Medicare Advantage

If your Tampa Medicare Advantage plan sent a non-renewal letter, here's your next step

Hillsborough County has 124 Medicare Advantage plans for 2027. Compared with 2026, 29 plans are not coming back, 20 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 Tampa, not which plan to pick.

TAMPA, Fla. — Fall 2026. If you opened your mailbox this fall and found a letter saying your Medicare Advantage plan won't be offered next year, you are not alone. According to CMS's 2027 Medicare Advantage Landscape file, 29 Medicare Advantage plans sold in Hillsborough County — the county Tampa sits in — will not return for the 2027 plan year. The rest of the lineup is still there: 124 plans from 18 carriers will be offered locally for 2027. This article walks through which plans are ending, how to tell if yours is one of them, what happens if you do nothing, and the extra time you get to choose something new.

Which Tampa-area plans are ending after 2026

The plans below are offered in Hillsborough County for 2026 but are not in CMS's 2027 Landscape file for the county. They are listed alphabetically by carrier, exactly as CMS lists them:

• Aetna (CVS Health): Aetna Medicare Dual Select (HMO D-SNP); Aetna Medicare Signature (PPO)
• Align Senior Care: Premier Care (HMO I-SNP); Senior Care (HMO I-SNP)
• American Health Advantage of Florida: American Health Advantage of Florida (HMO I-SNP)
• BayCare Health Plans: BayCarePlus Premier (HMO)
• Centene (WellCare): Wellcare Dual Access Sync (HMO D-SNP); Wellcare Patriot Giveback (HMO); Wellcare Sunshine Health Dual Align (HMO D-SNP)
• Doctors HealthCare Plans, Inc.: DrSelect-CFL (HMO); DrTotalCare-CFL (HMO C-SNP)
• Elevance Health (Anthem): Freedom Medi-Medi Full (HMO D-SNP); Optimum Emerald Full (HMO D-SNP); Simply Complete (HMO D-SNP); Simply Extra Platinum (HMO); Simply Integrated (HMO D-SNP); Simply Level (HMO C-SNP); Simply Level Platinum (HMO C-SNP); Simply More (HMO)
• Florida Complete Care: Florida Complete Care-Duals VIP (HMO-POS D-SNP)
• Humana: CareNeeds Extra (HMO D-SNP); Humana Direct Choice Giveback (PPO); Humana Direct Choice Giveback (PPO); Humana Full Access Giveback H5216-393 (PPO); Humana Full Access Giveback H7617-111 (PPO); Humana USAA Honor Giveback (PPO)
• Solis Health Plans: Solis Wellness Plan (HMO C-SNP)
• Ultimate Health Plans: Advantage Care COPD by Ultimate (HMO C-SNP)
• UnitedHealthcare: UHC Dual Complete FL-Y5 (HMO-POS D-SNP)

Some of these carriers are reshuffling — the 2027 Landscape still shows 20 new plans and 19 renamed plans in Hillsborough County — but the specific plans above are the ones ending.

How to tell if your plan is one of them

Carriers that are discontinuing a plan are required to send a non-renewal letter (sometimes called a "plan non-renewal notice") to affected members by early October 2026. A few things to look for:

• A clear statement that your plan "will not be offered" in 2027, or that it is "non-renewing."
• The plan's name and contract number (an H-number or R-number).
• A note that your Medicare Advantage coverage ends December 31, 2026.

That is different from the Annual Notice of Change (ANOC), which every member receives each September. The ANOC lists next year's premium, copays and benefits for a plan that is continuing. If you got an ANOC — not a non-renewal — your plan is coming back; the costs and rules may just be different.

If you are not sure which letter you received, call the number on the back of your member ID card, or call 1-800-MEDICARE (TTY 1-877-486-2048), 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

What happens if you do nothing

If your plan is on the list and you take no action by December 31, 2026, your Medicare Advantage enrollment simply ends. On January 1, 2027, you are automatically back in Original Medicare — Part A (hospital) and Part B (medical).

Two things to know about that default:

1. Original Medicare does not include prescription drug coverage. If your old Advantage plan included Part D (all 133 plans offered in Hillsborough County for 2026 did), you will not have drug coverage on January 1 unless you pick up a stand-alone Part D plan. 2. Original Medicare does not cap your out-of-pocket costs for doctor and hospital services. That is one reason many people pair it with a Medigap (Medicare Supplement) policy.

So "doing nothing" is a choice, but it is rarely a good one if your plan is ending — you'll want to decide actively.

Your Special Enrollment Period and Medigap rights

Because the government, not you, is the reason your plan is ending, Medicare gives you extra time and extra rights.

• Special Enrollment Period (SEP). You can join a different Medicare Advantage plan or a stand-alone Part D plan from December 8, 2026 through February 28, 2027. If you make the change in December, your new coverage starts January 1; if you make it in January or February, it starts the first of the following month.
• Medigap guaranteed-issue right. At the federal level, members whose Medicare Advantage plan non-renews generally get a guaranteed-issue right to buy certain Medigap policies — meaning the insurer cannot turn you down or charge more because of your health. Florida has its own rules on which Medigap plans are available and how pricing works; for state-specific questions, the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation and the state Department of Financial Services can confirm the details.

You still have the normal Annual Enrollment Period (October 15 – December 7, 2026) too. Any change you make in that window takes effect January 1, 2027.

What to look at when comparing 2027 options

A few program-level facts for 2027 that apply across plans:

• The Part D out-of-pocket cap rises to $2,400 in 2027 (up from $2,100 in 2026).
• The Part D maximum deductible is $700 in 2027 (up from $615 in 2026).
• The Medicare Prescription Payment Plan — optional monthly smoothing of drug costs — continues.
• The 2027 Part B standard premium and deductible and the 2027 IRMAA income brackets have not been announced yet; CMS typically publishes them in November.

The table on this page lists every Medicare Advantage plan available in Hillsborough County for 2026, so you can see which carriers you already know and which ones are new to the area. For personalized comparisons — networks, drug lists, star ratings and costs — the Medicare Plan Finder at medicare.gov is the official tool.