Medicare Advantage

What’s Changing in Idaho Medicare Advantage for 2027: 14 Plans Leaving, 15 Changing

BOISE — Idaho's Medicare Advantage lineup is shifting for the 2027 plan year. According to the CMS Medicare Advantage Landscape source files, the state will have 44 Medicare Advantage plans available in 2027, down from 48 in 2026. Fourteen plans offered somewhere in Idaho for 2026 will not be offered anywhere in the state for 2027, and 15 plans that continue into 2027 differ from their 2026 version in at least one county. All 44 Idaho counties will see at least one plan leave or change.

Medicare AdvantageIdaho

What the statewide numbers mean

The CMS Landscape files for 2026 and 2027 are the official year-over-year comparison for every Medicare Advantage plan contract offered in each state. Counting each plan once statewide, no matter how many counties it serves, Idaho goes from 48 plans in 2026 to 44 plans in 2027. Inside that total, 19 plans continue unchanged, 15 continue but are classified as changing, 14 are leaving, and 10 are new for 2027.

CMS treats a plan as "leaving" when it was offered somewhere in Idaho for 2026 and is offered nowhere in Idaho for 2027. CMS treats a plan as "changing" when it is offered in both years but differs on premium, drug deductible, plan type, or plan name in at least one county. "Changing" does not tell you the direction or the size of any difference; it only tells you something in the official file is not the same. The place to see the specifics for your plan is the Annual Notice of Change (ANOC) your carrier is required to send.

On the carrier side, the Landscape files show Saint Alphonsus Health Plan with no Idaho plans listed for 2027. Range Health and St. Luke's Health Plan are new to Idaho for 2027.

If your plan is leaving

If your 2026 plan is one of the 14 that will not be offered in Idaho for 2027, your carrier will send a non-renewal notice. You have two windows to act.

The first is the Annual Enrollment Period, October 15 through December 7, 2026. A choice made in that window takes effect January 1, 2027, with no gap in coverage. The second is a Special Enrollment Period for members whose plan is not renewed; that SEP runs through the end of February 2027, which gives you additional time if you miss December 7.

If you do nothing and your plan is leaving, you will not be automatically moved into another Medicare Advantage plan by CMS. You would generally return to Original Medicare, which does not include Part D drug coverage. That is why the SEP matters: it is your protected window to pick a replacement plan.

If your plan is changing

Fifteen plans are classified as changing for 2027. That means CMS's file shows a difference from 2026 in at least one of four fields — premium, drug deductible, plan type, or plan name — in at least one county. It does not mean every member will experience the same change, and it does not say whether a figure went up or down.

The document that spells it out for your situation is the Annual Notice of Change, or ANOC, which your plan sends in the fall. Read it next to your current card and your current drug list. If you take no action and your plan is renewing, you stay in it for 2027 with the changes described in the ANOC. If the ANOC describes something you do not want to live with, you can switch during the Annual Enrollment Period, October 15 through December 7, 2026.

The counties with the most change

Every one of Idaho's 44 counties sees at least one plan leave or change. The counties with the highest counts in the Landscape files are:

• Owyhee County: 10 leaving, 10 changing
• Ada County: 9 leaving, 10 changing
• Boise County: 9 leaving, 10 changing
• Canyon County: 9 leaving, 10 changing
• Gem County: 9 leaving, 10 changing
• Payette County: 9 leaving, 10 changing
• Valley County: 12 leaving, 5 changing
• Elmore County: 11 leaving, 5 changing

These are counts of plans, not members. A county with 10 plans leaving does not mean 10 of your plans are leaving; it means 10 distinct plans available in that county for 2026 are not being offered there for 2027.

What to do before December 7

A short checklist, using only the dates in the official calendar:

1. Watch the mail in September and October 2026 for either an ANOC (your plan is renewing with changes) or a non-renewal notice (your plan is leaving). 2. If your plan is renewing, compare the ANOC to how you actually use the plan — your doctors, your pharmacy, your prescriptions. 3. If your plan is leaving, note that your Special Enrollment Period extends through the end of February 2027, but you can also act during the Annual Enrollment Period. 4. Make any change during the Annual Enrollment Period, October 15 through December 7, 2026, for a January 1, 2027 effective date.

Where to get free help

You do not have to sort this out alone, and you do not have to pay anyone to help you. Medicare.gov has the Plan Finder tool that uses the same Landscape and Plan Finder data referenced here. You can call 1-800-MEDICARE, which operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week. And every state, including Idaho, has a State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP) that offers free, one-on-one Medicare counseling from trained local counselors.