at home.

How often can a dual-eligible person in Delaware change plans in 2027?

People with both Medicare and Medicaid in Delaware have more chances to change plans than most Medicare beneficiaries. Under the Medicare Dual Eligible Special Enrollment Period, a full-benefit dual-eligible resident can make one plan change per quarter during the first three quarters of 2027 — January through March, April through June, and July through September. A change made in one of those windows generally takes effect the first day of the following month.

In addition, the Annual Enrollment Period runs October 15 – December 7, 2026, with any choice made in that window taking effect January 1, 2027. The Medicare Open Enrollment 2027 window then runs January 1 – March 31, 2027 for people already in a Medicare Advantage plan who want to switch once. Partial duals and people in the Extra Help program for drug costs also have their own quarterly change opportunities under current rules; a counselor at 1-800-MEDICARE can confirm which window applies to a specific situation.

How do I check whether a D-SNP is offered in my Delaware county for 2027?

The quickest way for a Delaware resident to confirm whether a specific 2027 D-SNP is offered in Kent, New Castle or Sussex is to enter a ZIP code into the Medicare Plan Finder at Medicare.gov or to call 1-800-MEDICARE. Both sources show the plans available at that address and link to each plan's Summary of Benefits, Evidence of Coverage and provider and pharmacy directories.

The CMS Landscape counts used in this article describe the state as a whole. Because carriers file service areas county by county, one of the six plans named above may not appear in every ZIP code. Doctors, hospitals, drug lists and extra benefits also vary plan to plan, so those details should be checked directly against each plan's own documents rather than estimated from a summary.

Where can Delawareans get free help comparing D-SNPs for 2027?

Free, unbiased help is available directly from the Medicare program. Medicare.gov hosts the Plan Finder, which lets a user filter for Special Needs Plans and see every 2027 option at their address. 1-800-MEDICARE answers questions 24 hours a day, seven days a week, in English, Spanish and through interpreter services for other languages; TTY users can call 1-877-486-2048.

For the Medicaid half of dual eligibility, the Delaware Division of Medicaid & Medical Assistance confirms a resident's current status and category. For Social Security questions tied to Medicare enrollment, the Social Security Administration can be reached at 1-800-772-1213.