Medicare Advantage

Medicare in Junction City: Geary County Plans 2027

How many Medicare Advantage and Part D options are available in Geary County, Kansas for 2027 — plan counts and key dates.

JUNCTION CITY, Kan. — If you're turning 65 soon or already on Medicare, you have real choices for the year ahead. Junction City is in Geary County, where 28 Medicare Advantage plans were available for 2026, according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Plan Finder data. The 2027 lineup is spelled out in each plan's Annual Notice of Change (ANOC) and on Medicare.gov's Plan Finder. Knowing how many options you have is the first step to picking one that fits.

What "28 plans" really means

That number, 28, counts the Medicare Advantage plans available to someone living in Geary County. Medicare plan availability is set at the county level, so a neighbor in the next county over may see a different list. Six carriers are competing for your business here, which means most of those 28 options are variations from the same handful of insurers — different networks, different drug formularies, different extras.

You don't have to review all 28. Most people can narrow the list quickly once they know what matters to them: their doctors, their prescriptions, and how they like to get care.

Your Medicare paths in Geary County

Every person on Medicare in Junction City is choosing between two basic paths:

• Original Medicare (Parts A and B), often paired with a stand-alone Part D drug plan and sometimes a Medigap (supplement) policy.
• Medicare Advantage (Part C), which bundles Parts A, B, and usually D into one plan run by a private insurer.

The 28 plans above are the Advantage side. If you prefer Original Medicare, you'll shop for Part D and Medigap separately, and those are sold under different rules. A licensed agent or your local SHIP counselor can walk you through both paths.

How to narrow 28 plans down to 1

A few practical filters usually do the heavy lifting:

1. List your prescriptions. Drug coverage varies plan to plan. Medicare's Plan Finder at medicare.gov lets you enter your medications and see estimated yearly drug costs under each plan. 2. List your doctors and preferred hospitals. Check whether they're in-network for the plans you're considering. In Junction City, that often means checking Geary Community Hospital and any specialists you see in Manhattan or Topeka. 3. Think about how you travel. If you spend time out of state, ask how each plan handles care outside the local network. 4. Look at the plan type. HMO, PPO, and Special Needs Plans (SNPs) all work differently. SNPs are limited to people with certain conditions or who qualify for both Medicare and Medicaid.

What Star Ratings tell you (and what they don't)

CMS rates Medicare Advantage and Part D contracts on a 1-to-5 scale based on customer service, member experience, and clinical measures. Under CMS's 2026 Star Ratings, 7 of the Medicare Advantage contracts offering plans in Geary County are rated 4 stars or higher — but ratings shift each year, and a rating covers an entire contract, not always the specific plan option you're looking at. Treat Star Ratings as one input, not the whole decision.

Numbers worth knowing for 2027

A few program-level figures apply in 2027 no matter which plan you choose:

• $2,400 cap on what you pay out of pocket for Part D covered drugs in a calendar year in 2027 (the 2026 cap is $2,100).
• $700 is the maximum Part D deductible a plan can charge in 2027 (the 2026 maximum is $615).
• The old coverage gap ("donut hole") is gone — Part D now has three phases instead of four.
• The Medicare Prescription Payment Plan lets you spread your drug costs into monthly payments instead of paying big amounts at the pharmacy counter. It's optional and free to join.
• IRMAA — the income-related surcharge on Part B and Part D — kicks in above $109,000 for a single filer in 2026.

Dates to circle

• Oct. 15 – Dec. 7: Annual Enrollment Period. Join, switch, or drop a Medicare Advantage or Part D plan. Changes take effect Jan. 1.
• Jan. 1 – March 31: Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment. If you're already in an Advantage plan, you get one chance to switch to another Advantage plan or drop back to Original Medicare.
• Your Initial Enrollment Period: A 7-month window around your 65th birthday.

Where to get unbiased help

With about 3,109 people age 65 and older in Geary County, you're not alone in sorting this out. Free, unbiased help is available:

• Medicare.gov — Use the Plan Finder to compare plans side by side with your drugs and pharmacies.
• 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227) — 24/7 help from Medicare directly.
• Kansas SHICK (Senior Health Insurance Counseling for Kansas) — Kansas's SHIP program offers free one-on-one counseling. You can find your local counselor through the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services.