Medicare Advantage

New Medicare Advantage plans in Wichita for 2027: who's adding what

People in Wichita can choose from 31 Medicare Advantage plans for 2027, against 37 this year. Eleven of this year’s plans are gone, 5 are new to Sedgwick County, and 16 that continue have changed their premium, deductible, plan type or name, 7 of them under a new name.

WICHITA, Kan. — Fall 2026. Five Medicare Advantage plans that were not sold in Sedgwick County this year will be on the shelf for 2027, according to the CMS Medicare Advantage Landscape Source Files. Four come from Aetna (CVS Health), and one comes from Elevance Health (Anthem). If you are shopping during the Annual Enrollment Period, which runs October 15 through December 7, 2026, these are names you have not seen here before — and that matters when you check doctors and drugs.

What "new for 2027" actually means

A plan listed as new is one the carrier is offering in Sedgwick County for the first time in the 2027 plan year. It is not a renamed version of an older plan — CMS tracks renames separately — and it did not exist here in 2026.

The practical difference from a renewing plan is simple: a renewing plan has a track record you can look up, including a Star Rating and the Annual Notice of Change (ANOC) that explains what is shifting from 2026 to 2027. A new plan does not have a Star Rating yet, because those ratings are built from prior-year data. CMS typically assigns a rating after a plan has been in the market long enough to measure.

That is a program fact, not a judgment. New plans are not better or worse by default — they are simply unmeasured.

The five new plans, by carrier

Wichita is in Sedgwick County, where the CMS landscape files for 2027 add these plans to the lineup. In alphabetical order by carrier:

• Aetna (CVS Health) — Aetna Medicare Chronic Care (HMO C-SNP); HMO C-SNP; with drug coverage
• Aetna (CVS Health) — Aetna Medicare Longevity (HMO I-SNP); HMO I-SNP; with drug coverage
• Aetna (CVS Health) — Aetna Medicare Signature Extra (PPO); PPO; with drug coverage
• Aetna (CVS Health) — Aetna Medicare Value Plus (HMO); HMO; with drug coverage
• Elevance Health (Anthem) — Healthy Blue Full Dual Advantage (HMO D-SNP); HMO D-SNP; with drug coverage

All five include Part D drug coverage. The table below lists every plan sold in the county, with the new ones flagged alongside renewing and renamed plans.

Who the Special Needs Plans are for

Three of the five new plans are Special Needs Plans (SNPs). SNPs are Medicare Advantage plans built around a specific group of people, and you have to qualify to enroll:

• A C-SNP (Chronic Condition SNP) is for people with a qualifying chronic condition — Aetna Medicare Chronic Care is one of these.
• An I-SNP (Institutional SNP) is for people who live in, or need the level of care provided in, a long-term care facility — Aetna Medicare Longevity is listed as an I-SNP.
• A D-SNP (Dual Eligible SNP) is for people who have both Medicare and Medicaid — Healthy Blue Full Dual Advantage is a D-SNP.

If you do not meet the eligibility rules for a given SNP, it is not a plan you can enroll in, even if you like what you see. The remaining two new plans — Aetna Medicare Signature Extra (PPO) and Aetna Medicare Value Plus (HMO) — are general Medicare Advantage plans open to anyone with Medicare Parts A and B who lives in the service area.

How to check a new plan against your doctors and prescriptions

Because these plans are new, you cannot ask a neighbor how it went last year. You can still do the two checks that matter most, and the Medicare Plan Finder on medicare.gov is built for exactly this.

1. Enter your prescriptions, with the dose and how often you take them. Plan Finder will show each plan's drug list (formulary), the tier your drug sits on, and whether it has rules like prior authorization or step therapy. 2. Check the plan's provider directory for your doctors, specialists, and preferred hospital. For HMO and HMO-POS plans, in-network care matters most. For PPO plans you usually have some out-of-network coverage, but costs can differ. Directories live on each carrier's website; you can also call the number on the plan's summary. 3. Read the plan's Summary of Benefits and Evidence of Coverage for the specifics on cost-sharing, referrals and travel coverage. 4. Call 1-800-MEDICARE (TTY 1-877-486-2048), which is open 24/7, if you want to walk through the comparison with a representative.

For a plan with no track record, your own doctor list and drug list are the real test.

The 2027 context, in plain numbers

A few program-level figures CMS has already published for 2027 are worth having in mind as you compare any plan, new or renewing:

• Part D out-of-pocket cap: $2,400 in 2027 (up from $2,100 in 2026).
• Part D maximum deductible: $700 in 2027 (up from $615 in 2026).
• The coverage gap (the old "donut hole") remains eliminated; Part D has three phases.
• 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 the fall.

Nothing changes automatically for you on December 8. If you take no action, your current plan renews for 2027 if the carrier is still offering it — with any changes spelled out in the ANOC your plan mailed to you in late September.