Medicare Advantage

If your Atlanta Medicare Advantage plan sent a non-renewal letter, here is what to do next

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 — If you opened your mail this fall and found a letter saying your Medicare Advantage plan will not be offered in 2027, you are not alone. In Fulton County, where Atlanta sits, 16 Medicare Advantage plans on the 2026 roster are not on the 2027 Medicare Advantage Landscape file from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). That means those plans will not renew on January 1, 2027.

The good news: you have time, you have choices, and you have a special window to make a change.

How to tell if your plan is on the list

Your plan has to tell you in writing. By early October, carriers mail a formal non-renewal notice (sometimes called a plan termination letter) to every member of a plan that is leaving. It will say, in plain language, that the plan will not be offered in 2027 and that your coverage ends December 31, 2026.

If you are not sure whether the envelope on your counter is a non-renewal letter or the usual Annual Notice of Change (ANOC) — the booklet that explains next year's changes to a plan that IS renewing — look for the words "will not be offered" or "non-renewal." An ANOC, by contrast, talks about what is changing on the same plan for 2027.

You can also check by calling 1-800-MEDICARE (TTY 1-877-486-2048), 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, or by signing in at medicare.gov.

The Atlanta-area plans not returning for 2027

These 16 plans are offered in Fulton County in 2026 but are not on CMS's 2027 Landscape file for the county. The full list, in alphabetical order by carrier, is in the table on this page. In short, the carriers with at least one plan ending here are Aetna (CVS Health), CareSource, Clear Spring Health, Elevance Health (Anthem), HealthSpring, Humana and UnitedHealthcare.

Being on this list does not mean the carrier is leaving Atlanta. Most of these companies still offer other Medicare Advantage plans in Fulton County for 2027 — CMS counts 90 Medicare Advantage plans from 10 carriers available in the county next year. It just means this specific plan is going away.

What happens if you do nothing

If your plan is not returning and you make no choice by December 31, 2026:

• Your Medicare Advantage plan ends on that date.
• On January 1, 2027, you are automatically back on Original Medicare — Part A (hospital) and Part B (medical).
• You will not have a Medicare prescription drug plan. Original Medicare does not include Part D.
• You will not have the extra benefits your Advantage plan may have included.

Original Medicare is real coverage, and for some people it is the right landing spot. But going without a Part D plan can trigger a late enrollment penalty later, and you would pay the standard Part B costs with no out-of-pocket maximum. That is why most people in this situation take action instead of defaulting.

Your Special Enrollment Period and your choices

When CMS non-renews your plan, you get a Special Enrollment Period (SEP) that runs from December 8, 2026 through the end of February 2027. During that window you can:

1. Pick a different Medicare Advantage plan available in Fulton County for 2027. CMS lists 90 plans from 10 carriers; you can compare them on the Medicare Plan Finder at medicare.gov. 2. Stay on Original Medicare and add a stand-alone Part D prescription drug plan. The SEP covers that choice too. 3. Stay on Original Medicare, add Part D, and look at a Medigap (Medicare Supplement) policy. A plan non-renewal is one of the situations that triggers a federal guaranteed-issue right to buy certain Medigap plans without medical underwriting, within set time limits. Georgia's rules on which Medigap plans you can buy and when are handled by the Georgia Office of Insurance and Safety Fire Commissioner.

A change made during the regular Annual Enrollment Period (October 15 – December 7, 2026) takes effect January 1, 2027. A change made under the non-renewal SEP after December 7 takes effect the first of the month after you enroll.

A few 2027 numbers to keep in mind

As you compare drug coverage, two Part D figures are already set by CMS for 2027:

• Part D out-of-pocket cap: $2,400 in 2027 (up from $2,100 in 2026).
• Part D maximum deductible: $700 in 2027 (up from $615 in 2026).

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