Medicare Advantage

Before You Renew: Check Atlanta's 2027 Medicare Lineup

For 2027, Atlanta is looking at 90 Medicare Advantage plans: 9 new, 16 gone since 2026, and 29 still here but changed on premium, deductible, plan type or name, 9 of them under a new name. Below, how the lineup shifted in Fulton County and what to compare, with no plan ranked or recommended.

ATLANTA — Fall 2026 is when Medicare's Annual Enrollment Period runs, and for people in and around Atlanta it is the one stretch of the year to look at next year's Medicare Advantage plans side by side. The window is October 15 through December 7, 2026, and any choice you make takes effect January 1, 2027.

Atlanta sits in Fulton County, and plan availability is set at the county level. For 2027, Fulton County will have 90 Medicare Advantage plans offered by 10 carriers, according to the CMS Medicare Advantage Landscape Source File. That is a smaller lineup than 2026, when the county had 97 plans from 12 carriers. Nine plans are new for 2027, and 16 plans are not returning. If one of the plans leaving is yours, your insurer must tell you — and you have time to pick another.

Here is how to compare what is on offer, in a way that fits your doctors, your prescriptions and your budget.

What Atlanta's 2027 lineup looks like

Of the 90 Medicare Advantage plans available in Fulton County for 2027, every one includes prescription drug coverage. The mix by plan type is 28 HMOs, 14 HMO-POS plans, 47 PPOs and 1 PFFS plan.

Special Needs Plans (SNPs) make up a meaningful share of the lineup. For 2027, Fulton County will have 24 Dual-Eligible SNPs (for people with both Medicare and Medicaid), 9 Chronic Condition SNPs (for people with qualifying conditions such as diabetes or chronic heart failure), and 5 Institutional SNPs (for people who live in a nursing home or need that level of care).

The 10 carriers in the county for 2027, in alphabetical order, are Aetna (CVS Health), Blue Cross Blue Shield (HCSC), Centene (WellCare), Clover Health, Devoted Health, Elevance Health (Anthem), Humana, Kaiser Permanente, PruittHealth Premier and UnitedHealthcare. The table below lists every plan by carrier.

Start with the Annual Notice of Change

If you already have a Medicare Advantage plan, the single most useful document this season is the Annual Notice of Change, or ANOC. Your insurer must send it by the end of September. It compares your plan's 2026 benefits and costs to its 2027 benefits and costs — the monthly premium, the deductible, the copays, the drug list (formulary), the pharmacy network and the provider network.

If you do nothing, your plan renews on January 1, 2027 with the changes in the ANOC — as long as it is still offered. If your plan is one of the 16 not returning to Fulton County, your insurer will send a non-renewal notice, and you have a Special Enrollment Period to choose something else.

A step-by-step way to compare plans

Compare plans against your life, not against each other on paper. Work through these in order:

1. List your doctors and hospitals. Write down the providers you want to keep — primary care, specialists, your preferred hospital system. For an HMO or HMO-POS plan, out-of-network care is usually not covered except in emergencies. A PPO gives more flexibility but often at a higher cost out of network. 2. List your prescriptions. Write down each drug, the dose and how often you take it. The same drug can sit on different tiers in different plans, which changes what you pay. 3. List the pharmacies you use. Plans have preferred and standard pharmacies, and mail-order options. Your cost for the same drug can differ by pharmacy. 4. Open the Medicare Plan Finder. Go to medicare.gov/plan-compare, enter your ZIP code, and add your drugs and pharmacies. The tool will show the plans available in Fulton County, with estimated yearly costs based on what you entered. 5. Check the provider directory. Plan Finder does not confirm your doctors. Use each plan's online directory, or call the plan, to make sure your providers are in network for 2027. 6. Look at the full picture. Premium is only one number. Also look at the deductible, the maximum out-of-pocket limit, specialist copays, and the drug costs the Plan Finder estimates for your list.

What is new in Medicare for 2027

A few program-wide changes are already set for 2027 and apply no matter which plan you choose:

• The Part D out-of-pocket cap on prescription drugs 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 Part D national base beneficiary premium for 2027 is $41.33. This is a formula input CMS uses; it is not what any specific plan charges.
• The Medicare Prescription Payment Plan continues as an option to spread drug costs evenly across the year instead of paying large amounts at the pharmacy counter.

The 2027 Part B standard premium and deductible, and the 2027 IRMAA income brackets, have not been announced yet. CMS typically publishes those figures in the fall, often in November.

Plan types, in plain language

• HMO: You pick a primary care doctor and use the plan's network. Referrals are often required for specialists.
• HMO-POS: An HMO with a point-of-service option, letting you go out of network for certain services at a higher cost.
• PPO: You can see in-network or out-of-network providers; out of network usually costs more. No referrals in most cases.
• PFFS: A Private Fee-for-Service plan sets its own payment terms; providers choose whether to accept them.
• SNP: Built around a specific group — people with Medicaid (D-SNP), a chronic condition (C-SNP), or who need institutional-level care (I-SNP). You must meet the eligibility rules.

Where to get help you can trust

The official Medicare Plan Finder at medicare.gov is the one place that pulls in every plan sold in Fulton County and lets you sort by your drugs and pharmacies. You can also call 1-800-MEDICARE (TTY 1-877-486-2048), 24 hours a day, seven days a week. For details on a specific plan, the plan's own Evidence of Coverage and provider and pharmacy directories are the source of truth.