Medicare Advantage

Kansas City's 12 new-for-2027 Medicare Advantage plans: who's launching what

Jackson County has 65 Medicare Advantage plans for 2027. Compared with 2026, 11 plans are not coming back, 12 are new, and 36 continuing plans changed in some way you should check before December 7, 16 of them under a new name. This guide covers what those numbers mean for Kansas City, not which plan to pick.

Kansas City, Mo. — Fall 2026. Four insurers are putting fresh Medicare Advantage plans on the shelf in Jackson County for 2027, and because none of them existed here last year, they come without a local track record for shoppers to lean on. That makes a careful look — at doctors, drugs and plan type — the real work of this Annual Enrollment Period, which runs October 15 through December 7, 2026.

Below is the carrier-by-carrier picture of what's new, how a brand-new plan differs from one that's simply renewing, and how to check a plan against your own care before the December 7 deadline.

What "new for 2027" means in Jackson County

Medicare plan availability is set at the county level. Kansas City is in Jackson County, where CMS's 2027 Landscape file lists 12 Medicare Advantage plans that were not offered for 2026. Four carriers are behind them:

• Aetna (CVS Health) — 4 new plans
• Devoted Health — 4 new plans
• Provider Partners Health Plans — 2 new plans
• UnitedHealthcare — 2 new plans

The full table below this article lists every 2027 plan in the county. The rest of this piece focuses on the 12 that are new.

The 12 new plans, carrier by carrier

Spelled exactly as they appear in the CMS file, in alphabetical order by carrier:

Aetna (CVS Health)

• Aetna Medicare Enhanced (HMO-POS) — with drug coverage
• Aetna Medicare Full Dual Extra Care (HMO D-SNP) — with drug coverage
• Aetna Medicare Longevity (HMO I-SNP) — with drug coverage
• Aetna Medicare Signature (PPO) — with drug coverage

Devoted Health

• DEVOTED C-SNP CHOICE GIVEBACK EXTRAS 026 MO (PPO C-SNP) — with drug coverage
• DEVOTED CHOICE 001 MO (PPO) — with drug coverage
• DEVOTED CHOICE GIVEBACK 002 MO (PPO) — with drug coverage
• DEVOTED CHOICE GIVEBACK EXTRAS 005 MO (PPO) — with drug coverage

Provider Partners Health Plans

• Provider Partners Missouri Community Plan (HMO I-SNP) — with drug coverage
• Provider Partners Missouri Essential Plan (HMO I-SNP) — with drug coverage

UnitedHealthcare

• UHC Dual Advantage MO-V1 (HMO-POS D-SNP) — with drug coverage
• UHC Dual Complete MO-S3 (HMO-POS D-SNP) — with drug coverage

Every one of the 12 includes Part D drug coverage. The mix is roughly half Special Needs Plans and half general-market plans, and the plan types range from HMO-POS to PPO to several SNP variants.

Special Needs Plans among the newcomers

A Special Needs Plan (SNP) is a Medicare Advantage plan limited to people who meet specific criteria. The three types that appear in Kansas City's new-for-2027 list are:

• D-SNP (Dual Eligible) — for people who have both Medicare and Medicaid. New here: Aetna Medicare Full Dual Extra Care, UHC Dual Advantage MO-V1, UHC Dual Complete MO-S3.
• C-SNP (Chronic Condition) — for people with a qualifying chronic condition such as diabetes or heart failure. New here: DEVOTED C-SNP CHOICE GIVEBACK EXTRAS 026 MO.
• I-SNP (Institutional) — for people who live in (or need the level of care provided in) a long-term care facility. New here: Aetna Medicare Longevity, Provider Partners Missouri Community Plan, Provider Partners Missouri Essential Plan.

If you don't meet the eligibility rules for an SNP, you can't enroll in it. If you do, these plans are designed around that population's typical care needs.

How a brand-new plan is different from a renewing one

There's no mystery to this — just a few concrete differences:

• No Star Rating history. CMS Star Ratings reflect past performance (member experience, customer service, how the plan handled appeals and more). A plan in its first year hasn't been measured yet, so it typically shows no overall rating until enough data is collected.
• No prior year's Annual Notice of Change (ANOC). With a renewing plan, you can compare this year's benefits to last year's. With a brand-new plan, 2027 is year one; the Evidence of Coverage and the Summary of Benefits are the primary documents to read.
• Fresh provider directories and formularies. A new plan's network and drug list are built for 2027. Even if the carrier is familiar in Kansas City, a specific new plan may have its own contracted doctors, hospitals and preferred pharmacies.

None of that is a reason, by itself, to choose or avoid a new plan. It just means the homework is slightly different: you're reading the plan's own documents rather than comparing year-over-year.

How to check a plan against your doctors and prescriptions before December 7

Three steps, in this order, will tell you most of what you need to know:

1. Use the Medicare Plan Finder at medicare.gov. Enter your ZIP code, add your current prescriptions and preferred pharmacy, and the tool will show which 2027 plans cover your drugs and estimate your yearly cost. 2. Confirm your doctors and hospitals. Call the plan directly (or check its online provider search) to verify that each doctor you want to keep is in that specific plan's 2027 network. Networks can differ even between two plans from the same carrier. 3. Read the Summary of Benefits and the Evidence of Coverage. These are the plan's own documents and are the authoritative source for premiums, deductibles, copays, prior authorization rules and extras.

If you'd rather talk it through, 1-800-MEDICARE is open 24/7.

Deadlines and a few 2027 figures to keep in mind

The Annual Enrollment Period runs October 15 through December 7, 2026. Any change you make in that window takes effect January 1, 2027. If you do nothing, your current plan renews — with whatever changes are described in its ANOC.

A few 2027 program-level figures CMS has already published:

• Part D out-of-pocket cap: $2,400 in 2027 (up from $2,100 in 2026).
• Part D maximum deductible: $700 in 2027 (up from $615 in 2026).
• Part D national base beneficiary premium: $41.33 for 2027 (this is a formula input, not what any specific plan charges).

The 2027 Part B standard premium and deductible, and the 2027 IRMAA income brackets, had not been announced as of early fall 2026. CMS typically releases those figures later in the fall.