Medicare Advantage

Why Your Baltimore County Line Shapes Plan Choices

Baltimore city has 24 Medicare Advantage plans for 2027. Compared with 2026, 9 plans are not coming back, 2 are new, and 9 continuing plans changed in some way you should check before December 7, 1 of them under a new name. This guide covers what those numbers mean for Baltimore, not which plan to pick.

If you live in the Baltimore metro, the number of Medicare Advantage plans you can pick from in 2027 depends on which side of the county line your mailbox sits on. That's because Medicare sets plan availability county by county — so a neighbor a few miles away may see a different lineup than you do. Here's a plain look at how the choices compare across the Baltimore area for the 2027 plan year, using county-level counts from the CMS Medicare Plan Finder data.

Why plan counts change from one county to the next

Medicare Advantage and Part D plans are licensed to serve specific service areas, which are drawn at the county level. That means an insurer might offer a plan in one Maryland county but not the next one over. When you compare "how many plans are available" in the Baltimore metro, you're really comparing county-by-county lineups that happen to sit next to each other.

For readers in the city itself: Baltimore is in Baltimore city, where the CMS Plan Finder shows 23 Medicare Advantage plans for 2027, offered by 8 carriers. Baltimore County, Anne Arundel County, Howard County, Harford County and Carroll County each have their own separate counts, and those numbers can differ even though the counties border one another.

What the Baltimore city numbers show for 2027

Here is the area-level picture for Baltimore city, drawn from CMS's 2027 Medicare Advantage and Part D Landscape files:

• Medicare Advantage plans available: 31
• Carriers offering Medicare Advantage with drug coverage (MA-PD): 9
• Population age 65 and older: about 87,600

These are raw availability counts. They don't tell you which plan fits your doctors, medications or budget — only how many doors are open. To see the same figures for a neighboring county, you can enter that county's ZIP code at medicare.gov and the Plan Finder will refresh the list.

How to compare across nearby counties

If you're helping a parent in Towson, a sibling in Columbia, or a friend in Bel Air, the easiest way to compare is to run each ZIP code through medicare.gov's Plan Finder one at a time. A few tips that make the comparison cleaner:

• Compare Medicare Advantage plans in one search and stand-alone Part D plans in another, so the lists don't blur together.
• Check whether the plan's provider network includes the hospitals and specialists the person actually uses — networks can end at a county or state line.
• Look at the drug formulary for the exact medications on the person's list, including dosages.

Stand-alone Part D availability is counted separately from Medicare Advantage. In Baltimore city, the area file shows 0 stand-alone Part D plans in the Baltimore city column of the local snapshot; Maryland residents still have access to the national Part D marketplace, and medicare.gov will show every stand-alone drug plan available at your address.

Program rules that apply everywhere in the metro

No matter which county you live in, these Medicare Part D rules apply for 2027:

• Part D out-of-pocket cap: $2,100. Once you hit that in covered drug spending, you pay $0 for the rest of the calendar year on covered Part D drugs.
• Part D maximum deductible: $615 (plans can set a lower deductible).
• The old coverage gap ("donut hole") is gone as of 2025. Part D now has three phases: deductible, initial coverage, and catastrophic.
• Medicare Prescription Payment Plan: an optional program that lets you spread your out-of-pocket drug costs across the year in monthly installments instead of paying at the pharmacy counter.
• IRMAA (higher Part B and Part D premiums for higher earners): starts above $109,000 in income for a single filer in 2026.

About Star Ratings in the local snapshot

CMS publishes Star Ratings for Medicare Advantage and Part D contracts each year, on a 1-to-5 scale, based on quality and member experience measures. In the Baltimore city area snapshot, 0 contracts are rated 4 stars or higher for 2026. Ratings are one data point among many — they don't tell you whether a specific plan covers your doctors or your drugs, so use them alongside a network and formulary check, not on their own.

Key dates to keep in mind

• October 15 – December 7: Medicare Annual Enrollment Period. You can join, switch or drop a Medicare Advantage or Part D plan. Changes take effect January 1.
• January 1 – March 31: Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period. If you're already in a Medicare Advantage plan, you can switch to a different Medicare Advantage plan or return to Original Medicare (and add a Part D plan).