Medicare Advantage

Wellcare Medicare Advantage in Michigan for 2027: 6 Plans, County by County

LANSING, Mich. — For the 2027 plan year, Wellcare — which the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services groups under Centene (WellCare) — will offer six Medicare Advantage plans across Michigan, according to the CMS Medicare Advantage Landscape Source File for CY2027. The lineup includes two HMO plans and four HMO-POS plans, with three Dual Eligible Special Needs Plans (D-SNPs) in the mix. All six plans include drug coverage. This explainer is published by an independent Medicare education site; we are not the government and not Wellcare.

2027 plan lineupMichigan

Because Medicare Advantage plans are offered county by county, a plan listed statewide may or may not be available where you live. The county-by-county tables elsewhere on this page show which plans appear in which counties.

What Wellcare offers in Michigan for 2027

Statewide, Wellcare's 2027 Michigan slate breaks down this way, counting each plan once:

• 6 Medicare Advantage plans total
• 2 HMO plans and 4 HMO-POS plans
• 3 D-SNPs (plans for people with both Medicare and Medicaid); 0 C-SNPs and 0 I-SNPs
• 6 plans with drug coverage included

For context, 17 other carriers also offer Medicare Advantage plans somewhere in Michigan for 2027, and across all carriers the state has 181 Medicare Advantage plans listed in the CMS file.

Wellcare's plans with the widest county reach

The CMS Landscape File reports county reach for each plan. Ranked by the number of Michigan counties where the plan is offered, Wellcare's 2027 plans are:

• Wellcare Meridian Health Dual Liberty (HMO D-SNP) — offered in 51 counties
• Wellcare Assist (HMO-POS) — offered in 48 counties
• Wellcare Giveback (HMO-POS) — offered in 48 counties
• Wellcare Simple (HMO-POS) — offered in 48 counties
• Wellcare Meridian Health Dual Access (HMO-POS D-SNP) — offered in 28 counties
• Wellcare Meridian Dual Align (HMO D-SNP) — offered in 10 counties

County reach tells you where a plan is available, not whether it fits a particular household. Two plans with the same county footprint can look very different on paper, which is why the Medicare Plan Finder and each plan's Evidence of Coverage are the places to compare details.

What is new, and what is not returning

One Wellcare plan is new for 2027: Wellcare Meridian Health Dual Liberty (HMO D-SNP), a Dual Eligible Special Needs Plan listed in 51 Michigan counties.

One plan has been renamed. According to the CMS year-over-year comparison, Wellcare Dual Access (HMO-POS D-SNP) is listed for 2027 as Wellcare Meridian Health Dual Access (HMO-POS D-SNP). A rename is an administrative change in the CMS file; the plan materials themselves will spell out any changes for the new year.

Four Wellcare plans offered in 2026 are not returning in 2027. If you are currently enrolled in a plan that is ending, Wellcare is required to send you a written notice (an Annual Notice of Change or a non-renewal notice) explaining your options. Reading that letter carefully is the first step.

Checking your county, your doctors, and your prescriptions

Before you choose or keep any plan, three checks are worth doing:

1. County availability. Enter your ZIP code at medicare.gov to confirm which Wellcare plans actually appear in your county. The statewide list above is a starting point, not a guarantee of local availability. 2. Doctors and hospitals. Each plan has its own network. Call your providers' billing offices and ask whether they will be in-network for the specific Wellcare plan you are considering for 2027, or check the plan's online provider directory. 3. Prescriptions. Each plan has its own drug formulary with its own tiers and rules. Enter your medications into the Plan Finder to see how a specific plan treats each one.

If any of these three pieces does not line up — your county, your providers, or your medications — that is useful information. It does not make a plan "bad"; it just means it may not be a match for you.

What to do before December 7

The Annual Enrollment Period runs October 15 – December 7, 2026. A choice you make during that window takes effect January 1, 2027. During AEP you can:

• Join a Medicare Advantage plan
• Switch from one Medicare Advantage plan to another
• Move from Medicare Advantage back to Original Medicare, with or without a stand-alone Part D plan
• Add, drop, or change a Part D prescription drug plan

A short checklist that works for most households: gather your Medicare card, a current list of prescriptions with doses, and a list of the doctors and hospitals you want to keep; read the Annual Notice of Change from your current plan; and run a side-by-side comparison on the Plan Finder.

People with both Medicare and Medicaid have additional opportunities to change plans outside AEP, which is relevant to Wellcare's three D-SNPs in Michigan.

Where to get free help

Two no-cost, non-sales resources handle Medicare questions year-round:

• medicare.gov — the official Medicare Plan Finder, with county-level plan availability, provider lookups, and drug cost estimates.
• 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227) — available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, with TTY at 1-877-486-2048.

For plan-specific questions — a particular doctor, a particular drug, prior authorization rules — the plan's own member services line and Evidence of Coverage are the authoritative sources.