Medicare Advantage

Before you enroll: vetting Charlotte's 14 new 2027 plans

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, N.C. — When the Annual Enrollment Period opens on October 15, 2026, Charlotte-area shoppers will see 14 Medicare Advantage plans on the Mecklenburg County lineup that were not sold here for 2026. The window to pick coverage for next year runs through December 7, 2026, and any change made in that window takes effect January 1, 2027.

A "new" plan is exactly that — new. It has no Star Ratings history yet, and no neighbors who have been in it for years to compare notes with. That doesn't make it a worse or better choice than a plan that is renewing; it just means the usual shortcuts don't apply, and the only reliable way to size it up is to check it against your own doctors and prescriptions before you enroll.

What "new for 2027" means in Mecklenburg County

CMS publishes a Landscape Source File every year that lists every Medicare Advantage plan offered in each county. Comparing the 2026 and 2027 files for Mecklenburg County shows 14 plans new for 2027, 19 plans not returning and 10 plans that are being renamed. The new plans all include prescription drug coverage.

Charlotte is in Mecklenburg County, and plan availability is set at the county level — so these counts apply to everyone enrolling with a Charlotte ZIP code, not just a particular neighborhood.

The 14 new plans, by carrier

Listed alphabetically by carrier, with plan type and drug coverage. The full plan table on this page shows every option available for 2027 side by side.

Alignment Health Plan (5 new plans)

• Alignment Health Duals+ 004 (HMO-POS D-SNP) — with drug coverage
• Alignment Health Heart & Diabetes 011 (HMO C-SNP) — with drug coverage
• Alignment Health Heart & Diabetes Plus 009 (HMO-POS C-SNP) — with drug coverage
• Alignment Health Platinum 012 (HMO) — with drug coverage
• Alignment Health Smart 013 (HMO) — with drug coverage

Devoted Health (3 new plans)

• DEVOTED C-SNP GIVEBACK EXTRAS 031 NC (HMO C-SNP) — with drug coverage
• DEVOTED CORE 037 NC (HMO) — with drug coverage
• DEVOTED GIVEBACK EXTRAS 039 NC (HMO) — with drug coverage

Humana (2 new plans)

• Humana Gold Plus Giveback H1036-343 (HMO-POS) — with drug coverage
• HumanaChoice H7617-122 (PPO) — with drug coverage

Provider Partners Health Plans (2 new plans)

• Provider Partners North Carolina Community Plan (HMO I-SNP) — with drug coverage
• Provider Partners North Carolina Essential Plan (HMO I-SNP) — with drug coverage

UnitedHealthcare (2 new plans)

• UHC Dual Complete NC-Q2 (HMO-POS D-SNP) — with drug coverage
• UHC Dual Complete NC-S3 (HMO-POS D-SNP) — with drug coverage

Special Needs Plans on the new list

Most of the 14 new plans — nine of them — are Special Needs Plans (SNPs), which are only open to people who meet specific eligibility rules:

• D-SNPs (Dual Eligible SNPs) are for people with both Medicare and full or partial Medicaid. On the new list: Alignment Health Duals+ 004, UHC Dual Complete NC-Q2 and UHC Dual Complete NC-S3.
• C-SNPs (Chronic Condition SNPs) are for people with specific conditions, such as diabetes or chronic heart failure. On the new list: Alignment Health Heart & Diabetes 011, Alignment Health Heart & Diabetes Plus 009 and DEVOTED C-SNP GIVEBACK EXTRAS 031 NC.
• I-SNPs (Institutional SNPs) are for people who live in a nursing home or need a similar level of care. On the new list: Provider Partners North Carolina Community Plan and Provider Partners North Carolina Essential Plan.

If you don't meet the eligibility rules for a given SNP, you can't enroll in it, no matter how it looks on paper.

How a new plan differs from a renewing one

A renewing Medicare Advantage plan comes with a paper trail. It has a Star Rating from CMS, it has a published history of premium and benefit changes, and your neighbors or your doctor's billing staff may already know how it works day to day.

A plan new for 2027 doesn't have any of that yet. CMS assigns Star Ratings based on past performance, so brand-new plan contracts are shown without a rating in Plan Finder until they build up enough data. That's a program fact — not a warning sign and not a reason to avoid them. It just means you need to do a little more homework upfront, because you can't lean on reviews or ratings to fill in gaps.

A few practical differences to keep in mind:

• The provider network is being built or expanded for 2027 — a doctor who's in your current plan may or may not be in the new one.
• The drug formulary (the list of covered drugs, with their tiers and any prior-authorization rules) is set fresh for each plan each year.
• Extra benefits (dental, vision, hearing, over-the-counter cards, transportation) are specific to each plan and are listed only in that plan's own documents.

How to check a new plan against your doctors and prescriptions before December 7

The Medicare Plan Finder at medicare.gov/plan-compare is the official tool, and it's free to use. Here's a workflow that works well for a new plan:

1. Make two lists. Write down every doctor, specialist and hospital you want to keep seeing, and every prescription you take — with the exact dose and how often you fill it. 2. Enter your drugs into Plan Finder. It will estimate your yearly drug cost under each plan and flag any tier or restriction. Make sure the dose matches what you actually take. 3. Check the network. For each new plan you're considering, click into the plan details and search for your doctors by name, or call the plan's member services line directly and ask whether a specific provider is contracted for 2027. Don't rely on your doctor's office memory — ask them to confirm in writing which 2027 plans they'll be in. 4. Read the Summary of Benefits on the plan's own website for details Plan Finder doesn't show, like referral rules and out-of-area coverage. 5. If you have questions, call 1-800-MEDICARE (TTY 1-877-486-2048), available 24/7.

If your current plan is renewing and you're happy with it, you don't have to do anything — it will roll over on January 1, 2027, with the changes described in the Annual Notice of Change your insurer sent you in September. But it's still worth a quick check: formularies and networks can change year to year even in a plan that keeps the same name.

Two Part D numbers that apply to every plan on the list

Two 2027 figures are already confirmed by CMS and apply across the board:

• The Part D out-of-pocket cap rises to $2,400 in 2027 (up from $2,100 in 2026). Once your drug spending hits that cap, you pay $0 for covered Part D 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, but not a higher one.

The 2027 Part B standard premium and deductible, and the 2027 IRMAA income brackets, haven't been published yet; CMS typically announces them later in the fall.