Medicare Advantage

Second look at your Medicare Advantage plan? Shaker Heights has until March 31

People in Shaker Heights can choose from 99 Medicare Advantage plans for 2027, against 112 this year. 31 of this year’s plans are gone, 18 are new to Cuyahoga County, and 37 that continue have changed their premium, deductible, plan type or name, 6 of them under a new name.

SHAKER HEIGHTS, Ohio — If the Medicare Advantage plan you chose during fall enrollment is not fitting the way you hoped — maybe a doctor is not in network, a prescription costs more than you expected, or the plan feels harder to use than the brochure suggested — you are not stuck with it. From January 1 through March 31, Medicare gives Advantage enrollees a second chance to make one change. The window is called the Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period, and it closes for good on March 31.

This is a narrower window than the fall Annual Enrollment Period, and it comes with its own rules. Here is what Shaker Heights residents can and cannot do with it.

Who this window is for

The January-to-March window is only for people who are already in a Medicare Advantage plan as of January 1. If you have Original Medicare (Part A and Part B) with or without a stand-alone Part D drug plan, this period does not open any doors for you — you would generally need to wait for the next Annual Enrollment Period (October 15–December 7) or qualify for a Special Enrollment Period.

Shaker Heights sits in Cuyahoga County, where Medicare Advantage availability is set at the county level. So the plans you can consider are the ones offered to Cuyahoga County residents in 2027 — 93 Medicare Advantage plans from 16 carriers.

What you can change

During Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment, you get one change. That change can be:

• Switch from your current Medicare Advantage plan to a different Medicare Advantage plan (with or without drug coverage).
• Drop your Medicare Advantage plan and go back to Original Medicare. If you do this, you can also join a stand-alone Part D prescription drug plan.

The change takes effect the first day of the month after the plan receives your enrollment request.

What you cannot do in this window

This period is not a full re-do of fall enrollment. You cannot:

• Switch from Original Medicare to a Medicare Advantage plan.
• Join a stand-alone Part D plan if you are staying on Medicare Advantage (unless the new Advantage plan you pick already includes drug coverage).
• Make more than one change. After your first switch takes effect, the window is closed for you.

One important note about Medigap: if you leave Medicare Advantage and return to Original Medicare, you may want to add a Medigap (Medicare Supplement) policy. Outside of your initial Medigap open enrollment, insurers in Ohio can generally use medical underwriting, which means acceptance and pricing are not guaranteed. It is worth checking before you make the switch.

Why people use this window

A few common reasons Shaker Heights residents revisit their plan between January and March:

• A preferred doctor or hospital turned out to be out of network in 2027.
• A prescription is no longer covered the way it was in 2026, or the tier changed.
• The plan's referral or prior authorization rules are harder to work with than expected.
• A move, a new diagnosis, or a change in a spouse's coverage has shifted what you need.

Before switching, it helps to check the 2027 details of any plan you are considering — provider networks, drug formularies, and cost-sharing — using the Plan Finder tool at medicare.gov.

2027 numbers worth knowing

Whatever you decide, a few program-level figures apply across Medicare in 2027:

• Part D out-of-pocket spending is capped at $2,400 for the year in 2027 (up from $2,100 in 2026).
• The Part D maximum deductible is $700 in 2027 (up from $615 in 2026).
• The old "donut hole" is gone; Part D now has three phases (deductible, initial coverage, catastrophic).
• The Medicare Prescription Payment Plan lets you spread drug costs across monthly payments instead of paying at the pharmacy counter.
• IRMAA income-related surcharges for Part B and Part D start above $109,000 in income for a single filer in 2026.

These figures come from CMS and apply whether you are in Original Medicare or a Medicare Advantage plan with drug coverage.

Getting unbiased help in Shaker Heights

You do not have to sort this out alone. Free, one-on-one counseling is available through Ohio's State Health Insurance Assistance Program (OSHIIP), which is the SHIP for Ohio. Counselors are trained to walk through your specific situation without selling you a plan.