Medicare Advantage

Dec. 7 Is the Deadline: A Henderson AEP Walk-Through

For 2027, Henderson is looking at 72 Medicare Advantage plans: 9 new, 11 gone since 2026, and 33 still here but changed on premium, deductible, plan type or name, 15 of them under a new name. Below, how the lineup shifted in Clark County and what to compare, with no plan ranked or recommended.

Henderson, Nev. — The envelope that landed in your mailbox in late September is the one piece of mail worth opening twice this fall. It's your Annual Notice of Change, and it spells out exactly how your current Medicare plan will look in 2027. From now until Dec. 7, 2026, you can keep what you have, switch to a different Medicare Advantage plan, or move between Original Medicare and a Medicare Advantage plan. Anything you change takes effect Jan. 1, 2027.

If you do nothing, your plan simply renews with the changes described in the ANOC — which is why reading it carefully is the whole job this season.

What is the Annual Notice of Change, and why does it matter in Henderson for 2027?

The Annual Notice of Change (ANOC) is the document your Medicare Advantage or Part D plan is required to send each fall. It compares what the plan looks like now with what it will look like on Jan. 1, 2027 — premium, deductible, copays, drug tiers, extra benefits and, sometimes, whether the plan still exists in Clark County.

Plans typically mail the ANOC by late September. If you can't find yours, call the number on your member card and ask for a copy, or sign in to your plan's member portal. The companion document, the Evidence of Coverage (EOC), has the fine print — exclusions, rules for referrals, appeals rights.

What should a Henderson resident check in the ANOC before Dec. 7, 2026?

Work through four lists, in this order:

1. Your doctors. Pull up each primary care doctor and specialist you actually see — Intermountain, Optum, Southwest Medical, HealthCare Partners, independent offices — and confirm each is in-network for 2027. Networks can change on Jan. 1 even if the plan name stays the same. 2. Your hospitals. Henderson residents typically use St. Rose Dominican (Siena, San Martín, de Lima), Henderson Hospital, or the Las Vegas-area systems. Check that the hospital you'd want in an emergency or for a planned procedure is still contracted. 3. Your prescriptions. Go through every drug you take, with the dose. In the ANOC and the 2027 formulary, look for tier changes, new prior authorization or step therapy, and quantity limits. A drug that was Tier 2 this year can move. 4. Your pharmacy. "Preferred" pharmacies often cost less than "standard" ones under the same plan. Confirm your usual pharmacy — a Smith's, Albertsons, CVS, Walgreens, Walmart or an independent — is still preferred in 2027.

For a side-by-side on any of these, the Medicare Plan Finder at medicare.gov/plan-compare lets you enter your drugs, pharmacies and doctors and see every plan available at your ZIP code.

How many Medicare Advantage plans are available in Clark County for 2027?

Henderson is in Clark County, where CMS's 2026 Landscape file lists 74 Medicare Advantage plans from 12 carriers: 38 HMOs, 21 HMO-POS plans, and 15 PPOs. 34 of those are Special Needs Plans (for dual-eligibles or certain chronic conditions), and 71 include Part D drug coverage. The 2027 Landscape file is being published this fall and will update those counts.

The 12 carriers offering plans in the county are, alphabetically: Aetna (CVS Health), Alignment Health Plan, Blue Cross Blue Shield (HCSC), Centene (WellCare), Champion Health Plan, Elevance Health (Anthem), Humana, Kaiser Permanente, Molina Healthcare of Nevada, SCAN Health Plan, Select Health and UnitedHealthcare. The table below lists every plan in the county. Availability is a public CMS fact — it is not a recommendation of any one plan.

What is changing at the Medicare program level in 2027?

Two Part D figures are already confirmed for 2027:

• The Part D out-of-pocket cap rises to $2,400 in 2027 (up from $2,100 in 2026). Once your true out-of-pocket spending on covered drugs hits that cap, you pay $0 for covered drugs for the rest of the year.
• The Part D maximum deductible rises to $700 in 2027 (up from $615 in 2026). Plans can set a lower deductible or none at all, but not higher.
• The Part D national base beneficiary premium for 2027 is $41.33. That's a formula input CMS uses — not the premium any particular plan will charge.

The coverage gap (the old "donut hole") remains eliminated; Part D has three phases now — deductible, initial coverage, and catastrophic. You can also opt into the Medicare Prescription Payment Plan, which spreads your drug cost-sharing across monthly bills instead of hitting all at once at the pharmacy counter.

The 2027 Part B standard premium and deductible, and the 2027 IRMAA income brackets, have not yet been published. CMS typically announces those in November. Don't let anyone quote you a 2027 Part B number before CMS releases it.

What if I miss the Dec. 7 deadline in Henderson?

If Dec. 7 passes and you've done nothing, your current plan renews on Jan. 1, 2027 with the changes listed in your ANOC. You still have two options after that:

• If you're already in a Medicare Advantage plan, the Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period (Jan. 1 – Mar. 31, 2027) lets you switch to a different Medicare Advantage plan, or drop back to Original Medicare and add a standalone Part D plan. You get one change in that window.
• Certain life events — moving, losing other coverage, qualifying for Extra Help or Medicaid — can trigger a Special Enrollment Period outside the normal windows.

For a personalized answer, call 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227), available 24/7, or use the plan comparison tools at medicare.gov.