Medicare Advantage

Ellicott City's 2027 Medicare Advantage roster: the carriers, the newcomers, the exits

Fall 2026 — If you live in Ellicott City and get your Medicare through a Medicare Advantage plan, this is the season the 2027 lineup comes into focus. Carriers have filed their plans with Medicare, some familiar options are returning, a few are new, and a few will not be back next year. The Annual Enrollment Period runs October 15 through December 7, 2026, and any change you make in that window takes effect January 1, 2027.

Ellicott City sits in Howard County, and Medicare Advantage availability is set at the county level. So when we talk about which plans are offered here, we are really describing what Howard County residents can choose from.

What's changing for 2027

A few program-level numbers are already set for next year. The Part D out-of-pocket cap — the ceiling on what you pay for covered prescriptions in a calendar year — moves from $2,100 in 2026 to $2,400 in 2027. The most a Part D plan can charge as a deductible rises from $615 in 2026 to $700 in 2027. And CMS has set the Part D national base beneficiary premium at $41.33 for 2027; that is a formula input plans use, not the premium anyone actually pays.

The 2027 Part B standard premium and deductible, and the IRMAA income brackets that add a surcharge for higher earners, have not been announced yet. CMS typically publishes those in the fall, usually in November. We will update our coverage when they are official.

How to read the Howard County lineup

Medicare Advantage plans are sold by private insurers under contract with Medicare. In Howard County, the 2027 lineup includes returning carriers, a handful of plans that are new for 2027, and some plans that will not be offered next year. Plans generally come in a few flavors:

• HMO plans usually require you to use an in-network doctor and get a referral to see a specialist.
• PPO plans let you go out of network, usually at a higher cost.
• HMO-POS plans are HMOs with a point-of-service option for limited out-of-network care.
• Special Needs Plans (SNPs) are built for people with a specific condition, people who have both Medicare and Medicaid, or people in certain institutional settings.

Most plans in this area include Part D drug coverage; a smaller number do not, which matters if you take prescriptions.

What to do if your plan is not returning

If a Medicare Advantage plan you are enrolled in is not offered in Howard County for 2027, your insurer must send you a non-renewal notice. That notice triggers a Special Enrollment Period that runs from December 8, 2026, through the end of February 2027, giving you extra time beyond the December 7 deadline to pick a new Medicare Advantage plan or move back to Original Medicare (with the option to add a stand-alone Part D drug plan).

You are not left without coverage on January 1 — but you do have to make a choice, and the sooner you look, the more time you have to compare.

What to do if your plan is returning

Every year, plans that are coming back can still change. Watch for two envelopes in the mail: the Annual Notice of Change (ANOC), usually delivered by the end of September, and the Evidence of Coverage. The ANOC compares what your plan will look like in 2027 against what it looked like in 2026 — the premium, the deductible, the drug list, the provider network, and the extra benefits. Read it before you decide to stay put.

If nothing about your plan changes in a way that matters to you, doing nothing is a valid choice. Your plan renews on January 1.

Comparing plans without getting overwhelmed

Two tools do most of the heavy lifting:

• Medicare Plan Finder at medicare.gov lets you enter your ZIP code and your prescriptions, then shows every Medicare Advantage and Part D plan available in Howard County, with the actual premiums, deductibles, drug costs and star ratings side by side.
• SHIP (State Health Insurance Assistance Program) offers free, unbiased counseling from trained volunteers. Maryland's SHIP is called SHIP as well, and counselors can walk through your options with you at no cost.

Star Ratings, published by Medicare on a 1-to-5 scale, are one signal of plan quality and member experience — useful as context, not as a single deciding factor.