Medicare Advantage

Reading Your ANOC: A Tampa Guide for 2027 Coverage

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 — It is fall 2026, and the mail from your Medicare plan has already landed or will soon. That envelope is the single most important piece of paper in this year's Annual Enrollment Period, which runs October 15 through December 7, 2026. Any change you make takes effect January 1, 2027.

If you do nothing, your current plan simply renews for 2027 — but with whatever changes it has announced. That is why a careful review before Dec. 7 matters, even when you like your plan.

Step 1: Read the Annual Notice of Change

Every Medicare Advantage and Part D plan must send an Annual Notice of Change by the end of September. It spells out exactly what is different about your plan for 2027 compared with 2026 — the premium, the deductible, copays, the drug list (formulary), the pharmacy network, and the provider network.

Sit down with the ANOC and a highlighter. Mark anything that changed. If you want the full detail behind a change, the Evidence of Coverage is the longer companion document that explains the rules.

Step 2: Check your doctors and hospitals

Networks shift from year to year. A doctor who is in-network in 2026 may not be in 2027, and vice versa.

• Pull up the plan's 2027 provider directory on the carrier's website (make sure you are looking at the 2027 version, not the current one).
• Confirm your primary care doctor, any specialists you see regularly, and your preferred hospital system are listed.
• In the Tampa area, that often means checking whether facilities like Tampa General, AdventHealth or BayCare hospitals are in-network for next year's plan.
• If you are not sure, call the provider's billing office and ask which plans they will accept in 2027.

Step 3: Price-check every prescription for 2027

Drug coverage is where many people are surprised in January. Plans can move medications to a different tier, add prior authorization, or change which pharmacies are "preferred."

• Make a list of each medication, the dose, and how often you take it.
• Run it through the Medicare Plan Finder at medicare.gov, which compares drug plans using your actual prescriptions and pharmacy.
• Two program changes are already set for 2027: the Part D out-of-pocket cap rises to $2,400 (from $2,100 in 2026), and the maximum Part D deductible rises to $700 (from $615 in 2026). Once you hit the cap, you pay $0 for covered drugs for the rest of the year.
• If drug costs are heavy early in the year, ask about the Medicare Prescription Payment Plan, which spreads out-of-pocket costs across the calendar year.

Step 4: See what else Hillsborough County offers

Tampa is in Hillsborough County, where CMS lists 133 Medicare Advantage plans from 19 carriers for 2026, and that is where plan availability is set. The carriers offering plans in the county include Aetna (CVS Health), Align Senior Care, American Health Advantage of Florida, BayCare Health Plans, Blue Cross Blue Shield (HCSC), Centene (WellCare), Devoted Health, Doctors HealthCare Plans, Elevance Health (Anthem), Florida Blue, Florida Blue HMO, Florida Complete Care, Gold Kidney Health Plan, Humana, Longevity Health Plan, SECUR Health Plan, Solis Health Plans, Ultimate Health Plans, and UnitedHealthcare.

By type, the 2026 roster breaks down into 90 HMO plans, 15 HMO-POS, and 28 PPO plans, and 75 of them are Special Needs Plans (D-SNP, C-SNP or I-SNP) for people with Medicaid, specific chronic conditions, or who live in an institutional setting. All 133 include drug coverage.

The table on this page lists every plan available in Hillsborough County — use it to spot options you may not have considered, then take two or three into the Plan Finder for a side-by-side comparison.

Step 5: Know what's still unknown

Some 2027 figures are not public yet. CMS typically announces the 2027 Part B standard premium and deductible and the 2027 IRMAA income brackets in the fall, usually November. Watch for them before you finalize a decision if those numbers matter to your budget.

Step 6: Mark the deadline, then act

December 7, 2026 is the last day to switch plans, change from Original Medicare to Advantage (or back), or move between drug plans for 2027 coverage. If you have an Advantage plan on Jan. 1, you still get one more chance during the Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period (Jan. 1 – March 31, 2027) to switch to a different Advantage plan or return to Original Medicare — but that window does not apply if you are on Original Medicare.