Medicare Advantage

Did Your Lexington Medicare Plan Change for 2027?

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.

LEXINGTON, Ky. — If you have a Medicare Advantage plan in Lexington, now is the time of year to open the envelope your insurer mailed in September, pull up medicare.gov, and spend an afternoon checking whether the plan you have still fits for 2027. The Annual Enrollment Period runs from October 15 through December 7, 2026, and any change you make takes effect January 1, 2027.

Lexington sits in Fayette County, where the Medicare Advantage lineup is shifting again next year. The county has 66 Medicare Advantage plans from 9 carriers on offer for 2027 — 12 new plans, 11 that are not returning, and several renamed. That means a plan you had in 2026 may look different, may be gone, or may now sit beside a brand-new option. The six steps below walk you through how to sort through them without guessing.

How many Medicare Advantage plans are offered in Lexington for 2027?

Fayette County, where Lexington is located, has 66 Medicare Advantage plans from 9 carriers for 2027, according to the CMS Landscape Source File. By plan type, that breaks down to 13 HMO plans, 18 HMO-POS plans and 35 PPO plans. Of the 66 plans, 59 include prescription drug coverage built in.

The nine carriers offering plans in the county next year, in alphabetical order, are Abilis Health, Aetna (CVS Health), Centene (WellCare), Devoted Health, Elevance Health (Anthem), Essence Healthcare, Humana, Passport Advantage and UnitedHealthcare. The full table on this page lists every plan by carrier.

What Special Needs Plans are available in Fayette County for 2027?

For 2027, Fayette County has 28 Special Needs Plans across the three SNP types: 16 Dual-Eligible SNPs (D-SNPs) for people with both Medicare and Medicaid, 7 Chronic-Condition SNPs (C-SNPs) for people with specific conditions like diabetes, chronic heart failure or chronic kidney disease, and 5 Institutional SNPs (I-SNPs) for people who live in a nursing facility or need that level of care.

SNPs are only an option if you qualify. If you are not sure whether you do, 1-800-MEDICARE can walk you through it. D-SNPs make up the largest share of the SNP lineup, offered by Aetna, Centene, Humana, Passport Advantage and UnitedHealthcare.

What is new for 2027 in Lexington's Medicare Advantage lineup?

Twelve plans are new in Fayette County for 2027, 11 are not returning, and nine have been renamed. That is the biggest reason to check your mail: if your plan is one of the 11 that is leaving, you need to pick a new one by December 7, 2026, or you will drop back to Original Medicare on January 1, 2027.

Program-wide, Part D is changing too. The Part D out-of-pocket cap for 2027 is $2,400 (up from $2,100 in 2026), and the Part D maximum deductible for 2027 is $700 (up from $615 in 2026). The 2027 Part B standard premium, Part B deductible and IRMAA income brackets have not yet been announced — CMS publishes those later in the fall, usually in November.

How do I compare Medicare Advantage plans in Lexington step by step?

Here is a six-step way to work through the choice. Nothing here depends on which plan you lean toward; it depends on your doctors, your drugs and your pharmacy.

1. Read your Annual Notice of Change (ANOC). Your current plan mailed this to you by September 30. It lists exactly what is changing in 2027 — premium, deductible, copays, drug list, network, extras. Read it before you compare anything.

2. List your doctors and hospitals. Write down the primary care doctor, specialists, and hospital or clinic you actually use. In Lexington that may include UK HealthCare, Baptist Health Lexington, or a CHI Saint Joseph facility. On each plan you are considering, use the insurer's online provider directory to confirm each one is in-network for 2027 — networks can change year to year.

3. List your prescriptions. Write down each drug, the dose, and how often you fill it. Plans cover different drugs at different tiers, so a drug that is cheap on one plan can be expensive on another.

4. List your pharmacy. Plans have preferred pharmacies where your copay is often lower. Note whether you use a neighborhood pharmacy, a chain, or mail order.

5. Run the Medicare Plan Finder at medicare.gov. Enter your ZIP code, your drug list and your pharmacy. The tool will show every Medicare Advantage and Part D plan in Fayette County, with your estimated yearly cost based on your actual prescriptions. You can sort, filter by plan type (HMO, HMO-POS, PPO, SNP) and open each plan's details.

6. Check Star Ratings and the Evidence of Coverage. Star Ratings (1 to 5) are CMS's quality measure for each plan. Then open the Evidence of Coverage for the plan you are seriously considering — that is the full rulebook, including prior authorizations and referral rules.

If you want to talk it through with a person instead of a screen, 1-800-MEDICARE is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

What happens if I do nothing by December 7, 2026?

If you do nothing, your current Medicare Advantage plan renews automatically on January 1, 2027 — but only if it is still being offered. The changes described in your Annual Notice of Change take effect that day.

If your plan is one of the 11 not returning to Fayette County for 2027, you will not be automatically moved into a new plan of your choosing. You would return to Original Medicare, and you would want to add a stand-alone Part D plan to keep drug coverage. That is why reading the ANOC matters even if you love your current plan.

You also have the Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period from January 1 through March 31, 2027, if you end up in a plan that is not working and want to switch once.