Medicare Advantage

Before You Pick a Medicare Plan With a Chronic Condition

St. Louis city has 80 Medicare Advantage plans for 2027. Compared with 2026, 10 plans are not coming back, 11 are new, and 41 continuing plans changed in some way you should check before December 7, 17 of them under a new name. This guide covers what those numbers mean for St. Louis, not which plan to pick.

ST. LOUIS — If you live with a long-term health condition like diabetes, heart disease or a serious lung problem, there is a type of Medicare Advantage plan built around you. It is called a Chronic Condition Special Needs Plan, or C-SNP. For 2027, seven C-SNPs are offered to people enrolled in Medicare in St. Louis city, from five carriers, according to the CMS Medicare Advantage Landscape Source File. The Annual Enrollment Period runs October 15 through December 7, 2026, and any change you make takes effect January 1, 2027.

What is a C-SNP and how does it work in St. Louis for 2027?

A C-SNP is a Medicare Advantage plan designed for people with a specific chronic condition, such as diabetes, cardiovascular disorders or chronic lung disease. Like other Medicare Advantage plans, a C-SNP replaces Original Medicare as the way your Part A and Part B benefits are delivered, and most C-SNPs include Part D drug coverage built in.

What makes a C-SNP different is focus. The plan's provider network, drug list and care-management services are shaped around one condition (or a related group of conditions). That often means care coordination, condition-specific education and a drug formulary that pays attention to the medicines people with that diagnosis typically take. The exact benefits, costs and network are set by each plan — you can see those details on the Medicare Plan Finder at medicare.gov or in the plan's Evidence of Coverage.

Which C-SNPs are offered in St. Louis city for 2027?

Seven C-SNPs are available to residents of St. Louis city for the 2027 plan year, from Aetna (CVS Health), Devoted Health, Elevance Health (Anthem), Humana and UnitedHealthcare. The table on this page lists every Medicare Advantage plan in the county; the C-SNPs for 2027, in alphabetical order by carrier, are:

• Aetna Medicare Chronic Care (HMO C-SNP) — Aetna (CVS Health)
• DEVOTED C-SNP ENHANCED 015 MO (HMO C-SNP) — Devoted Health (renamed; was DEVOTED C-SNP PREMIUM 015 MO)
• DEVOTED C-SNP GIVEBACK EXTRAS 029 MO (HMO C-SNP) — Devoted Health (new for 2027)
• DEVOTED C-SNP PLUS 016 MO (HMO C-SNP) — Devoted Health
• Anthem Chronic Care (HMO-POS C-SNP) — Elevance Health (Anthem)
• Humana Gold Plus - Diabetes and Heart (HMO C-SNP) — Humana
• UHC Complete Care MO-1 (PPO C-SNP) — UnitedHealthcare

Some plan names signal the condition the plan serves (Humana's "Diabetes and Heart" is one example). Others do not, and we are not going to guess — call the plan or check the Plan Finder to confirm which chronic condition a plan accepts before you apply.

C-SNPs are one slice of the Special Needs Plan landscape in St. Louis. For 2027, the county's 80 Medicare Advantage plans include 7 C-SNPs, 19 Dual-eligible SNPs (D-SNPs) for people with both Medicare and Medicaid, and 9 Institutional SNPs (I-SNPs) for people living in long-term care settings.

How do I qualify to enroll in a C-SNP?

Enrollment in a C-SNP requires a qualifying chronic condition confirmed by your provider. When you apply, the plan asks for the name and contact information of a doctor or other clinician who can verify your diagnosis, and the plan then reaches out to that provider. If the condition cannot be confirmed within the window Medicare allows, your enrollment can be ended.

This verification step is why a C-SNP is not something you simply pick off a list — your diagnosis is the ticket in. If you are not sure whether your condition qualifies for a given plan, ask the plan directly or call 1-800-MEDICARE.

When can I sign up for a C-SNP?

You can enroll during the Annual Enrollment Period, October 15 – December 7, 2026, with coverage starting January 1, 2027. You can also use the Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period, January 1 – March 31, 2027, to switch Medicare Advantage plans once.

On top of that, having a qualifying chronic condition triggers a Special Enrollment Period (SEP). That means you can enroll in a C-SNP outside the usual windows once you have the diagnosis — you do not have to wait until next fall. The SEP is available only until you enroll in a C-SNP; after that, the regular rules for changing plans apply. If a C-SNP later determines you no longer meet the condition criteria, there is also a grace period during which you can switch to another plan.

What is changing in St. Louis for 2027?

Across all Medicare Advantage plans in St. Louis city, 11 plans are new for 2027, 10 are not returning, and 17 have been renamed. If you are already in a Medicare Advantage plan or a Part D plan, your carrier sends an Annual Notice of Change (ANOC) each fall that spells out what is different for the coming year — premium, deductible, drug list, network and extra benefits. Read it before December 7.

A few program-level numbers that matter if you take prescription drugs: in 2027, Part D's out-of-pocket cap rises to $2,400 (from $2,100 in 2026), and the maximum Part D deductible a plan can charge is $700 (up from $615 in 2026). The 2027 Part B standard premium and the IRMAA income brackets had not been announced by CMS at the time of writing; those typically come out later in the fall.

How should I decide between a C-SNP and another Medicare Advantage plan?

Start with your diagnosis and your doctors. A C-SNP can be a good fit if the plan is built around a condition you actually have, your preferred providers are in the plan's network, and the plan's formulary covers the drugs you take. A general Medicare Advantage plan may fit better if your care team is not in a C-SNP's network, or if your condition does not match the ones the local C-SNPs are built for.

Either way, run the comparison on the Medicare Plan Finder at medicare.gov. It lets you enter your drugs and pharmacies and see each plan's estimated yearly cost, star rating and network — the kinds of specifics we cannot publish here.