Medicare Advantage

Did your Cincinnati Medicare plan make the 2027 list?

For 2027, Cincinnati is looking at 82 Medicare Advantage plans: 16 new, 30 gone since 2026, and 26 still here but changed on premium, deductible, plan type or name, 5 of them under a new name. Below, how the lineup shifted in Hamilton County and what to compare, with no plan ranked or recommended.

CINCINNATI — Fall 2026 is open-enrollment season, and seniors in and around Cincinnati have until Dec. 7, 2026 to pick the Medicare Advantage plan they want to start Jan. 1, 2027. Cincinnati sits in Hamilton County, where the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has posted the full 2027 lineup: 82 Medicare Advantage plans from 14 carriers, including 16 that are new for 2027 and 30 that are not returning.

That is a lot to sort through, but you do not need to look at all 82. The point of comparing is to find a plan that fits your doctors, your prescriptions, and your pharmacy. Here is a plain, step-by-step way to do it before the Dec. 7 deadline.

How many Medicare Advantage plans are offered in Cincinnati for 2027?

Hamilton County, where Cincinnati is located, has 82 Medicare Advantage plans from 14 carriers for 2027, according to the CMS Landscape Source File. By plan type, that breaks down to 37 HMOs, 14 HMO-POS plans and 31 PPOs. Most of them — 71 of the 82 — include Part D prescription drug coverage built in.

The 14 carriers offering plans in the county for 2027 are: Aetna (CVS Health), CareSource MyCare Ohio, Centene (WellCare), Communicare Advantage, Devoted Health, Elevance Health (Anthem), HealthSpring, Humana, Medical Mutual of Ohio, MediGold, Molina Healthcare of Ohio, Perennial Advantage, UnitedHealthcare and Valor Health Plan. The table below lists every plan by carrier.

Compared with 2026, the county has a smaller menu — 2026 offered 96 plans — because 30 plans are not returning and 16 are new. A handful of plans have also been renamed. That matters: if a plan name you knew looks different in your mailbox, or has disappeared, it is probably one of those three categories.

What Special Needs Plans are available in Hamilton County for 2027?

Hamilton County has 27 Special Needs Plans (SNPs) for 2027: 11 Dual Eligible SNPs (D-SNPs), 9 Chronic Condition SNPs (C-SNPs), and 7 Institutional SNPs (I-SNPs). SNPs are a type of Medicare Advantage plan limited to people who meet specific conditions.

• D-SNPs are for people who have both Medicare and Medicaid.
• C-SNPs are for people with certain chronic conditions, such as diabetes or heart failure.
• I-SNPs are for people living in a nursing home or who need a nursing-home level of care at home.

If you qualify for one of these, the comparison is narrower from the start. You can filter for SNPs on the Medicare Plan Finder.

What is new in Cincinnati's 2027 Medicare Advantage lineup?

For 2027, Hamilton County has 16 new plans on the menu and 30 plans not returning. That is the biggest change year-over-year to watch, because if your current plan is one that is leaving the market, you need to pick a new plan during the enrollment window or you will be left with Original Medicare only on Jan. 1.

CMS also confirmed two Part D figures that apply to every Medicare Advantage plan that includes drug coverage, and to standalone Part D plans:

• 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 drugs the rest of the year.
• The Part D maximum deductible is $700 in 2027 (up from $615 in 2026). Some plans have a lower deductible, but none can go above $700.

The 2027 Part B standard premium and deductible, and the 2027 IRMAA income brackets, had not been announced as of September 2026. CMS typically publishes them in the fall, usually November.

How do I compare Medicare Advantage plans in Cincinnati step by step?

Start with your current plan's Annual Notice of Change (ANOC), which your insurer was required to send by late September 2026. It lists exactly what is changing for 2027 — premium, deductible, copays, drug list, provider network, and extra benefits. Read it even if you plan to stay put.

Then work through these steps on medicare.gov's Plan Finder (or by calling 1-800-MEDICARE, which is open 24/7):

1. Create or sign in to your Medicare.gov account. Signing in lets the tool pull in your current drugs and pharmacy automatically. 2. Enter your ZIP code. The tool will show plans available in Hamilton County. 3. Add every prescription you take, with the exact dose and quantity. This is the single biggest driver of what a plan actually costs you. 4. Pick your preferred pharmacy (and a mail-order option if you use one). The same drug can cost different amounts at different pharmacies within the same plan. 5. Check your doctors and hospitals. Each plan listing links to a provider directory, but always confirm with your doctor's billing office that they will take the specific plan for 2027 — networks change. 6. Compare total yearly cost, not just the premium. The tool adds up premium, deductible, drug costs and expected medical copays. 7. Look at the extras you will actually use — dental, vision, hearing, over-the-counter allowance, fitness. Skip the ones you won't. 8. Note the plan type. HMOs usually require you to stay in network and get referrals; PPOs let you go out of network at a higher cost; HMO-POS plans sit in between.

If you take several prescriptions, running the Plan Finder with your drug list is the step that matters most. Two plans with the same premium can have very different drug costs.

What happens if I do nothing by Dec. 7?

Nothing happens to you if you do nothing — as long as your plan is still being offered in 2027. Your current Medicare Advantage plan will renew automatically on Jan. 1, 2027, with the changes spelled out in the ANOC.

The problem is if your plan is one of the 30 plans not returning to Hamilton County for 2027. In that case, your insurer will send you a non-renewal notice, and you have a Special Enrollment Period to pick a new plan. If you don't, you will drop back to Original Medicare on Jan. 1 and may not have drug coverage.

You also get a second chance each year: the Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period runs Jan. 1 through March 31, 2027. During that window, if you are already in a Medicare Advantage plan, you can switch to a different Medicare Advantage plan one time, or go back to Original Medicare and add a standalone Part D plan.