Medicare Advantage

Manchester's 2027 Medicare Advantage slate: the carriers staying, arriving and stepping back

Manchester, N.H. — Fall 2026 is when Medicare's Annual Enrollment Period opens the door on next year's coverage, and for people on or near Medicare in the Queen City, the questions are practical: which Medicare Advantage plans will actually be sold here for 2027, which carriers are new to the local lineup, and which plans that people have today will not be coming back.

Manchester sits in Hillsborough County, and that county is the level at which Medicare sets plan availability. So when we talk about "the Manchester lineup," we mean the plans a Hillsborough County ZIP code can enroll in. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) publishes that list each fall in what it calls the Medicare Advantage Landscape file, and it's the source behind the Plan Finder tool at medicare.gov.

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 for 2027 — provided your carrier is still offering it — with whatever adjustments are described in the Annual Notice of Change (ANOC) your plan mailed you in late September.

How to read the 2027 Manchester lineup

Every fall, CMS refreshes its Landscape file for the coming year. That file lists, county by county, each Medicare Advantage plan a person can enroll in, along with the plan type — HMO, HMO-POS, PPO, or a Special Needs Plan (SNP) built for people with specific conditions or Medicaid eligibility. It also flags whether a plan includes Part D drug coverage (an "MAPD") or not (an "MA-only").

When you look at Hillsborough County for 2027, you'll see the lineup grouped by carrier. Some carriers offer a single plan; others offer several, often mixing HMO and PPO options, or a general-market plan alongside a Dual Eligible SNP (D-SNP) for people who also have Medicaid.

The most useful way to use that list is not to count plans. It's to filter it against the things that actually shape your year: the doctors and hospitals you want to keep, the prescriptions you take, and how you feel about HMO referral rules versus PPO out-of-network flexibility.

What "new for 2027" and "not returning" really mean

A new plan is one a carrier is offering in Hillsborough County for the first time in 2027. That can mean a brand-new carrier entering the Manchester market, or an existing carrier adding another plan alongside what it already sells here.

A non-renewing plan is one that will not be sold for 2027. The carrier may still exist in the county with other plans, or it may be leaving Manchester entirely. If you are enrolled in a plan that is not returning, your plan sends you a non-renewal notice — usually in early October — and you qualify for a Special Enrollment Period to choose another Medicare Advantage plan or return to Original Medicare with a stand-alone Part D plan. That SEP runs from December 8, 2026 through the end of February 2027, so you are not stuck with the December 7 deadline the rest of the market faces.

If you got that letter, read it once, keep it, and don't panic. You have time and options.

Plan types you'll see on the Manchester list

Most of what you'll see falls into four buckets:

• HMO — you pick a primary care doctor and generally stay in-network; referrals may be required for specialists.
• HMO-POS — an HMO with a limited "point of service" option to go out of network for certain services.
• PPO — more flexibility to see out-of-network providers, usually at a higher cost share.
• SNP — plans designed for people with a qualifying condition, institutional status, or dual Medicare–Medicaid eligibility.

The plan type is not a ranking; it's a shape. Which shape fits you depends on how you actually use care.

The 2027 numbers that are already set

For Part D drug coverage — whether it's inside a Medicare Advantage plan or a stand-alone plan — CMS has confirmed a few figures for 2027:

• The annual out-of-pocket cap on covered drugs is $2,400 in 2027, up from $2,100 in 2026.
• The maximum Part D deductible is $700 in 2027, up from $615 in 2026.
• The national base beneficiary premium is $41.33 for 2027. That number is a formula input CMS uses; it is not what any specific plan charges.
• The Medicare Prescription Payment Plan — the option to spread your drug costs across the calendar year in monthly amounts — continues in 2027.

Two important 2027 figures are not yet published: the standard Part B premium and deductible, and the IRMAA income brackets that add a surcharge for higher-income enrollees. CMS typically announces those in November. We'll update our coverage when they land.

How to decide — a short checklist

1. Read your ANOC. Your current plan's Annual Notice of Change lays out what's different for 2027 in the plan you already have. 2. Check your drugs. Enter your prescriptions into the Plan Finder at medicare.gov to see how each 2027 Manchester plan would cover them. 3. Check your doctors and hospitals. Networks change. Confirm directly with the plan and with your providers, not just from a directory screenshot. 4. Think about the plan type. HMO vs. PPO vs. SNP is a lifestyle question as much as a cost question. 5. If your plan isn't returning, use your Special Enrollment Period — you do not have to decide by December 7. 6. Get free, unbiased help from New Hampshire's SHIP program (called ServiceLink here), from 1-800-MEDICARE, or from medicare.gov itself.