Medicare Advantage

How Many Medicare Choices Does Royal Oak Really Have?

How Many Medicare Choices Does Royal Oak Really Have? — plain-language Medicare information for Royal Oak, Michigan.

If you're turning 65 in Royal Oak — or you're already on Medicare and thinking about a change — the first question is usually the simplest: how many plans can I actually pick from? For 2026, Royal Oak sits in Oakland County, where the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) listed 103 Medicare Advantage plans. The 2027 count for the county will appear in each plan's ANOC and on Medicare.gov's Plan Finder during the Oct. 15 – Dec. 7, 2026 Annual Enrollment Period.

That's a lot of choices to sort through, and it helps to know what those numbers mean before you open Plan Finder.

What the plan counts actually mean

Medicare plan availability is set at the county level, not the city level. So while we say "Medicare in Royal Oak," the real geography CMS uses is Oakland County. Every Royal Oak resident on Medicare is shopping from the same countywide menu as neighbors in Ferndale, Troy, or Birmingham.

For 2026, that menu included 103 Medicare Advantage plans from 13 carriers. Some carriers offer several plans — different networks, different drug coverage, different plan types (HMO, PPO, and so on). That's why the plan count is much higher than the carrier count. The 2027 lineup is in each plan's ANOC and on Medicare.gov's Plan Finder.

What about stand-alone drug plans?

If you stay with Original Medicare (Parts A and B), you'd normally add a stand-alone Part D prescription drug plan for medication coverage. According to the CMS landscape file we're using for 2026, 0 stand-alone Part D plans were listed for Oakland County. In practice, most people who want drug coverage in this area do it through a Medicare Advantage plan that includes Part D (an "MA-PD"). To confirm what stand-alone options show for your ZIP code for 2027, medicare.gov's Plan Finder is the official source.

Star Ratings, briefly

You'll see "Star Ratings" next to plans on medicare.gov. CMS uses those ratings — 1 to 5 stars — to measure things like customer service, member complaints, and how well plans manage chronic conditions. For the contracts serving this area, CMS's 2026 county-level snapshot showed 0 contracts rated 4 stars or higher. Ratings are just one data point; they aren't a recommendation, and they change each year. The 2027 ratings appear on Medicare.gov's Plan Finder.

Program figures to know for 2026 and 2027

A few program-wide figures apply no matter which plan you pick:

• Part D out-of-pocket cap: $2,100 in 2026 and $2,400 in 2027. Once your covered drug spending hits that threshold, you pay nothing more for covered drugs the rest of the year.
• Part D maximum deductible: $615 (individual plans can set a lower one).
• The old "donut hole": gone as of 2025. Part D now has three phases instead of four.
• Medicare Prescription Payment Plan: an optional program that lets you spread your drug costs across the year in monthly payments instead of paying at the pharmacy counter.
• IRMAA: higher-income surcharges on Part B and Part D start above $109,000 in income for a single filer in 2026.

Dates to circle

• Oct. 15 – Dec. 7, 2026: Annual Enrollment Period. This is when most people join, drop, or switch Medicare Advantage and Part D plans for 2027. If you do nothing, you keep your current plan if it's offered next year, with the changes described in its ANOC.
• Jan. 1 – March 31: Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period. If you're already in an MA plan, you get one chance to switch to another MA plan or return to Original Medicare.

How to narrow 103 plans down to one

With this many options in Oakland County, the fastest way to shrink the list is to start with your own situation:

1. Make a list of your prescriptions, your doctors, and any hospitals or specialists you want to keep. 2. Go to medicare.gov and use Plan Finder. Enter your ZIP code and your drug list — it filters plans by what actually matters to you. 3. Call 1-800-MEDICARE (24/7) for questions about your specific enrollment. 4. Contact Michigan's SHIP program, MMAP (Medicare/Medicaid Assistance Program), at 1-800-803-7174 for free, unbiased local counseling.