Medicare Advantage

UnitedHealthcare's 2027 Medicare Advantage plans in Charlotte: 2 new, 9 not returning, 3 renamed

CHARLOTTE — As the Medicare Annual Enrollment Period runs October 15 through December 7, 2026, UnitedHealthcare's Medicare Advantage lineup in Mecklenburg County is shifting. For 2027, the carrier will offer 14 Medicare Advantage plans in the county Charlotte sits in — down from 21 this year — with 2 new plans, 9 that are not returning, and 3 renamed. If you are enrolled in a UnitedHealthcare plan today, the differences show up in your Annual Notice of Change (ANOC), the packet that landed in your mailbox in late September.

MyMedicarePlans.org is an independent consumer site and is not affiliated with UnitedHealthcare or Medicare. UnitedHealthcare is one of 12 carriers offering Medicare Advantage plans in Mecklenburg County for 2027; the other 11 account for the rest of the 89 plans available county-wide.

What UnitedHealthcare plans are available in Charlotte for 2027?

UnitedHealthcare will offer 14 Medicare Advantage plans in Mecklenburg County, the county Charlotte is in, for the 2027 plan year. All 14 include Part D prescription drug coverage. By type, 9 are HMO-POS plans and 5 are PPO plans. The table on this page lists every one of them by name.

The lineup includes AARP-branded plans (the AARP Medicare Advantage and AARP Medicare Advantage Giveback plans, plus the AARP Medicare Advantage Patriot No Rx plan), along with UHC Complete Care, UHC Dual Advantage, UHC Dual Complete and the UHC Nursing Home Plan. Spelling matters when you look a plan up on medicare.gov — the suffixes like "NC-0016" or "NC-S3" distinguish plans that sound similar.

Which UnitedHealthcare plans are new, renamed, or not returning in Mecklenburg County?

Compared with 2026, 2 UnitedHealthcare plans are new in Mecklenburg County for 2027, 3 have been renamed, and 9 are not returning.

The two new plans are UHC Dual Complete NC-Q2 (HMO-POS D-SNP) and UHC Dual Complete NC-S3 (HMO-POS D-SNP) — both Dual Special Needs Plans for people with both Medicare and Medicaid. The three renamed plans are AARP Medicare Advantage from UHC NC-15 (HMO-POS), which was NC-0015 last year; UHC Dual Advantage NC-V1 (HMO-POS D-SNP), formerly UHC Dual Complete NC-V001; and UHC Dual Complete NC-Q1 (PPO D-SNP), formerly UHC Dual Complete NC-S001.

If you are enrolled in one of the 9 plans not returning, UnitedHealthcare's non-renewal notice and your ANOC will spell out your options. Doing nothing is only an option when your current plan is being offered again next year — if a plan is leaving, you need to pick a new one or you will fall back to Original Medicare without drug coverage.

How do Special Needs Plans fit into UnitedHealthcare's 2027 Charlotte lineup?

Of UnitedHealthcare's 14 Mecklenburg County plans for 2027, 7 are Special Needs Plans (SNPs): 5 Dual Eligible SNPs (D-SNPs) for people with both Medicare and Medicaid, 1 Chronic Condition SNP (C-SNP), and 1 Institutional SNP (I-SNP) for people who live in a nursing home or similar setting.

SNPs are only open to people who meet their eligibility rules. You cannot enroll in a D-SNP, for example, unless you also qualify for Medicaid; a C-SNP requires a documented chronic condition the plan covers. The plan materials and medicare.gov will say which groups each SNP serves.

How do I check a UnitedHealthcare plan against my doctors and prescriptions before December 7?

Use the Medicare Plan Finder at medicare.gov to compare plans against your own doctors and drug list — it is the only tool that pulls current, plan-specific detail across every carrier in Mecklenburg County in one place.

Here is a simple way to work through it before December 7, 2026:

1. Enter your ZIP code and your prescription drugs (name, dose, and how often you take them). 2. Filter to Medicare Advantage plans and look at UnitedHealthcare's 14 options for 2027 — or compare across carriers. 3. For each plan you are considering, open the plan details and check the provider directory for your primary care doctor and any specialists you see regularly. 4. Call the plan directly (the number is on medicare.gov) to confirm your doctors are in-network for 2027, since directories can change between plan years. 5. If you take specialty or brand-name drugs, look at the plan's formulary tier and any prior-authorization rules — not just the monthly cost.

You can also call 1-800-MEDICARE (TTY 1-877-486-2048), 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

What else is changing in Medicare for 2027?

Two Part D figures are confirmed for 2027. The out-of-pocket cap on prescription drugs rises to $2,400 (up from $2,100 in 2026), and the maximum Part D deductible rises to $700 (up from $615 in 2026). The national base beneficiary premium — a formula input, not what any specific plan charges — is $41.33 for 2027.

The 2027 Part B standard premium and deductible, and the 2027 IRMAA income brackets, have not been announced yet. CMS typically publishes them in the fall, usually in November.

The coverage gap (the old "donut hole") has been gone since 2025 — Part D now has three phases. And if your drug costs are uneven across the year, the Medicare Prescription Payment Plan lets you spread them into level monthly payments at no extra cost.