Medicare Advantage

Medicare and Medicaid in Georgia: 39 Dual Special Needs Plans for 2027

ATLANTA — Georgians who have both Medicare and Medicaid will see 39 Dual Special Needs Plans (D-SNPs) on the shelf for 2027, part of a 161-plan Medicare Advantage lineup across the state, according to the CMS Medicare Advantage Landscape Source Files for the coming plan year. The 39 D-SNPs are offered by eight carriers and are sold county by county, so what appears statewide is not the same as what appears on a single ZIP code's Plan Finder results.

What a D-SNP is, and who qualifies

A Dual Special Needs Plan is a type of Medicare Advantage plan built specifically for people who are enrolled in both Medicare and Medicaid. Every D-SNP in Georgia for 2027 includes Part D prescription drug coverage, so members get their medical and drug coverage through the same plan.

There are two broad groups of "dual eligible" Georgians. Full-benefit dual eligibles qualify for the full package of Georgia Medicaid benefits in addition to Medicare. Partial-benefit dual eligibles qualify for one of the Medicare Savings Programs — such as QMB, SLMB or QI — where Medicaid helps pay Medicare premiums and, in some cases, cost sharing, but does not pay for the full range of Medicaid services.

Either way, eligibility for Medicaid or a Medicare Savings Program is confirmed by the state Medicaid agency, the Georgia Department of Community Health. A D-SNP cannot enroll someone the state has not verified as dual-eligible, and if a member later loses Medicaid eligibility, special rules apply to their D-SNP enrollment.

The statewide count and the carriers offering D-SNPs

Of the 161 Medicare Advantage plans listed in Georgia for 2027, 39 are D-SNPs. For context, CMS also lists 16 Chronic Condition SNPs (C-SNPs) and 7 Institutional SNPs (I-SNPs) in the state. Those serve different populations and are not interchangeable with D-SNPs.

Eight carriers offer D-SNPs in Georgia for 2027:

• Aetna (CVS Health) — 6 plans
• Blue Cross Blue Shield (HCSC) — 4 plans
• Centene (WellCare) — 6 plans
• Elevance Health (Anthem) — 2 plans
• Humana — 4 plans
• Kaiser Permanente — 3 plans
• PruittHealth Premier — 1 plan
• UnitedHealthcare — 13 plans

Several plans have been renamed for 2027 without changing their underlying plan identifier. Centene's Georgia D-SNPs now carry the "Wellcare Peach State Health Plan" branding — for example, Wellcare Peach State Health Plan Dual Access (HMO-POS D-SNP) and Wellcare Peach State Health Plan Dual Liberty (HMO-POS D-SNP). On the UnitedHealthcare side, several plans previously sold as "UHC Dual Complete" have been renamed to "UHC Dual Advantage GA-V1" or renumbered (for example, UHC Dual Complete GA-S1 is now UHC Dual Complete GA-Q2). A few UnitedHealthcare service areas — UHC Dual Advantage GA-V1 (PPO D-SNP), UHC Dual Complete GA-Q3 (HMO-POS D-SNP) and UHC Dual Complete GA-S3 (HMO-POS D-SNP) — are listed as new in four additional counties for 2027.

The full plan-by-plan list and the county footprint for each entry are shown in the tables on this page.

How often a dual-eligible person can change plans

Everyone with Medicare can use the Annual Enrollment Period, October 15 through December 7, 2026. A choice made during that window takes effect January 1, 2027. There is also a Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period from January 1 through March 31 each year that lets a current Medicare Advantage member make one change.

People who are dual-eligible generally have more flexibility. Under the current Special Enrollment Period rules for dually eligible and Extra Help enrollees, a qualifying person can change their Medicare Advantage or Part D plan once during each of the first three calendar quarters of the year — January–March, April–June and July–September — with the new plan starting the first of the following month. In the fourth quarter, changes happen through the Annual Enrollment Period.

There are also one-time Special Enrollment Periods tied to specific life events, such as gaining or losing Medicaid eligibility, moving, or being affected by a plan's service area change. Medicare.gov keeps the current list of enrollment periods.

Checking a plan in your county

Georgia has 159 counties, and no D-SNP is offered in every one of them. County footprints in the 2027 data range from a single county up to 157 counties for a plan. That is why a plan listed statewide may still not appear in your county's Plan Finder results, and why two neighbors in different counties may see different options.

To check what is actually available where you live:

1. Go to medicare.gov and open the Plan Finder. 2. Enter your ZIP code and, when prompted, indicate that you have Medicaid. The tool will surface the D-SNPs available in your county. 3. Compare premiums, deductibles, copays, drug coverage, provider networks and star ratings for each plan. Those details come from the Plan Finder, from 1-800-MEDICARE, and from each plan's Evidence of Coverage and provider and pharmacy directories — not from the Landscape file used for this article.

If you take regular prescriptions or see specific doctors, entering your drug list and preferred pharmacies in Plan Finder will give you the most accurate side-by-side.

Free help

You do not have to sort through this alone, and you do not have to pay anyone to help you.

• Medicare.gov is the official site for plan comparisons, enrollment periods and plan documents.
• 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227) is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, including help in multiple languages and TTY service at 1-877-486-2048.
• For Medicaid eligibility questions in Georgia, the Georgia Department of Community Health is the agency that determines and confirms dual-eligible status.