Medicare Advantage

94 Plans, 11 Carriers: Mecklenburg's 2027 AEP Choices

People in Charlotte can choose from 89 Medicare Advantage plans for 2027, against 94 this year. 19 of this year’s plans are gone, 14 are new to Mecklenburg County, and 28 that continue have changed their premium, deductible, plan type or name, 10 of them under a new name.

CHARLOTTE — Fall 2026. The letter in the mail with the words "Annual Notice of Change" on the cover is the single most important piece of Medicare paperwork you will get this year. It tells you how your current plan will work in 2027 — and it is the starting point for the review window that closes Dec. 7, 2026.

If you do nothing, your plan renews on Jan. 1 with the changes that letter describes. That is fine for some people and a problem for others. The checklist below is built for Charlotte residents who want to spend an hour making sure next year's coverage still fits.

Step 1: Read the ANOC before you do anything else

Your Annual Notice of Change arrived (or will arrive) by late September. It is a short document with a specific job: to compare your plan in 2026 to the same plan in 2027, line by line.

Look for four things:

• The monthly premium for 2027.
• The deductible and the copays or coinsurance for the services you actually use (primary care, specialists, imaging, hospital stays).
• The drug formulary: are your prescriptions still covered, and on the same tier?
• The provider and pharmacy network: any notes about hospitals or systems leaving.

If something changed and you don't understand it, that is your signal to keep reading — or to compare plans.

Step 2: Check your doctors and hospitals for 2027

Networks shift every year. A doctor who is in-network in 2026 may not be in 2027, and the reverse is also true.

• Call your primary care office and your main specialists. Ask directly: "Will you be in-network with [plan name] in 2027?"
• For Charlotte residents, that often means checking Atrium Health, Novant Health and the practices affiliated with them.
• Confirm the hospital you would want to use is in the 2027 network — not just the doctor.
• Write down what each office tells you, with the date. Networks finalize late in the fall, so a mid-October answer and a late-November answer can differ.

Step 3: Price your prescriptions against the 2027 formulary

This is where most people find savings or surprises. Your plan's formulary is the list of drugs it covers and what tier each one is on. Tiers drive what you pay.

• Make a current list of every prescription: name, dose, how often.
• On Medicare.gov's Plan Finder, enter your drugs and your preferred pharmacy. It will show the 2027 total estimated cost for each plan available in Mecklenburg County.
• Remember the 2027 rules: the Part D out-of-pocket cap is $2,400, and no plan's deductible can exceed $700. If your drug spending is high, the cap matters.
• If paying for drugs in a lump month is hard, ask about the Medicare Prescription Payment Plan, which spreads your drug costs across the calendar year.

Step 4: Know how many plans you can compare

Charlotte is in Mecklenburg County, where CMS lists 94 Medicare Advantage plans from 11 carriers for 2026, all of them with drug coverage. The mix includes 32 HMOs, 26 HMO-POS plans, 35 PPOs and 1 PFFS plan, plus 38 Special Needs Plans for people who qualify (dual-eligible, chronic condition, or institutional).

The carriers offering Medicare Advantage in the county are Aetna (CVS Health), Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina, Blue Cross Blue Shield (HCSC), Centene (WellCare), Devoted Health, HealthTeam Advantage, Humana, Liberty Medicare Advantage, Longevity Health Plan, Provider Partners Health Plans and UnitedHealthcare. The table below lists every plan by carrier so you can look up the ones you want to compare.

You do not need to look at all 94. Use Plan Finder to narrow by your drugs, your doctors and the plan type you prefer.

Step 5: Mark the deadline — and know your backup

Dec. 7, 2026 is the last day of Annual Enrollment. A change made in the window starts Jan. 1, 2027.

If you enroll in a Medicare Advantage plan and change your mind, the Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period (Jan. 1 – March 31, 2027) lets you switch to a different Advantage plan or return to Original Medicare one time. It is a safety net, not a substitute for a careful fall review.

A few 2027 figures are not out yet. CMS typically publishes the Part B standard premium and deductible and the IRMAA income brackets later in the fall. When those numbers appear on Medicare.gov, add them to your review.