Medicare Advantage

Medicare Part D in Jacksonville: 2027 drug cap

Duval County has 70 Medicare Advantage plans for 2027. Compared with 2026, 18 plans are not coming back, 15 are new, and 31 continuing plans changed in some way you should check before December 7, 17 of them under a new name. This guide covers what those numbers mean for Jacksonville, not which plan to pick.

Jacksonville, Fla. — Starting Jan. 1, 2027, no one with Medicare Part D will pay more than $2,400 out of pocket for covered prescription drugs in a calendar year. The out-of-pocket cap, new in 2025 and set at $2,100 for 2026, rises again next year, and for people in Jacksonville trying to plan a household budget, it reshapes how the moving parts — premium, deductible, and out-of-pocket cap — fit together.

The three cost pieces that make up your drug bill

Every Part D plan — whether it stands alone or is built into a Medicare Advantage plan — is priced using the same three building blocks. Understanding them makes it much easier to read a plan's summary and compare options during Open Enrollment.

1. The monthly premium. This is what you pay to have the coverage, whether or not you fill any prescriptions that month. Premiums vary widely by plan. Higher-income beneficiaries also pay an Income-Related Monthly Adjustment Amount (IRMAA) on top; in 2026, IRMAA begins above $109,000 in income for a single filer, based on your tax return from two years earlier.

2. The deductible. This is what you pay before the plan starts sharing drug costs. No Part D plan may charge a deductible higher than $615 in 2026 or $700 in 2027. Some plans set it lower, and some waive it for certain drug tiers.

3. Cost-sharing until you hit the cap. After the deductible, you pay a copay or coinsurance for each prescription until your out-of-pocket spending reaches $2,100 in 2026 ($2,400 in 2027). After that, covered drugs cost you nothing for the rest of the calendar year.

Why the Part D cap matters so much

Before 2025, Part D had a "coverage gap" — the donut hole — where costs could spike partway through the year. That gap is gone. In its place is a cleaner structure with a hard ceiling.

For someone taking one or two expensive brand-name medications, the practical effect is that a bad month early in the year no longer means unpredictable bills later. Once the running total of what you have paid for covered drugs crosses $2,100 in 2026 ($2,400 in 2027), your share drops to zero for covered prescriptions through Dec. 31.

The cap only counts spending on drugs your plan covers. Drugs excluded from your plan's formulary don't count toward it, which is one reason to check the formulary before you enroll.

Smoothing the cap across 12 months

Hitting the cap ($2,100 in 2026, $2,400 in 2027) in January is possible if you take a high-cost specialty drug. To help with that, Medicare offers the Medicare Prescription Payment Plan, a free option that lets you pay your share in level monthly installments instead of all at once at the pharmacy counter.

You still pay the same total; you just pay it spread out. You have to opt in — it isn't automatic — and you can sign up before the plan year or during it.

How this fits with Medicare Advantage vs. stand-alone Part D

Jacksonville is in Duval County, where the Medicare landscape leans heavily toward Medicare Advantage. According to CMS's 2027 Landscape files, Duval County has 70 Medicare Advantage plans available from 13 carriers. Of those, 55 are continuing from 2026, 15 are new, 17 have been renamed, and 18 are not returning; 31 continuing plans change something in their terms, spelled out in each plan's Annual Notice of Change. Stand-alone Part D plans are counted separately in the CMS data and are also available to residents who stay with Original Medicare.

The cap ($2,100 in 2026, $2,400 in 2027) and the $615 maximum deductible apply the same way whether your drug coverage comes through a stand-alone Part D plan or is bundled into a Medicare Advantage plan. The program rules don't change based on the wrapper — only the premium, formulary, and cost-sharing details do.

For roughly 156,682 residents age 65 and older across Duval County, that means the comparison during Open Enrollment can focus on which plan's premium, deductible, and formulary line up best with the medications you actually take.

What to do before Dec. 7

The Annual Enrollment Period runs Oct. 15 through Dec. 7. That window is when you can join, switch, or drop a Part D or Medicare Advantage plan for coverage that starts Jan. 1. If you're already in a Medicare Advantage plan and want to change after that, the Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period runs Jan. 1 through March 31.

A short checklist:

• Make a list of your current prescriptions, doses, and preferred pharmacy.
• Run those drugs through the Plan Finder tool at medicare.gov to see estimated total annual cost under each plan.
• Note each plan's deductible and how it treats your specific drugs — the cap ($2,100 in 2026, $2,400 in 2027) is the same everywhere, but the road to it isn't.