Medicare Advantage

9 carriers, 57 plans: the Lexington Advantage landscape

Fayette County has 66 Medicare Advantage plans for 2027. Compared with 2026, 11 plans are not coming back, 12 are new, and 23 continuing plans changed in some way you should check before December 7, 9 of them under a new name. This guide covers what those numbers mean for Lexington, not which plan to pick.

If you live in Lexington and you're sorting through Medicare Advantage options for 2027, the first thing worth understanding isn't a plan name — it's the shape of the market. Lexington is in Fayette County, where 9 carriers offer Medicare Advantage plans, and those plans come in a handful of different structures: HMO, HMO-POS, PPO, and Special Needs Plans built for specific groups of people. Knowing the difference between those structures makes the rest of the shopping much easier.

What's actually offered in Fayette County

According to the CMS Medicare Advantage Landscape Source File for plan year 2027, Fayette County has 57 Medicare Advantage plans available from 9 carriers. Compared with 2026, 45 plans continue, 12 are new, 11 are not returning, and 9 have been renamed; 14 continuing plans change something in their terms, with details in each plan's Annual Notice of Change. Every plan on the list includes prescription drug coverage.

No stand-alone Part D drug plans are recorded as offered in the county for plan year 2027, so drug coverage in Fayette County generally comes bundled inside the Advantage plans themselves — or through Original Medicare paired with a Part D plan sold in the broader Kentucky market.

The nine carriers offering MA-PD plans locally, in alphabetical order, are Abilis Health, Aetna (CVS Health), Centene (WellCare), Devoted Health, Elevance Health (Anthem), Essence Healthcare, Humana, Passport Advantage and UnitedHealthcare. The table below lists every plan by carrier.

HMO vs. HMO-POS: the network-first plans

An HMO — health maintenance organization — asks you to pick a primary care doctor and generally use providers in the plan's network. If you go outside the network, most non-emergency care isn't covered. In exchange, HMOs are often simpler to use and administer.

An HMO-POS ("point of service") is a small twist on that. It's still network-based, but the plan lets you go out of network for certain services, usually at a higher cost-share. Think of it as an HMO with a side door.

In Fayette County, HMO and HMO-POS options come from carriers including Abilis Health, Aetna, Centene (WellCare), Elevance Health (Anthem), Essence Healthcare, Humana, Passport Advantage and UnitedHealthcare.

PPO: more flexibility on where you go

A PPO — preferred provider organization — doesn't require you to pick a primary care doctor, and it will cover care from out-of-network providers, though usually at a higher share of the cost. PPOs tend to appeal to people who travel, split time between states, or want to keep their options open.

Some PPOs are labeled "Regional PPO" on the CMS list — that just means the plan is licensed to serve a multi-county or multi-state region rather than a single local service area.

PPO plans in Fayette County are offered by Aetna, Centene (WellCare), Devoted Health, Elevance Health (Anthem), Essence Healthcare, Humana and UnitedHealthcare.

PFFS: what it is, and why it's not on the local list

A PFFS — private fee-for-service — plan pays doctors and hospitals a set amount, and you can generally see any provider willing to accept the plan's payment terms. PFFS plans exist in the Medicare program, but for plan year 2027, none are offered in Fayette County. So if you've seen PFFS discussed in general Medicare guides, that's why — it's a real option, just not one currently on the Lexington menu.

Special Needs Plans (SNPs): only if you qualify

Special Needs Plans are Medicare Advantage plans built for a specific population. They come in three flavors:

• D-SNP (Dual Eligible): For people who have both Medicare and Medicaid.
• C-SNP (Chronic Condition): For people with a qualifying chronic illness, such as diabetes, certain cardiovascular conditions, or end-stage renal disease.
• I-SNP (Institutional): For people who live in, or need the level of care provided by, a nursing facility or similar setting.

You can't just pick an SNP off the shelf — you have to meet the eligibility rules. Of the 25 Special Needs Plans in Fayette County, carriers offering them include Abilis Health, Aetna, Centene (WellCare), Devoted Health, Elevance Health (Anthem), Humana, Passport Advantage and UnitedHealthcare. Plan names on the CMS list include tags like "D-SNP," "C-SNP" or "I-SNP" so you can tell at a glance which population a plan is designed for.

How many plans each carrier offers

Availability, straight from the CMS landscape file, in alphabetical order:

• Abilis Health: 2 plans (HMO; 2 SNPs)
• Aetna (CVS Health): 6 plans (HMO, HMO-POS, PPO; 2 SNPs)
• Centene (WellCare): 9 plans (HMO-POS, PPO; 4 SNPs)
• Devoted Health: 4 plans (PPO; 2 SNPs)
• Elevance Health (Anthem): 6 plans (HMO-POS, PPO; 1 SNP)
• Essence Healthcare: 2 plans (HMO, PPO)
• Humana: 23 plans (HMO, PPO; 7 SNPs)
• Passport Advantage: 1 plan (HMO; 1 SNP)
• UnitedHealthcare: 12 plans (HMO-POS, PPO; 6 SNPs)

These counts include every plan the carrier files with CMS in the county, including SNPs that many readers won't be eligible for.

Program facts worth keeping in mind for 2027

A few Medicare rules that apply everywhere — including Lexington — shape how you'll experience whichever plan type you choose:

• The Part D out-of-pocket cap is $2,100 in 2026 and $2,400 in 2027. Once you hit it, you pay nothing for covered drugs for the rest of the year.
• The Part D maximum deductible is $615.
• The old coverage gap, or "donut hole," was eliminated in 2025. Part D now has three phases instead of four.
• The Medicare Prescription Payment Plan lets you spread drug costs across the calendar year in monthly payments, if that helps you budget.
• IRMAA — the income-related surcharge on Part B and Part D — starts above $109,000 in income for a single filer in 2026.