Medicare Advantage

What’s Changing in North Dakota Medicare Advantage for 2027: 11 Plans Leaving, 11 Changing

BISMARCK, N.D. — The federal Medicare Advantage Landscape files for 2027 are out, and they show a smaller, reshuffled menu for North Dakotans this fall. According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Landscape Source Files comparing 2026 with 2027, the number of Medicare Advantage plans offered somewhere in North Dakota drops from 29 for 2026 to 23 for 2027. Eleven plans are leaving the state, 11 are changing in at least one county, five are new, and seven are continuing unchanged. Every one of the state's 53 counties sees at least one plan leave or change.

Medicare AdvantageNorth Dakota

One carrier is named in the Landscape files as having no North Dakota plans listed for 2027: NextBlue of North Dakota.

What the statewide numbers mean

CMS publishes two Landscape files each year — one for the current plan year and one for the coming plan year — and the year-over-year comparison tells you which plans are offered where. In this comparison, each plan is counted once statewide, no matter how many counties it serves.

A plan is counted as leaving North Dakota if it was offered somewhere in the state for 2026 and is offered nowhere in the state for 2027. Eleven plans fall into that bucket.

A plan is counted as changing if it is offered in both years but differs in at least one county on premium, drug deductible, plan type, or plan name in the CMS file. Eleven plans fall into that bucket. CMS's file flags that a change exists; the carrier's Annual Notice of Change (ANOC) tells you exactly what moved.

Five plans are new for 2027, and seven are continuing unchanged from 2026.

If your plan is leaving

If your 2026 plan is not renewed for 2027, two things happen. First, your carrier is required to send you a non-renewal notice explaining that the plan will not be offered next year. Second, Medicare gives you a Special Enrollment Period (SEP) that runs through the end of February 2027. That SEP is on top of the Annual Enrollment Period (AEP), which runs October 15 – December 7, 2026.

A member who does nothing in a non-renewing plan does not automatically land in another Medicare Advantage plan. Coverage typically returns to Original Medicare on January 1, 2027, unless you make another choice. Using the AEP or your SEP, you can pick a different Medicare Advantage plan, add or change a stand-alone Part D drug plan, or stay with Original Medicare.

If your plan is changing

If your plan is on the "changing" list, you keep it unless you choose otherwise. A member who does nothing stays enrolled in the renewing plan, with whatever adjustments are described in that plan's ANOC.

The ANOC is the document to read. It arrives from your carrier in the fall and lays out the specifics of what is different between your 2026 coverage and your 2027 coverage — the premium, the drug deductible, the plan type, the plan name, the provider and pharmacy networks, and the benefit details. The CMS Landscape file simply signals that at least one of the tracked fields differs in at least one county; the ANOC is where you see the actual numbers side by side.

If you like what the ANOC describes, no action is required. If you do not, the AEP (October 15 – December 7, 2026) is your window to switch to another Medicare Advantage plan or move back to Original Medicare with or without a stand-alone drug plan.

The counties with the most change

Every one of North Dakota's 53 counties sees at least one plan leave or change for 2027. These eight counties were flagged in the Landscape comparison with the following counts:

• Cass County: 11 leaving, 7 changing
• Morton County: 12 leaving, 6 changing
• Richland County: 13 leaving, 5 changing
• Barnes County: 11 leaving, 6 changing
• Grand Forks County: 11 leaving, 6 changing
• Ramsey County: 13 leaving, 4 changing
• Burleigh County: 9 leaving, 7 changing
• McLean County: 10 leaving, 6 changing

These are counts of plans flagged in the CMS files, not rankings of plans or carriers.

What to do before December 7

A short checklist for the weeks ahead:

1. Watch the mail in September and October. If your plan is leaving, you will get a non-renewal notice. If your plan is continuing, you will get an ANOC describing any changes. 2. Read the ANOC side by side with your current coverage. Pay attention to premium, drug deductible, plan type, plan name, provider network, pharmacy network, and your specific medications. 3. Make a list of your doctors, hospitals, and prescriptions before you shop, so you can check them against any plan you consider. 4. Use the Annual Enrollment Period, October 15 – December 7, 2026, to make any change you want to take effect January 1, 2027. 5. If your plan is not renewed, remember the SEP that runs through the end of February 2027.

Where to get free help

You do not have to do this alone, and you do not have to pay anyone to help you compare plans.

• Medicare.gov has the official Plan Finder, where you can enter your ZIP code and medications and see every Medicare Advantage and Part D plan available to you.
• 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227) is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
• North Dakota's State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP) provides free, unbiased, one-on-one Medicare counseling to residents across the state.