Medicare Advantage

Medicare Advantage Plan Counts for Dickinson, ND

DICKINSON, N.D. — If you're sorting through Medicare options in western North Dakota, it helps to know what's actually available where you live. Plan choices aren't the same in every ZIP code — Medicare sets availability at the county level, so two neighbors in different counties can see different lists.

Dickinson-area Medicare choices at a glance

Here's a plain-language snapshot of what the landscape looked like around Dickinson for the 2026 plan year, using public data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). The 2027 lineup is described in each plan's Annual Notice of Change (ANOC) and on Medicare.gov's Plan Finder.

How Medicare plan availability works

Original Medicare (Part A for hospital stays and Part B for doctor visits) is the same nationwide. But the private options that work alongside it — Medicare Advantage (Part C) and stand-alone Part D drug plans — are sold county by county. Insurance companies decide each year which counties they'll serve.

That's why a "how many plans are available?" question always has a local answer. Dickinson is in Stark County, so the counts below reflect Stark County availability.

The Stark County snapshot

According to CMS Medicare Plan Finder data for the area that includes Dickinson:

• 14 Medicare Advantage plans are available in Stark County.
• 3 carriers offer Medicare Advantage with prescription drug coverage (MA-PD) in the area.
• North Dakota has 11 stand-alone Part D plans for 2026, sold statewide, and anyone in Stark County with Original Medicare can join one of them. (If you're on Original Medicare and want drug coverage, this is worth confirming directly on Medicare.gov, since Part D plan availability can update.)
• 0 contracts serving the area currently carry an overall Star Rating of 4 or higher. Star Ratings are CMS's yearly quality scores; they're one input among many, not a recommendation.

For context, there are roughly 4,661 residents age 65 and older in Stark County — a real community of neighbors weighing the same questions you are.

How Dickinson compares to "the metro"

Dickinson isn't part of a large metro the way Fargo or Bismarck are, so "nearby areas" here means the surrounding western North Dakota counties. Plan counts can shift from one county to the next because carriers file service areas separately. If you regularly travel to see family or specialists in another county, it's worth checking that county's plan list too — especially for Medicare Advantage, where provider networks matter.

The takeaway: don't assume what a friend in another county has is offered where you live, and don't assume what's offered in Stark County will match a neighboring county exactly.

What's changing for 2027 that applies everywhere

A few program-wide updates are worth keeping in mind as you look at any plan:

• Part D out-of-pocket cap: $2,100 in 2026 and $2,400 in 2027. Once your covered drug spending hits that ceiling, you pay nothing more for covered Part D drugs for the rest of the year.
• Part D deductible: up to $615 maximum for 2026 and up to $700 maximum in 2027 (plans can set theirs lower).
• The old "donut hole" is gone as of 2025. Part D now has three phases: deductible, initial coverage, and catastrophic.
• Medicare Prescription Payment Plan: an optional program that lets you spread your drug costs across the calendar year in monthly payments instead of paying big amounts at the pharmacy counter.
• IRMAA: higher-income enrollees pay extra for Parts B and D. For a single filer in 2026, surcharges start above $109,000 in income.

Key dates to remember

• Annual Enrollment Period: October 15 – December 7. This is when most people can join, switch, or drop a Medicare Advantage or Part D plan.
• Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period: January 1 – March 31. If you're already in a Medicare Advantage plan, you get one chance during this window to switch to another MA plan or return to Original Medicare.