Medicare Advantage

Boise's 2027 Medicare renewal: the ANOC pages Ada County seniors should read first

For 2027, Boise is looking at 27 Medicare Advantage plans: 4 new, 9 gone since 2026, and 15 still here but changed on premium, deductible, plan type or name, 5 of them under a new name. Below, how the lineup shifted in Ada County and what to compare, with no plan ranked or recommended.

Boise, Idaho — The envelopes have started landing in mailboxes across the North End, the Bench and Meridian's edge: it is late September 2026, and Medicare Advantage and Part D carriers are mailing their Annual Notice of Change (ANOC) to every current member. That booklet tells you exactly how your plan will look on January 1, 2027 — and it is the single most useful document you have before the Annual Enrollment Period runs October 15 through December 7, 2026.

Nothing bad happens if you do nothing. Your current plan renews for 2027 if it is still offered, with every change its ANOC describes. The point of a review is to make sure the plan you will be in next year is still the plan you want.

What is the Annual Notice of Change and when does it arrive in Boise?

The ANOC is the plain-language booklet your Medicare Advantage or Part D plan is required to send each year, by the end of September, describing every change for the next plan year. If you live in Boise and are already enrolled in a plan, yours is in the mail now or already on the kitchen table.

It is paired with the Evidence of Coverage (EOC), which is the long legal document. The ANOC is the short "what's different" summary — premium, deductible, copays, drug tier changes, network changes, extra benefits added or dropped. Read the ANOC first; use the EOC to look up the fine print on anything that surprised you.

What should Boise residents check in their 2027 ANOC?

Walk through the ANOC with last year's version — or your current member card and a copy of your prescription list — next to you. The items most worth your attention:

• Monthly premium, deductible and out-of-pocket maximum for 2027 compared with 2026.
• Primary care, specialist and urgent care copays, and the cost-sharing for an inpatient hospital stay.
• Drug tier changes. A medication can move to a higher tier, require prior authorization, or come off the formulary entirely.
• Pharmacy network. Your preferred pharmacy may be in-network one year and standard (or out-of-network) the next.
• Provider network. Confirm your Boise-area doctors and the hospital system you use are still contracted for 2027.
• Extra benefits (dental, vision, hearing, OTC, fitness, transportation) that were added, trimmed or restructured.

If your ANOC shows a change that matters to you — a specialist leaving the network, a drug moving to a tier you can't manage — that is your cue to compare other plans before December 7.

How do I check my doctors, hospitals and prescriptions against a 2027 plan?

Do it in three passes, and do them before you enroll — not after.

Doctors and hospitals. Call the plan's member services line (printed on the ANOC) and ask whether each of your providers is contracted for the 2027 plan year. Then call the clinic or hospital's billing office and ask the same question. Saint Alphonsus, St. Luke's and the independent clinics in the Treasure Valley each contract plan-by-plan; "in network in 2026" does not guarantee "in network in 2027."

Prescriptions. Pull up the 2027 formulary (the plan posts it when Annual Enrollment opens on October 15) and look up every drug you take by exact name and dose. Note the tier, any prior authorization or step therapy, and quantity limits. The Medicare Plan Finder at medicare.gov lets you enter your drug list once and see every Advantage and Part D plan in your ZIP code priced against it.

Pharmacy. Confirm the pharmacy you actually use — your corner Albertsons, a Costco, a mail-order service — is a preferred pharmacy under the 2027 contract, not just in-network.

How many Medicare Advantage plans are offered in Ada County for 2027?

Boise is in Ada County, where CMS lists 32 Medicare Advantage plans from 7 carriers for the 2026 plan year — 11 HMOs, 6 HMO-POS and 15 PPOs, with 25 of them including Part D drug coverage and 9 structured as Special Needs Plans. The 2027 county roster publishes with the Medicare Plan Finder refresh on October 15, 2026.

The seven carriers selling Medicare Advantage in Ada County this year are American Health Advantage of Utah, Blue Cross of Idaho, Humana, Molina Healthcare of Utah & Idaho, PacificSource Medicare, Saint Alphonsus Health Plan and UnitedHealthcare. The table below lists every plan by carrier. Having a lot of options is useful only if you narrow them with your own facts — your doctors, your drugs, your budget — before you shop.

What is actually changing for Part D in 2027?

Two numbers CMS has already confirmed for 2027 are worth writing down:

• The Part D out-of-pocket cap rises to $2,400 in 2027 (up from $2,100 in 2026). Once your out-of-pocket spending on covered drugs hits that cap, you pay $0 for covered drugs for the rest of the calendar year.
• The Part D maximum deductible is $700 in 2027 (up from $615 in 2026). Individual plans can set a lower deductible, but none can set a higher one.

The Medicare Prescription Payment Plan — the option to spread your drug out-of-pocket costs across the calendar year in monthly installments — continues in 2027. You can opt in through your Part D or Advantage plan.

The 2027 Part B standard premium and deductible, and the 2027 IRMAA income brackets, had not been announced as of September 2026; CMS typically publishes them in November. Watch medicare.gov for the official figures rather than relying on projections.

What is the deadline, and what happens if I miss it?

The Annual Enrollment Period for 2027 coverage runs October 15 through December 7, 2026. Any Medicare Advantage or Part D change you make in that window takes effect January 1, 2027.

If December 7 passes and you have not acted, your current plan simply renews with the changes in its ANOC. You still have a second, narrower window: the Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period, January 1 – March 31, 2027, lets someone already in a Medicare Advantage plan switch to another Advantage plan or return to Original Medicare (with a Part D plan) once. It does not let someone on Original Medicare join an Advantage plan for the first time.