Medicare Advantage

Aurora's 2027 Medicare Advantage choices: 11 carriers, 50 plans, one table

People in Aurora can choose from 50 Medicare Advantage plans for 2027, against 70 this year. 19 of this year's plans are gone, 7 are new to Kane County, and 16 that continue have changed their premium, deductible, plan type or name, 8 of them under a new name.

Aurora sits in Kane County, and that is where Medicare draws the line for plan availability. For the 2027 plan year, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) lists 50 Medicare Advantage plans from 11 carriers offered to Kane County residents — a mix of HMO, HMO-POS, PPO and PFFS plans, including Special Needs Plans (SNPs) built for people with specific health or financial situations. Every one of those 50 plans includes prescription drug coverage.

This guide walks through what's on the shelf carrier by carrier, so you can see who is selling in your ZIP code before you open the Medicare Plan Finder. The full roster — every plan name, its type, and whether it carries drug coverage — is in the table below.

How to read the plan list

Medicare Advantage plans come in a few shapes, and the abbreviations after each plan name tell you which:

• HMO (Health Maintenance Organization): you generally use the plan's network and choose a primary care doctor.
• HMO-POS (Point of Service): an HMO that lets you go out of network for some services under set rules.
• PPO (Preferred Provider Organization): more flexibility to see out-of-network providers, usually at a higher cost share.
• PFFS (Private Fee-for-Service): the plan sets the payment terms; providers decide visit by visit whether to accept them.
• SNP (Special Needs Plan): limited to people who qualify — for example, those with both Medicare and Medicaid (D-SNP), a qualifying chronic condition (C-SNP), or who live in a nursing facility (I-SNP).

Every plan in Kane County's 2027 roster includes drug coverage, so you do not need a separate Part D plan if you enroll in one of them.

The carriers offering Medicare Advantage in Kane County for 2027

Here is how the 70 plans split across the 11 carriers serving the county, in alphabetical order. Plan names, types and drug-coverage status appear in the table on this page.

• Aetna (CVS Health) — 7 plans (HMO, PPO; 3 Special Needs)
• Blue Cross Blue Shield (HCSC) — 11 plans (HMO, HMO-POS, PPO)
• Centene (WellCare) — 8 plans (HMO, HMO-POS; 1 Special Needs)
• Clear Spring Health — 3 plans (HMO; 1 Special Needs)
• Devoted Health — 6 plans (HMO, PPO; 2 Special Needs)
• Humana — 14 plans (HMO, PFFS, PPO; 1 Special Needs)
• Longevity Health — 1 plan (HMO; 1 Special Needs)
• Molina Healthcare of Illinois — 2 plans (HMO; 1 Special Needs)
• Provider Partners Health Plans — 1 plan (HMO; 1 Special Needs)
• UnitedHealthcare — 10 plans (HMO-POS, PPO; 3 Special Needs)
• Zing Health — 7 plans (HMO; 5 Special Needs)

The largest slates in the county belong to Humana and Blue Cross Blue Shield, but the number of plans a carrier offers does not tell you whether any of them is a fit for your doctors, medications or budget. That answer lives inside each plan's own Summary of Benefits and network directory.

Special Needs Plans deserve a closer look

Of the 70 plans available in Kane County, 19 are SNPs. These plans are only for people who meet the eligibility rules — for example, being enrolled in both Medicare and Medicaid, having a qualifying chronic condition such as diabetes or heart failure, or living in an institutional setting. If you qualify for one, an SNP can coordinate benefits in ways a general plan cannot. If you do not qualify, you cannot enroll in it, no matter how appealing the coverage looks on paper.

Carriers with SNPs in the local roster include Aetna, Centene (WellCare), Clear Spring Health, Devoted Health, Humana, Longevity Health, Molina Healthcare of Illinois, Provider Partners Health Plans, UnitedHealthcare and Zing Health. The specific SNP type — D-SNP, C-SNP or I-SNP — is noted next to each plan name in the table.

Drug coverage and the 2027 Part D rules

Because every Advantage plan in the Kane County roster includes drug coverage, the Part D rules Congress set for 2027 apply inside your plan:

• The annual Part D out-of-pocket cap is $2,100 in 2026. Once you hit it, you pay $0 for covered drugs the rest of the year.
• The Part D deductible cannot exceed $615 in 2026 ($700 in 2027).
• The old coverage gap (the "donut hole") is gone as of 2025 — Part D now has three phases: deductible, initial coverage, and catastrophic.
• You can opt into the Medicare Prescription Payment Plan to spread your drug costs across the calendar year in monthly installments instead of paying at the pharmacy counter.
• Higher-income enrollees may pay an IRMAA surcharge; for a single filer in 2026, it begins above $109,000 in income.

Your plan's own formulary decides which drugs are covered and at what tier, so a medication check on the Medicare Plan Finder is worth the ten minutes it takes.

Dates to keep on the fridge

• October 15 – December 7: Annual Enrollment Period. You can join, switch or drop a Medicare Advantage or Part D plan; changes take effect January 1.
• January 1 – March 31: Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment. If you're already in a Medicare Advantage plan, you can make one change — switch to another Advantage plan or return to Original Medicare (and add a Part D plan).
• Any time: People who qualify for a Special Enrollment Period (moving, losing other coverage, gaining or losing Medicaid, and other life events) can change plans outside those windows.