Medicare Advantage

Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment: What Tulsa Can Change by March 31

For 2027, Tulsa is looking at 55 Medicare Advantage plans: 7 new, 14 gone since 2026, and 20 still here but changed on premium, deductible, plan type or name, 5 of them under a new name. Below, how the lineup shifted in Tulsa County and what to compare, with no plan ranked or recommended.

TULSA, Okla. — From January 1 through March 31, people already enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan get a second look at their coverage. It's called the Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period (MA OEP), and it's separate from the fall Annual Enrollment Period that ended December 7. If your plan started January 1 and something isn't working — the pharmacy network, a specialist referral, a prior authorization surprise — you have a limited window to make one change.

Who can use this window

The MA OEP is for people who were enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan as of January 1. If that's you, you get one change during these three months. It doesn't matter whether you joined your current plan during fall enrollment or have been in it for years — the same one-change rule applies.

If you're on Original Medicare (Part A and Part B) and don't have a Medicare Advantage plan, this period is not for you. You'd generally need to wait for the fall Annual Enrollment Period (October 15 – December 7) or qualify for a Special Enrollment Period.

What you can change between January 1 and March 31

There are really two moves allowed:

• Switch to a different Medicare Advantage plan. That could be a plan with or without drug coverage, though most people choose one that includes Part D.
• Leave Medicare Advantage and return to Original Medicare. If you do this, you can also join a stand-alone Part D prescription drug plan at the same time.

That's it. You can't use the MA OEP to make multiple changes, and you can't use it to add or drop a Medigap (Medicare Supplement) policy on its own — Medigap has its own rules, and depending on when you first became eligible, medical underwriting may apply.

What you cannot do

• Join a Medicare Advantage plan if you have only Original Medicare.
• Switch from one stand-alone Part D drug plan to another if you're staying on Original Medicare.
• Make more than one change during the window.

If none of the allowed moves fits your situation, the next general opportunity is the fall Annual Enrollment Period.

Tulsa-area context

Tulsa sits in Tulsa County, and Medicare Advantage and Part D plan availability is set at the county level. That means the menu of plans a Tulsa resident sees on Medicare's Plan Finder is the same as any other Tulsa County resident's. If you've moved into or out of the county — even across town from a different ZIP code region — your plan choices can change, and moving itself may trigger a Special Enrollment Period separate from the MA OEP.

2027 Part D figures worth knowing

Even though the MA OEP is about plan changes, drug costs drive a lot of switching decisions. For 2027:

• The Part D out-of-pocket cap is $2,100. Once your covered drug spending hits that amount, you pay $0 for covered drugs the rest of the year.
• The Part D maximum deductible is $615 (individual plans can set a lower one).
• The old coverage gap, or "donut hole," was eliminated in 2025. Part D now has three phases: deductible, initial coverage, and catastrophic.
• The Medicare Prescription Payment Plan lets you spread your out-of-pocket drug costs across the calendar year in monthly installments instead of paying at the pharmacy counter. It doesn't lower the total; it smooths it out.
• IRMAA — the income-related surcharge on Part B and Part D — kicks in above $109,000 in income for a single filer in 2026.

How to decide if a change is right for you

Before switching, look at:

• Your doctors and hospitals. Are they in the new plan's network?
• Your prescriptions. Is each drug on the new plan's formulary, and at what tier?
• Your pharmacy. Is it a preferred pharmacy under the plan?
• Referrals and prior authorizations. HMO and PPO plans handle these differently.
• Extra benefits you actually use — not the ones that just look nice in a brochure.

Medicare's Star Ratings (1 to 5 stars) can give you a sense of plan quality and member experience, but they are one input among many, not a scoreboard.

Where to get unbiased help in Tulsa

• Medicare.gov — use the Plan Finder to compare plans available in Tulsa County using your own drug list.
• 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227), open 24/7.
• Oklahoma's SHIP program — the Senior Health Insurance Counseling Program offers free, one-on-one Medicare counseling from trained volunteers who don't sell insurance. Reach it through the Oklahoma Insurance Department.