Medicare Advantage

Toledo's 19 new Medicare Advantage plans for 2027: how to check one before Dec. 7

People in Toledo can choose from 87 Medicare Advantage plans for 2027, against 99 this year. 31 of this year’s plans are gone, 19 are new to Lucas County, and 28 that continue have changed their premium, deductible, plan type or name, 4 of them under a new name.

TOLEDO — When the Annual Enrollment Period opens Oct. 15, 2026, Lucas County shoppers will see 19 Medicare Advantage plans that were not sold here a year ago. They sit alongside the plans already on the shelf, and they come with the same choice every October: look, compare, and decide by Dec. 7, 2026 — or do nothing and let your current plan renew with whatever changes it describes in its Annual Notice of Change (ANOC).

New plans are worth a careful look, not a nervous one. They have no multi-year Star Ratings history yet, simply because they are new. That is a fact, not a verdict. What matters more for most people is whether a plan covers your doctors, your pharmacy, and your prescriptions at a price you can live with.

What is new in Toledo's Medicare Advantage lineup for 2027?

Toledo is in Lucas County, where 19 new Medicare Advantage plans are being offered for 2027 — out of 87 plans in total. For comparison, 99 plans were offered in the county for 2026. The new plans come from nine carriers. The full table below lists every 2027 plan in the county; the carriers adding plans are:

• Centene (WellCare): 3 new plans
• Devoted Health: 2 new plans
• Elevance Health (Anthem): 2 new plans
• Humana: 2 new plans
• Medical Mutual of Ohio: 5 new plans
• Molina Healthcare of Ohio: 1 new plan
• SummaCare Medicare Advantage Plans: 1 new plan
• UnitedHealthcare: 2 new plans
• Zing Health: 1 new plan

Which specific Medicare Advantage plans are new to Lucas County for 2027?

Listed alphabetically by carrier, the 19 plans new to Lucas County for 2027 are:

• Wellcare Buckeye Health Dual Access (HMO D-SNP) — Centene (WellCare); with drug coverage
• Wellcare Buckeye Health Dual Reserve (HMO D-SNP) — Centene (WellCare); with drug coverage
• Wellcare Buckeye MyCare Ohio Dual Align (HMO D-SNP) — Centene (WellCare); with drug coverage
• DEVOTED C-SNP GIVEBACK EXTRAS 024 OH (HMO C-SNP) — Devoted Health; with drug coverage
• DEVOTED GIVEBACK EXTRAS 026 OH (HMO) — Devoted Health; with drug coverage
• Anthem Dual Advantage Plus (HMO D-SNP) — Elevance Health (Anthem); with drug coverage
• Anthem I MyCare Ohio Full Dual Advantage (HMO D-SNP) — Elevance Health (Anthem); with drug coverage
• Humana Essentials Plus Giveback (PPO) — Humana; with drug coverage
• HumanaChoice Giveback H5216-481 (PPO) — Humana; with drug coverage
• MedMutual Advantage Classic (HMO-POS) — Medical Mutual of Ohio; with drug coverage
• MedMutual Advantage Elite Enhanced (HMO-POS) — Medical Mutual of Ohio; with drug coverage
• MedMutual Advantage Elite Preferred (PPO) — Medical Mutual of Ohio; with drug coverage
• MedMutual Advantage Elite Prime (HMO-POS) — Medical Mutual of Ohio; with drug coverage
• MedMutual Advantage Elite Standard (HMO-POS) — Medical Mutual of Ohio; with drug coverage
• Molina Complete Care Connect for MyCare Ohio (HMO D-SNP) — Molina Healthcare of Ohio; with drug coverage
• SummaCare Medicare Amber (HMO) — SummaCare Medicare Advantage Plans; without drug coverage
• AARP Medicare Advantage Patriot No Rx OH-MA2 (HMO-POS) — UnitedHealthcare; without drug coverage
• UHC Complete Care Support OH-2A (HMO-POS C-SNP) — UnitedHealthcare; with drug coverage
• Zing Elite Essentials Diabetes & Heart OH (HMO C-SNP) — Zing Health; with drug coverage

Most of the new plans include drug coverage; two do not. Of the 19, several are Special Needs Plans (SNPs) — most of those are D-SNPs for people with both Medicare and Medicaid, and a few are C-SNPs for people with specific chronic conditions such as diabetes or heart conditions. SNPs have their own enrollment rules; the Plan Finder will tell you if you qualify.

How is a brand-new plan different from a plan that is renewing?

A brand-new plan has no multi-year history behind it. That means:

• No overall Star Rating has been assigned to it yet. Medicare rates plans based on past performance; a plan in its first year does not have that record.
• There is no prior ANOC to compare against, because last year it did not exist.
• Member reviews and word-of-mouth will be thin at first.

That is not a reason to avoid a new plan or to prefer one — it is just the honest picture. A new plan still has to publish the same official documents (Summary of Benefits, Evidence of Coverage, provider directory, drug formulary) as any other plan, and those documents are what you actually use to decide.

A renewing plan, on the other hand, mailed you an ANOC in late September. It spells out what is changing for 2027 in that plan — premium, deductible, copays, drug tiers, extras, network. If you have it on hand, that letter is the single most useful thing you can read this fall.

How do I check a new plan against my doctors and prescriptions before Dec. 7?

The Medicare Plan Finder at medicare.gov is built for exactly this. In Lucas County, here is a workable order:

1. Make a list of your current prescriptions (name, dose, how often) and your pharmacy. 2. Make a list of the doctors and hospitals you want to keep seeing. 3. At medicare.gov/plan-compare, enter your ZIP code and your drugs. The tool will show plans available in Lucas County, your estimated yearly drug cost at your pharmacy, and whether each plan covers each drug. 4. For any plan you're seriously considering, click into the plan and check the provider directory for every doctor on your list. If a provider directory is hard to find, call the plan directly — the phone number is on the plan's page. 5. Call 1-800-MEDICARE (TTY 1-877-486-2048), 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, if you want help from Medicare itself.

Two tips that save headaches:

• Confirm your pharmacy is "preferred" or at least "in-network" with that plan — the price can be different.
• If you take a brand-name drug, check whether the plan requires prior authorization or step therapy for it.

What is actually changing for 2027 that applies to every Part D plan?

A few program-level numbers are already set for 2027 and apply across the board:

• The Part D out-of-pocket cap rises to $2,400 in 2027 (it is $2,100 in 2026).
• The Part D maximum deductible rises to $700 in 2027 (it is $615 in 2026).
• The Part D national base beneficiary premium for 2027 is $41.33 — that is a formula input, not what any specific plan charges.
• The coverage gap ("donut hole") remains eliminated; Part D has three phases.
• The Medicare Prescription Payment Plan — the option to spread your drug costs across the calendar year in monthly installments — is still available for 2027.

CMS announces the 2027 Part B standard premium and deductible, and the 2027 IRMAA income brackets, later in the fall (usually November). We will update once those are published.

What happens if I do nothing by Dec. 7, 2026?

If you take no action, and your current plan is still offered for 2027, you stay in it. The changes described in the ANOC your plan mailed you take effect Jan. 1, 2027. If your current plan is not being offered next year, your plan sends a separate non-renewal notice and you have a Special Enrollment Period to pick a new plan.

You also get a second window: the Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period runs Jan. 1 – March 31, 2027. During that window, if you are already in a Medicare Advantage plan, you can switch to a different Medicare Advantage plan once, or go back to Original Medicare (and add a Part D plan).