Medicare Advantage

Jefferson County's 16 D-SNPs for 2027: The Rules

Jefferson County has 67 Medicare Advantage plans for 2027. Compared with 2026, 13 plans are not coming back, 13 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 Louisville, not which plan to pick.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — For people in Jefferson County who have both Medicare and Kentucky Medicaid, the 2027 lineup of Dual Special Needs Plans (D-SNPs) is set. Five carriers will offer 16 D-SNPs here next year, and a few names are new or renamed. Shopping runs during the Annual Enrollment Period, October 15 through December 7, 2026, with any change taking effect January 1, 2027.

What a D-SNP is, in plain terms

A Dual Special Needs Plan is a type of Medicare Advantage plan built for people who have both Medicare and Medicaid. Every D-SNP includes prescription drug coverage, and plans coordinate with the state's Medicaid program so that one plan is helping manage both sides of your coverage.

D-SNPs are not the only Special Needs Plans in the county. For 2027, Jefferson County also has 8 Chronic Condition SNPs (C-SNPs) and 6 Institutional SNPs (I-SNPs). Those are for different situations and are not the focus of this guide.

The 2027 D-SNPs offered in Jefferson County

Louisville sits in Jefferson County, where Medicare plan availability is set. The table on this page lists every D-SNP available for 2027. In alphabetical order by carrier, they are:

• Aetna (CVS Health) — Aetna Medicare HIDE (HMO D-SNP); Aetna Medicare Partial Dual (HMO D-SNP)
• Centene (WellCare) — Wellcare Dual Access (HMO-POS D-SNP), renamed from Wellcare Dual Access Sync; Wellcare Dual Access Sync Open (PPO D-SNP); Wellcare Dual Liberty Sync (HMO-POS D-SNP); Wellcare Dual Reserve (HMO-POS D-SNP)
• Humana — Humana Dual QMB Only (HMO D-SNP), new for 2027; Humana Dual Select H5619-075 (HMO D-SNP); Humana Gold Plus SNP-DE H5619-163 (HMO D-SNP); HumanaChoice SNP-DE H5525-045 (PPO D-SNP)
• Passport Advantage — Passport Advantage (HMO D-SNP)
• UnitedHealthcare — UHC Dual Advantage KY-V1 (HMO-POS D-SNP), renamed from UHC Dual Complete KY-V001; UHC Dual Complete KY-Q1 (PPO D-SNP), renamed from UHC Dual Complete KY-S001; UHC Dual Complete KY-Q2 (HMO-POS D-SNP), new for 2027; UHC Dual Complete KY-S3 (PPO D-SNP); UHC Dual Complete KY-S4 (HMO-POS D-SNP)

Costs, networks, drug lists and extra benefits differ from plan to plan. For personal plan details, use the Medicare Plan Finder at medicare.gov, call 1-800-MEDICARE, or read the plan's Evidence of Coverage.

Who qualifies: full vs. partial dual eligibility

To enroll in a D-SNP, you must have Medicare Parts A and B and also qualify for Medicaid in Kentucky. The level of Medicaid matters, because D-SNPs are designed for specific groups:

• Full-benefit dual eligibles have full Medicaid in addition to Medicare. Medicaid can help with cost sharing and also covers benefits Medicare does not, like long-term services.
• Partial-benefit dual eligibles qualify for one of the Medicare Savings Programs — such as QMB, SLMB or QI — which help with Medicare premiums and, in some cases, cost sharing, but do not include full Medicaid benefits.

Some plans in the list above are built specifically for people with partial dual status, and others for full duals. The plan's name sometimes signals that (for example, "Partial Dual" or "QMB Only"), but you should not pick based on the name alone. The Kentucky Department for Medicaid Services is the office that confirms your category.

When a dual-eligible person can change plans

Most people on Medicare can only make Advantage or Part D changes during the Annual Enrollment Period (October 15 – December 7, 2026, for 2027 coverage) or the Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period (January 1 – March 31). People who have Medicaid or Extra Help have more flexibility.

Under current rules, dual-eligible and Extra Help enrollees generally have a monthly opportunity to make certain changes — for example, to join an integrated D-SNP that aligns with their Medicaid plan, or to drop Medicare Advantage and return to Original Medicare with a stand-alone Part D plan. The specifics of these special enrollment periods have been updated by CMS in recent years, so confirm the current rule that fits your situation by calling 1-800-MEDICARE (TTY 1-877-486-2048), 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

How to confirm your eligibility before you enroll

Before you pick a D-SNP, take two steps:

1. Confirm your Medicaid status with Kentucky. The Department for Medicaid Services (kymedicaid.ky.gov; 1-855-306-8959) can tell you whether you are a full-benefit dual or in a Medicare Savings Program, and at what level. 2. Confirm your Medicare status at medicare.gov or by calling 1-800-MEDICARE. You will need Parts A and B to join any Medicare Advantage plan, including a D-SNP.

If your Medicaid status changes later, that can affect whether you can stay in the D-SNP you chose. Plans have a grace period to let you keep or regain eligibility, but you should tell the plan right away if anything changes.

What else is new for 2027 in Jefferson County

Across all Medicare Advantage plans in the county — 67 plans from 10 carriers — 13 plans are not returning for 2027, 13 are new, and 9 have been renamed. If your current plan is one of them, your Annual Notice of Change (ANOC), which arrives in the fall, spells out exactly what is different. If you do nothing and your plan is offered again next year, it renews automatically with those changes.

A couple of program-wide 2027 figures are already set and apply to the drug coverage inside D-SNPs: the Part D out-of-pocket cap is $2,400 in 2027 (up from $2,100 in 2026), and the Part D maximum deductible is $700 in 2027 (up from $615 in 2026). The 2027 Part B premium and IRMAA brackets have not been announced yet; CMS typically releases them in November.