Medicare Advantage

Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield Medicare Advantage in New York for 2027: 13 Plans

NEW YORK — For the 2027 plan year, Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield will offer 13 Medicare Advantage plans across parts of New York, according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Medicare Advantage Landscape Source Files. The lineup includes 12 HMO plans and one PPO, and every one of the 13 includes prescription drug coverage. This article is published by an independent Medicare education site; it is not written by Highmark, by any insurance carrier, or by the federal government.

What Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield offers statewide for 2027

Based on the CMS Landscape file for CY2027, Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield (CMS groups this carrier as Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield or Highmark Blue Shield) will have 13 Medicare Advantage plans available somewhere in New York next year. The breakdown by plan type is 12 HMO plans and 1 PPO plan.

All 13 plans include prescription drug coverage (commonly called MAPD). For 2027, Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield is not listing any Special Needs Plans in New York — zero Dual-Eligible SNPs (D-SNP), zero Chronic Condition SNPs (C-SNP), and zero Institutional SNPs (I-SNP). If you qualify for Medicaid as well as Medicare, or if you live in a long-term care facility, you may want to look at other carriers in the state that do offer SNPs.

For context, 23 other carriers will also sell Medicare Advantage plans in New York for 2027, and the full statewide count across all carriers is 224 plans.

Plans with the widest county reach

Plan reach varies a lot inside Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield's New York footprint. According to the CMS Landscape file, the plans listed in the most New York counties for 2027 are:

• Senior Blue 652 (HMO) — offered in 10 counties
• Community Blue Medicare HMO Standard (HMO) — offered in 8 counties (new for 2027)
• Freedom Valor (PPO) — offered in 8 counties
• Senior Blue 601 (HMO) — offered in 8 counties

Other plans — including the Community Blue Medicare HMO 651, Community Blue Medicare HMO Distinct, and Community Blue Medicare HMO Signature product families — are listed in two or three counties each. The full plan list is rendered as a table elsewhere on this page.

Being on the statewide list does not mean a plan is sold in your specific county. Service areas are set county by county, so the only way to know what is available at your address is to run your ZIP code through the Medicare Plan Finder at medicare.gov or call 1-800-MEDICARE.

What is new, and what is not returning

Comparing the 2026 and 2027 CMS Landscape Source Files, Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield has 4 plans that are new for 2027 in New York and 5 plans that will not return.

The plans flagged as new for next year in the CMS file include three Community Blue Medicare HMO 651 (HMO) listings in different county groupings and the Community Blue Medicare HMO Standard (HMO).

If you are currently enrolled in a Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield plan, the carrier is required to send you an Annual Notice of Change (ANOC) by late September 2026. That notice tells you whether your plan is continuing, whether anything about it is changing, or whether it is being discontinued. Read it before you decide to keep what you have or switch.

Checking whether a plan covers your county, your doctors, and your prescriptions

Three things determine whether any Medicare Advantage plan actually fits your life:

1. County availability. A plan listed in the statewide count may not be sold in your county. Confirm by entering your ZIP code on medicare.gov. 2. Provider network. HMO and PPO plans use provider networks, and networks are set by the plan, not by the state. Call your doctors, hospitals, and specialists directly and ask whether they are in-network for the specific Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield plan and the specific 2027 plan year — contracts can change year to year. 3. Drug coverage. Even though all 13 Highmark plans include prescription drug coverage, each plan has its own formulary with its own tiers and rules (prior authorization, step therapy, quantity limits). Match your current prescriptions against the plan's 2027 formulary on Medicare Plan Finder, or ask the plan directly for its Evidence of Coverage and formulary.

If any one of those three doesn't line up, that's useful information — it means that plan may not be the right fit even if it's available on paper.

What to do before December 7

The Annual Enrollment Period for 2027 coverage runs October 15 – December 7, 2026. Any Medicare Advantage or Part D choice you make during that window takes effect January 1, 2027.

A practical checklist:

• Read your ANOC if you are already enrolled in a plan.
• List your doctors, hospitals, and current prescriptions (names, dosages, frequency).
• Go to medicare.gov, enter your ZIP code, and filter to Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield to see which of the 13 plans are offered in your county.
• Compare each plan's Evidence of Coverage, Summary of Benefits, and formulary — those are the official documents.
• Call the plan directly with any questions about networks or drug coverage before you enroll.

There is no need to rush. The deadline is a date, not a countdown.

Where to get free help

For unbiased, no-cost information:

• Medicare.gov — the official Medicare Plan Finder, with county-level plan availability, formularies, and plan documents.
• 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227) — available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, including TTY service at 1-877-486-2048.

Both can help you confirm what Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield plans are available in your county for 2027 and point you to the official plan documents.