Medicare Advantage

Before Dec 7: Vetting Las Vegas's 9 New 2027 MA Plans

For 2027, Las Vegas 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.

Las Vegas, fall 2026 — When the Medicare Plan Finder refreshes for 2027, shoppers in the Las Vegas area will see nine Medicare Advantage plans they could not pick last year. All of them come with drug coverage, and more than half are Special Needs Plans built for people with specific health or financial situations. Here is who is offering what, and how to check a brand-new plan against your own doctors and prescriptions before the December 7 deadline.

What "new" means on the 2027 lineup

A plan is "new" when a carrier files it with CMS for the first time for the coming year — it was not sold in Clark County in 2026. That is different from a renewing plan, which simply continues with the updates spelled out in its Annual Notice of Change (ANOC). It is also different from a renamed plan, which is the same contract under a different label.

Why does this matter for shoppers? Because the Plan Finder shows Star Ratings based on how a plan has performed in past years. A brand-new plan will not have that history yet. CMS typically assigns new plans a placeholder until enough claims and member-experience data exist to rate them. That is a program fact, not a mark against the plan.

For 2027 in Clark County, CMS data show 9 new plans, 11 plans not returning, and 15 renamed. Each of those changes shows up differently on medicare.gov, so it pays to read the fine print.

The 9 new Medicare Advantage plans in Clark County for 2027

In alphabetical order by carrier, these are the plans new to the Las Vegas area next year. Every one includes Part D drug coverage. The table below lists each new plan with its type.

• Aetna (CVS Health) — Aetna Medicare Full Dual (HMO D-SNP)
• Centene (WellCare) — Wellcare SilverSummit Healthplan Dual Access (HMO-POS D-SNP)
• Humana — Humana Gold Plus - Diabetes and Heart (HMO C-SNP); Humana Gold Plus H1036-344 (HMO)
• SCAN Health Plan — SCAN Costco Medicare Advantage (HMO)
• Select Health — Select Health Medicare Veterans (HMO)
• UnitedHealthcare — AARP Medicare Advantage Patriot No Rx NV-MA2 (HMO-POS); UHC Dual Complete NV-Q3 (PPO D-SNP); UHC Dual Complete NV-S6 (PPO D-SNP)

Of the nine, five are Special Needs Plans: two Dual Eligible SNPs from UnitedHealthcare, one D-SNP each from Aetna and Centene, and one Chronic Condition SNP from Humana focused on diabetes and heart conditions. SNPs have eligibility rules — generally you must have the chronic condition, qualify for both Medicare and Medicaid, or live in a specific institutional setting — so they are not open to every shopper.

How a brand-new plan differs from a renewing one

If you are happy with the plan you have now and it is returning for 2027, you do not need to do anything. Your coverage renews automatically on January 1 with whatever changes your ANOC describes. Those documents land in September or October — read the pages about premiums, the drug formulary, your doctors and the pharmacy network.

A new plan is a different story:

• No Star Rating history. The Plan Finder may show "N/A" or a note that the plan is too new to rate. Again, this does not mean the plan is weak; it means CMS has not scored it yet.
• No local word-of-mouth yet. Neighbors, pharmacists and clinic front desks will not have a year of experience with it.
• Networks and formularies are published, but untested in the market. The documents exist on the carrier's site, but how smooth prior authorization or referrals feel is something you learn once a plan is live.

None of that is a reason to avoid a new plan. It just means doing a careful match before you enroll.

How to check a plan against your doctors and prescriptions

Before December 7, 2026, run every plan you are considering — new or renewing — through the same three checks:

1. Doctors and hospitals. Use the Plan Finder at medicare.gov to pull up a plan, then open its provider directory and search each doctor by name. Call the office too; directories lag reality. If your care team is at a specific health system, ask whether the plan contracts with that system for 2027, not just 2026. 2. Prescriptions. On medicare.gov, enter your drugs exactly as they are written — strength, form and quantity. The site will show which tier each drug sits on and what you can expect to pay through the year. In 2027 the Part D out-of-pocket cap is $2,400 (up from $2,100 in 2026), and the Part D maximum deductible is $700 (up from $615 in 2026). 3. Pharmacy. Check that your pharmacy is in the plan's preferred network for 2027. The same drug can cost very different amounts at a preferred versus a standard pharmacy.

If a drug cost is going to land hard in one month, ask the plan about the Medicare Prescription Payment Plan, the optional program that spreads your out-of-pocket drug costs across the calendar year.

The dates to keep in mind

• October 15 – December 7, 2026: Annual Enrollment Period. Changes made now take effect January 1, 2027.
• January 1 – March 31, 2027: Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment. If you are already in a Medicare Advantage plan on January 1, you get one more chance to switch to a different MA plan or go back to Original Medicare.

CMS has not yet published the 2027 Part B standard premium and deductible or the 2027 IRMAA income brackets; those usually arrive in November. We will update our coverage when they do.