Medicare Advantage

How Medicare plan choices around Houma compare from parish to parish

When people in Houma sit down to sort through Medicare, one of the first things they notice is that the number of choices can shift depending on which side of a parish line they live on. That is not a quirk — it is how Medicare is built. Medicare Advantage and Part D plan availability is set at the county (or parish) level, so two neighbors a few miles apart can technically be shopping from different menus.

Medicare AdvantageHouma, LA

Houma sits in Terrebonne Parish, and this article takes a snapshot of what that looked like locally for 2026, along with a few things worth knowing as you compare 2027 coverage.

Why the parish line matters

Medicare Advantage and stand-alone Part D plans are approved and priced by service area. The federal government calls these service areas, and in Louisiana they line up with parishes. That means if you move — or even help a parent shop who lives one parish over — the list of plans on Medicare.gov's Plan Finder can look different.

For readers in Houma, the reference point is Terrebonne Parish. If a family member lives in Lafourche, Assumption, or St. Mary, they are looking at a separate menu built for their parish, not Terrebonne's.

The Terrebonne Parish snapshot for 2026

Here is what CMS Landscape data shows for the parish that includes Houma:

• 46 Medicare Advantage plans are available.
• Those plans come from 7 carriers that offer Medicare Advantage with prescription drug coverage (MA-PD).
• 0 stand-alone Part D plans are listed for the parish in this dataset. (Nationally, stand-alone Part D plans are still widely sold; anyone who needs one should confirm current options through Medicare.gov or 1-800-MEDICARE.)
• 0 contracts in the area carried an overall Star Rating of 4 stars or higher for 2026.

Star Ratings are CMS's 1-to-5 scale that measures things like customer service, member complaints, and clinical quality. They are one data point among many — not a ranking of which plan is right for any one person.

How to think about "more plans" vs. "the right plan"

A bigger menu is not automatically better. What matters more for most people is whether a specific plan:

• Covers the doctors and hospitals you already use.
• Covers the medicines you already take, at a pharmacy you can get to.
• Fits how you actually use care during the year.

Two people in the same Houma ZIP code can look at the same 46 plans and land in very different places, and that is normal.

Program rules that apply no matter which plan you pick

A few program-wide changes are worth keeping in mind as you compare:

• Part D out-of-pocket cap: $2,100 in 2026 and $2,400 in 2027 on covered drugs.
• Part D deductible: up to $615, depending on the plan.
• No more donut hole: Part D now has three phases instead of four.
• Medicare Prescription Payment Plan: an optional program that lets you spread drug costs across the calendar year in monthly payments instead of paying at the pharmacy counter.
• IRMAA: higher-income enrollees pay an added Part B and Part D amount; for a single filer in 2026, that begins above $109,000 in income.

Dates to circle

• Oct. 15 – Dec. 7: Annual Enrollment Period. You can 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 are already in a Medicare Advantage plan, you get one chance to switch to another MA plan or return to Original Medicare (and add a Part D plan).

Where to get personal help

Plan Finder at medicare.gov lets you enter your ZIP code and your medications and see what is actually available in Terrebonne Parish (or any parish). You can also call 1-800-MEDICARE any time, or reach Louisiana's SHIIP (State Health Insurance Information Program), which offers free, unbiased Medicare counseling.