Medicare Advantage

If you got a non-renewal letter in St. Louis, here is what January 1 looks like

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 — Fall 2026 mail is arriving, and some St. Louis residents on Medicare Advantage are opening a letter they did not expect: a notice that their current plan will not be offered in 2027. Ten Medicare Advantage plans sold in St. Louis city this year are not in the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) 2027 landscape file for the county. If one of them is yours, you have time, choices, and a special window to use them in.

Which Medicare Advantage plans are not returning in St. Louis for 2027?

Ten plans offered in St. Louis city in 2026 are not in CMS's 2027 landscape file for the county. Overall, 80 Medicare Advantage plans from 11 carriers will be offered in St. Louis city for 2027.

Here are the plans not returning, listed alphabetically by carrier:

• Centene (WellCare): Wellcare Giveback (HMO-POS)
• HealthSpring: HealthSpring True Choice Savings (PPO)
• Provider Partners Health Plans: Provider Partners Missouri Community Plan (HMO I-SNP); Provider Partners Missouri Essential Plan (HMO I-SNP)
• UnitedHealthcare: AARP Medicare Advantage from UHC ST-2 (PPO); UHC Complete Care AM-1 (Regional PPO C-SNP); UHC Complete Care Support AM-1A (Regional PPO C-SNP); UHC Dual Complete MO-S3 (HMO-POS D-SNP); UHC Dual Complete MO-V001 (HMO-POS D-SNP); UHC Medicare Advantage AM-0002 (Regional PPO)

If your plan is not on this list, it is expected to be offered again in 2027 — but it may change. Your Annual Notice of Change (ANOC), mailed by late September, spells out the differences for next year.

How do I know if my plan in St. Louis is one of the ones leaving?

The clearest signal is a non-renewal letter from your plan, which federal rules require carriers to send when a plan will not be offered the next year. It typically arrives in early October and will say plainly that your plan is ending December 31, 2026.

The letter should also explain what your carrier is offering as an alternative, how to compare other plans, and the dates of your Special Enrollment Period. If you are unsure whether a letter you received is a non-renewal notice, call the number on the back of your member card, or check your plan at medicare.gov using the Plan Finder.

What happens on January 1, 2027 if I do nothing?

If your Medicare Advantage plan is not returning and you make no other choice, you will be moved to Original Medicare — Part A (hospital) and Part B (medical) — on January 1, 2027. You will not be left without health coverage.

But two gaps are worth knowing about:

• No drug coverage. Most of the non-returning plans included Part D. Original Medicare does not. If you do not join a stand-alone Part D plan or a new Medicare Advantage plan with drug coverage, you could face a late enrollment penalty later and have no help paying for prescriptions in the meantime.
• No cap on cost sharing. Original Medicare has coinsurance and deductibles with no yearly out-of-pocket maximum. Many people pair it with a Medicare Supplement (Medigap) policy to limit those costs.

What choices and Special Enrollment Period do I have?

Two enrollment windows apply if your plan is leaving:

• The Annual Enrollment Period (AEP), October 15 – December 7, 2026. You can choose any 2027 Medicare Advantage plan or a stand-alone Part D plan during this window, and your new coverage starts January 1, 2027.
• A Special Enrollment Period (SEP) because of the non-renewal, December 8, 2026 through the end of February 2027. Because your plan is being discontinued, Medicare gives you extra time to pick a new Medicare Advantage plan or to join a stand-alone Part D plan if you return to Original Medicare.

You also have a guaranteed-issue right to buy a Medigap policy when your Medicare Advantage plan leaves the market. During that right, insurers cannot deny you a policy or charge more because of your health. The federal right covers certain Medigap plans; Missouri has its own additional rules, so for state-specific details contact the Missouri Department of Commerce and Insurance.

The 80 Medicare Advantage plans available in St. Louis city for 2027 come from 11 carriers; the table on this page lists every plan by carrier and type. You can compare them side by side at medicare.gov/plan-compare or by calling 1-800-MEDICARE (TTY 1-877-486-2048), 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

What should I know about 2027 Part D if I need drug coverage?

For 2027, the Part D out-of-pocket cap rises to $2,400 (up from $2,100 in 2026), and the maximum Part D deductible a plan can charge rises to $700 (up from $615 in 2026). The coverage gap, often called the donut hole, no longer exists — Part D now has three phases.

If your prescription costs are uneven across the year, you can also ask any Part D plan to use the Medicare Prescription Payment Plan, which spreads your out-of-pocket drug costs into monthly payments. CMS announces the 2027 Part B premium, Part B deductible and IRMAA income brackets later this fall; those are not yet set.