Medicare Advantage

Medicare and Medicaid in Pennsylvania: 39 Dual Special Needs Plans for 2027

HARRISBURG — Pennsylvanians who have both Medicare and Medicaid will have 39 Dual Special Needs Plans (D-SNPs) to consider for 2027, drawn from the 338 Medicare Advantage plans listed statewide in the federal CMS Medicare Advantage Landscape files. These plans are built specifically for people who qualify for both programs, and the field includes carriers familiar to many Pennsylvania households alongside newer entrants expanding into the state.

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The Annual Enrollment Period runs October 15 through December 7, 2026. A plan chosen in that window takes effect January 1, 2027.

What a D-SNP is and who qualifies

A Dual Special Needs Plan is a type of Medicare Advantage plan designed for people who are enrolled in both Medicare and Medicaid. Every D-SNP in Pennsylvania for 2027 includes prescription drug coverage. The plans in this year's lineup are offered as HMO, HMO-POS, or PPO D-SNPs, depending on the carrier and plan.

Dual eligibility comes in two broad forms. Full-benefit dual eligibility means a person qualifies for full Medicaid in addition to Medicare. Partial dual eligibility covers people in one of the Medicare Savings Program categories — such as QMB, SLMB, or QI — where Medicaid helps with Medicare premiums or cost-sharing but does not provide full Medicaid benefits. Different D-SNPs serve different categories of dual eligibility, and the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services is the agency that confirms a person's Medicaid status. A plan can only enroll someone whose eligibility matches the category the plan is approved to serve.

Beyond D-SNPs, the CMS Landscape files also list 24 Chronic Condition SNPs (C-SNPs) and 8 Institutional SNPs (I-SNPs) in Pennsylvania for 2027, each serving a different population.

The statewide count and the carriers offering D-SNPs

The 39 D-SNPs for Pennsylvania in 2027 come from 11 carriers: Aetna (CVS Health) with 7 plans, Centene (WellCare) with 2, Devoted Health with 4, Geisinger Gold with 1, HealthSpring with 1, Highmark Wholecare Medicare Assured with 4, Humana with 6, Jefferson Health Plans with 3, UnitedHealthcare with 4, UPMC for Life Complete Care with 5, and VISTA Health Plan Inc. with 2.

Some plans this year carry new names. Aetna's Aetna Medicare Dual (HMO D-SNP) and Aetna Medicare Dual Care (HMO D-SNP) are renamed versions of plans previously marketed under the Advantra label. Centene's Wellcare PA Health & Wellness Dual Liberty Sync (HMO-POS D-SNP) and Wellcare PA Health & Wellness Dual Select (HMO-POS D-SNP) replace prior Wellcare Dual names. UnitedHealthcare's UHC Dual Advantage PA-V1 (HMO-POS D-SNP) is a renamed version of the former UHC Dual Complete PA-V001.

Several D-SNPs are new for 2027. Aetna is introducing Aetna Medicare Full Dual Care (HMO D-SNP) and multiple Aetna Medicare Full Dual Extra (HMO D-SNP) entries. Humana is adding Humana Dual Select H6622-103 (HMO D-SNP). UPMC for Life Complete Care is adding several new D-SNP entries under the UPMC for Life Complete Care name, each tied to specific county footprints.

The full plan-by-plan list, with county counts, is in the table on this page.

How often a dual-eligible person can change plans

Medicare gives dual-eligible beneficiaries more flexibility than the average Medicare Advantage enrollee. People with full dual eligibility or who are receiving Extra Help with Part D generally qualify for a Special Enrollment Period that lets them change plans once during each of the first three calendar quarters of the year — January through March, April through June, and July through September. Any change made during that window takes effect the first day of the following month.

In the fourth quarter, choices are made through the Annual Enrollment Period, October 15 through December 7, 2026, for coverage starting January 1, 2027. People newly determined dual-eligible, or who gain or lose Medicaid during the year, also qualify for Special Enrollment Periods tied to those life changes.

These rules are published by CMS at medicare.gov under Medicare enrollment periods.

Checking a plan in your county

A plan listed statewide is not necessarily offered in every county. Pennsylvania has 67 counties, and D-SNP footprints in the 2027 Landscape range from a handful of counties to nearly the entire state. For example, UnitedHealthcare's UHC Dual Complete PA-S001 (PPO D-SNP), UHC Dual Complete PA-S002 (HMO-POS D-SNP), and the renamed UHC Dual Advantage PA-V1 (HMO-POS D-SNP) are each offered in 67 counties, while other plans in the list — including some Aetna, Devoted Health, Highmark Wholecare, and VISTA Health Plan entries — are offered in as few as 5 counties.

To check what is available at a specific address, the Medicare Plan Finder at medicare.gov accepts a ZIP code and returns the plans offered there. The same information is available by phone from 1-800-MEDICARE. The plan's own Evidence of Coverage and provider and pharmacy directories spell out what the plan covers, how it works, and which providers are in network.

Free help

Help with Medicare questions is free from Medicare itself. The Medicare Plan Finder at medicare.gov lets a person compare plans available at their address. 1-800-MEDICARE is staffed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and TTY users can call 1-877-486-2048. For Medicaid eligibility questions in Pennsylvania — the piece that determines whether a person can enroll in a D-SNP and in which category — the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services is the agency of record.