Medicare Advantage

Honolulu's 2027 Medicare Advantage lineup: five new plans, four leaving, one carrier out

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.

HONOLULU — As the Annual Enrollment Period opens on October 15, 2026, Honolulu County residents are getting their first look at the Medicare Advantage lineup for 2027. The headline change: five plans are new, four are not coming back, three have been renamed, and one carrier that sold a plan here in 2026 will not be in the county next year.

That matters because any change takes effect January 1, 2027, and the window to switch runs through December 7, 2026. If you do nothing and your plan is still offered, it renews automatically with whatever updates are spelled out in your Annual Notice of Change (ANOC).

What is changing in Honolulu's Medicare Advantage lineup for 2027?

In Honolulu County, four Medicare Advantage plans will not be offered in 2027 and five new plans are being added, according to the CMS MA Landscape Source Files comparing 2026 and 2027.

The plans leaving after 2026 are AlohaCare Advantage (HMO D-SNP), Wellcare 'Ohana Dual Align (HMO-POS D-SNP), HMSA Akamai Advantage Complete Plus (PPO) in its current form, and UHC Dual Complete HI-S001 (PPO D-SNP).

The plans new for 2027 are DEVOTED C-SNP GIVEBACK EXTRAS 006 HI (HMO C-SNP), DEVOTED GIVEBACK EXTRAS 008 HI (HMO), HMSA Akamai Advantage Complete Plus (PPO), HMSA Akamai Advantage Select Plus (HMO), and UHC Dual Complete HI-YL (PPO D-SNP).

Three Humana plans are being renamed rather than discontinued: Humana Essentials Plus Giveback (PPO) was Humana USAA Honor Giveback with Rx (PPO); Humana Total Complete (HMO) was Humana Gold Plus H0028-082 (HMO); and Humana Value Choice (PPO) was HumanaChoice H5216-465 (PPO). A rename alone doesn't change your coverage, but other details in the plan may have changed too — the ANOC will say.

Which carriers will sell Medicare Advantage in Honolulu County in 2027?

Eight carriers will offer Medicare Advantage plans in Honolulu County in 2027: AlohaCare, Devoted Health, HMSA Akamai Advantage, HMSA Akamai Advantage Dual Care, Humana, Kaiser Permanente, and UnitedHealthcare. Centene (WellCare), which sold one plan in Honolulu County in 2026, will not have a plan here in 2027.

By plan type, the 28 plans break down as 9 HMOs, 1 HMO-POS, and 18 PPOs. Eight of the plans are Special Needs Plans (SNPs), designed for people who qualify based on Medicaid eligibility or a specific chronic condition, and 25 include Part D prescription drug coverage. The table below lists every plan by carrier.

What should you do if your Honolulu plan is leaving in 2027?

If your plan is one of the four not returning in 2027, Medicare gives you a Special Enrollment Period from December 8, 2026 through the last day of February 2027 to pick a new Medicare Advantage plan or move back to Original Medicare and add a stand-alone Part D plan.

You should receive a non-renewal notice from your current plan in the fall of 2026. The letter will explain your options and your deadlines. You don't have to wait for the SEP — you can also use the regular Annual Enrollment Period (through December 7, 2026) to choose your 2027 coverage so it starts on January 1 without a gap.

This matters most for people in Wellcare 'Ohana Dual Align, because Centene is leaving the Honolulu market entirely. People in the leaving AlohaCare, HMSA and UnitedHealthcare D-SNPs will still have other D-SNP options from those same carriers and others in the county.

What is staying the same for 2027?

Twenty-one plans in Honolulu County continue into 2027 without a change in name, type, premium or deductible, according to CMS. Another 10 continuing plans have at least one change on premium, deductible, type or name — your ANOC will spell out which.

If your plan is renewing, you don't have to do anything to keep it. But it's still worth reading the ANOC: a plan can keep its name while adjusting cost-sharing, the drug formulary, or the provider network.

What else is new in Medicare for 2027?

Two Part D figures are already confirmed for 2027. The Part D out-of-pocket cap rises to $2,400 in 2027 (up from $2,100 in 2026), and the Part D maximum deductible rises to $700 in 2027 (up from $615 in 2026). The Part D national base beneficiary premium for 2027 is $41.33 — that is a formula input CMS uses, not what any particular plan charges.

Other 2027 figures — the standard Part B premium and deductible, and the IRMAA income brackets and surcharges — have not been announced yet. CMS typically publishes those in the fall, usually in November. We'll update our coverage when they are released.

The coverage gap (the old "donut hole") remains eliminated as of 2025, so Part D now has three phases: deductible, initial coverage, and catastrophic. The Medicare Prescription Payment Plan — an option to spread your drug costs across monthly payments instead of paying them at the pharmacy — is also available again in 2027.

When is the deadline to make a change for 2027?

The Annual Enrollment Period runs October 15 through December 7, 2026, and any change you make takes effect January 1, 2027. After that, from January 1 through March 31, 2027, the Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period lets you make one more change if you are already in a Medicare Advantage plan — switch to another MA plan or go back to Original Medicare (with or without a stand-alone Part D plan).