Medicare Advantage

Honolulu's 2027 Medicare Advantage choices: 7 carriers, 26 plans, side by side

Honolulu County has 29 Medicare Advantage plans for 2027. Compared with 2026, 4 plans are not coming back, 5 are new, and 13 continuing plans changed in some way you should check before December 7, 3 of them under a new name. This guide covers what those numbers mean for Honolulu, not which plan to pick.

Medicare AdvantageHonolulu, HI

Honolulu shoppers comparing Medicare Advantage coverage for 2027 have a wide field to sort through. According to the CMS Medicare Advantage Landscape Source File, Honolulu County — the county Honolulu sits in — has 26 Medicare Advantage plans on offer from 7 carriers for the 2027 plan year. Every one of those plans includes prescription drug coverage. The table below lists each plan by carrier, its plan type, and whether it comes with Part D built in.

What's on the table in Honolulu County for 2027

Plan availability in Medicare is set at the county level, not the city level. Because Honolulu is in Honolulu County, every plan listed in CMS's 2027 landscape file for that county is available to eligible residents in the city.

For 2027, that adds up to:

• 28 Medicare Advantage plans total
• 8 carriers offering coverage
• 9 HMOs, 1 HMO-POS, and 18 PPOs
• 8 Special Needs Plans (SNPs) among the 28
• 28 of 28 plans include Part D drug coverage

The eight carriers, in alphabetical order, are AlohaCare, Centene (WellCare), Devoted Health, HMSA Akamai Advantage, HMSA Akamai Advantage Dual Care, Humana, Kaiser Permanente, and UnitedHealthcare. The full plan-by-plan list appears in the table below.

How the plan types differ

Most of the 2027 Honolulu County lineup is split between HMO and PPO designs, with one HMO-POS in the mix.

• HMO (Health Maintenance Organization): You generally use the plan's network and pick a primary care doctor. Referrals may be required for specialists.
• HMO-POS (Point of Service): An HMO with a limited option to see certain out-of-network providers, usually at a higher cost.
• PPO (Preferred Provider Organization): More flexibility to see out-of-network providers, typically at a higher cost share than in-network care.

Nine of the 28 plans in Honolulu County are HMOs, one is an HMO-POS, and 18 are PPOs. Plan type does not tell you anything about premiums, benefits or provider networks — for those, you'll need to check the Medicare Plan Finder or each plan's own documents.

Special Needs Plans in the county

Eight of the 28 plans are Special Needs Plans, or SNPs. These are Medicare Advantage plans built for people who meet specific criteria:

• D-SNPs serve people who have both Medicare and Medicaid ("dual eligibles").
• C-SNPs serve people with certain chronic conditions.
• I-SNPs serve people living in specific institutional settings.

You can enroll in a SNP only if you meet its eligibility rules. The roster below flags which plans are SNPs and which type.

Every 2027 plan by carrier

Here is the full carrier count for Honolulu County, alphabetical:

• AlohaCare: 2 plans (HMO; 2 Special Needs)
• Centene (WellCare): 1 plan (HMO-POS; 1 Special Needs)
• Devoted Health: 7 plans (HMO, PPO; 1 Special Needs)
• HMSA Akamai Advantage: 2 plans (PPO)
• HMSA Akamai Advantage Dual Care: 1 plan (PPO; 1 Special Needs)
• Humana: 6 plans (HMO, PPO)
• Kaiser Permanente: 3 plans (HMO; 1 Special Needs)
• UnitedHealthcare: 6 plans (PPO; 2 Special Needs)

The table below lists every plan by name, along with its plan type and drug-coverage status. Availability comes from the CMS Medicare Advantage Landscape Source File for the 2027 plan year. Premiums, copays, deductibles, provider networks and star ratings are not listed here — those change each year, and you should confirm them on the Medicare Plan Finder or in the plan's own materials before you enroll.

Part D rules that apply in 2027

Because all 26 Honolulu County MA plans include drug coverage, the 2027 Part D rules apply to each of them:

• The Part D out-of-pocket cap is $2,100 in 2026 and $2,400 in 2027. Once you hit it on covered drugs, you pay nothing more for covered drugs for the rest of the year.
• The Part D maximum deductible is $615 in 2026 ($700 in 2027), though plans can set a lower one.
• The "donut hole" coverage gap is gone as of 2025. Part D now has three phases (deductible, initial coverage, catastrophic).
• The Medicare Prescription Payment Plan is an optional program that lets you spread your out-of-pocket drug costs across monthly bills instead of paying at the pharmacy.
• IRMAA — the income-related surcharge on Part B and Part D — starts above $109,000 in income for a single filer in 2026.

Note that the CMS landscape file shows zero stand-alone Part D plans available in Honolulu County for 2027. If you want an Advantage plan that pairs with separate drug coverage, that will affect your choices.

How to use this list to decide

A few practical steps once you have the roster in front of you:

1. Confirm your Medicare eligibility and enrollment status at medicare.gov. 2. Make a short list of the plans whose type (HMO, HMO-POS, PPO) matches how you like to get care. 3. On the Medicare Plan Finder, plug in your ZIP code, your prescriptions, and your preferred doctors and pharmacies to see costs and network fit for the plans on your list. 4. If a Special Needs Plan is listed and you think you qualify (for example, you have both Medicare and Medicaid), check the eligibility rules before you apply. 5. Read the Summary of Benefits and Evidence of Coverage from any plan you're seriously considering.

Two dates to keep in mind: the Annual Enrollment Period runs October 15 through December 7, and the Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period runs January 1 through March 31 for people already in an MA plan.

Where to get personalized help

For decisions about your own coverage, use official, free sources:

• Medicare.gov to compare plans and check enrollment status
• 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227), open 24/7
• Hawaii SHIP (State Health Insurance Assistance Program), which offers free one-on-one Medicare counseling