Medicare Advantage

Medicare and Medicaid in Indiana: 12 Dual Special Needs Plans for 2027

INDIANAPOLIS — For Hoosiers who have both Medicare and Indiana Medicaid, the 2027 plan year brings a specific set of choices built just for them. According to the CMS Medicare Advantage Landscape Source Files for CY2027, 12 of the 140 Medicare Advantage plans available in Indiana next year are Dual Special Needs Plans, known as D-SNPs. They sit alongside 21 Chronic Condition SNPs (C-SNPs) and 9 Institutional SNPs (I-SNPs) in the state.

A D-SNP is a type of Medicare Advantage plan designed to coordinate benefits for people who qualify for both programs. The 12 D-SNPs offered statewide in Indiana for 2027 come from three carriers: Elevance Health (Anthem), Humana and UnitedHealthcare, each with four plans. Availability is set county by county, so a plan listed statewide may or may not be offered where you live.

What a D-SNP is and who qualifies

A Dual Special Needs Plan is a Medicare Advantage plan limited to people who have both Medicare and Medicaid. Each D-SNP includes prescription drug coverage, and each coordinates with Indiana Medicaid in some fashion, though the exact structure varies by plan.

Eligibility is not something you self-declare. The Indiana Family and Social Services Administration — the state Medicaid agency — determines and confirms your Medicaid status, including which category you fall into. People can be "full" dual eligibles, meaning they receive the full range of Medicaid benefits, or "partial" dual eligibles, meaning Medicaid helps with Medicare premiums and sometimes cost-sharing through programs such as the Qualified Medicare Beneficiary (QMB) category. Different D-SNPs are designed for different eligibility categories, so what you qualify to enroll in depends on how the state has classified you.

If you are not sure where you stand, the Indiana Medicaid agency is the authoritative source. A plan cannot enroll you in a D-SNP if the state has not confirmed your eligibility.

The statewide count and the carriers offering them

For 2027, Indiana's D-SNP lineup breaks down this way, according to the CMS Landscape files:

• Elevance Health (Anthem): 4 plans
• Humana: 4 plans
• UnitedHealthcare: 4 plans

That is 12 D-SNPs in total. The full plan names appear in the table on this page, so we won't restate the whole list in prose. A few points are worth flagging. Humana PathWays Dual Care NFLOC (HMO-POS D-SNP) is new for the 2027 plan year. Three UnitedHealthcare plans carry new names rather than new designs: UHC Dual Complete IN-Q1 (PPO D-SNP) was previously UHC Dual Complete IN-D001; UHC PathWays Dual Care IN-Y1 (PPO D-SNP) was previously UHC PathWays Dual Care IN-S1; and UHC PathWays Dual Care IN-YL (PPO D-SNP) was previously UHC PathWays Dual Care IN-S3. If you were enrolled in one of those plans in 2026, the renamed version is what you will see in the 2027 Plan Finder listings.

The plans use different Medicare Advantage structures. Elevance Health's four plans are HMO D-SNPs. Humana's four are HMO-POS D-SNPs. UnitedHealthcare's four are PPO D-SNPs. Each statewide listing in the CMS data shows the plan as offered in 92 counties, but that is the statewide footprint — your county's listings on the Medicare Plan Finder are what determine your real options.

How often a dual-eligible person can change plans

Dual-eligible Hoosiers have more flexibility than the general Medicare population. In addition to the Annual Enrollment Period — October 15 through December 7, 2026, with coverage effective January 1, 2027 — people with both Medicare and Medicaid typically qualify for a Special Enrollment Period that allows plan changes once per quarter during the first three quarters of the year (January–March, April–June, and July–September). The Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period from January 1 to March 31 is another window that may apply.

The rules on how often you can switch, and which SEPs apply to which eligibility category, are set by CMS and can change. For the current rules, Medicare.gov's enrollment periods page and 1-800-MEDICARE are the places to confirm what applies to your situation.

Checking a plan in your county

The statewide list tells you what exists; the Medicare Plan Finder tells you what you can actually enroll in. To check which of the 12 D-SNPs are offered in your Indiana county for 2027:

1. Go to medicare.gov and open the Plan Finder. 2. Enter your ZIP code and, when prompted, indicate that you have Medicaid. 3. Review the Medicare Advantage plans listed for your county and filter for Special Needs Plans.

The Plan Finder draws from the CMS MA Landscape Source File, which is the same data used to compile the statewide counts above. For specifics on premiums, deductibles, copays, provider networks, drug formularies and extra benefits, use the Plan Finder, call 1-800-MEDICARE, or request the plan's Evidence of Coverage and provider and pharmacy directories directly from the carrier. Those documents are the authoritative source for how a plan works.

Free help

You do not have to sort this out alone, and you do not have to pay anyone to help you compare plans.

• Medicare.gov is the official federal site for Medicare information and the Plan Finder tool.
• 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227) is staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with TTY service at 1-877-486-2048.
• The Indiana Medicaid agency can confirm your dual-eligibility category, which determines which D-SNPs you can join.