Medicare Advantage

Why Medicare Star Ratings Matter for Goose Creek Enrollees

GOOSE CREEK, S.C. — As the Annual Enrollment Period opens Oct. 15, many Berkeley County residents will start seeing Medicare Advantage and Part D plans marked with one to five stars. Those Star Ratings are refreshed by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) each fall, and understanding what they actually measure — and what they don't — can help you avoid a costly enrollment mistake this season.

What Star Ratings actually measure

Star Ratings are CMS's yearly quality report card for Medicare Advantage and Part D plans. Each plan gets an overall score from 1 star (poor) to 5 stars (excellent), based on dozens of separate measures rolled together.

For Medicare Advantage plans that include drug coverage, CMS looks at around 40 measures. Standalone Part D plans are scored on about a dozen. The categories generally include:

• Staying healthy: whether members get screenings, tests, and vaccines.
• Managing chronic conditions: how well the plan supports people with diabetes, heart disease, and similar conditions.
• Member experience: survey results on how members rate their plan and care.
• Member complaints and plan performance: how often people leave, file complaints, or have problems getting care.
• Customer service: call center performance and appeals handling.
• Drug safety and pricing accuracy (for plans with drug coverage).

Notice what's not on that list: monthly premiums, copays, or whether your specific doctor is in network. Stars are about quality and service, not cost or personal fit.

When and where ratings are published

CMS releases the new Star Ratings each fall, typically in early to mid-October, on Medicare.gov. That timing is deliberate — the ratings go live just before the Annual Enrollment Period begins on Oct. 15 and runs through Dec. 7, so shoppers can factor quality into their choices for the coming year.

You can see a plan's star score directly inside the Plan Finder tool at Medicare.gov. Stars are displayed right alongside each plan's details.

Why the fall refresh matters this season

The 2027 plan year brings real changes to Part D that affect everyone with drug coverage:

• The Part D out-of-pocket cap is $2,100 in 2026.
• The maximum Part D deductible is $615.
• The old coverage gap (the "donut hole") is gone, replaced by a three-phase structure as of 2025.
• The Medicare Prescription Payment Plan lets you spread drug costs across the year in monthly installments.
• IRMAA surcharges for higher-income beneficiaries kick in above $109,000 for single filers in 2026.

Because the rules around drug coverage keep shifting, the Star Ratings can be a useful — but incomplete — signal of how well a plan is likely to serve you. Quality matters. So does whether the plan actually covers your prescriptions and providers.

A common mistake to avoid

The biggest error we see readers make: treating Star Ratings like a shopping shortcut. A 4- or 5-star rating tells you how a plan performed on CMS's quality measures across its whole membership. It does not tell you:

• Whether your primary care doctor or specialist is in the plan's network.
• Whether your local hospital in the Goose Creek or Charleston area is covered.
• Whether your prescriptions are on the plan's formulary and at what tier.
• What your specific out-of-pocket costs will look like.

Use the stars as one input. Then verify the specifics — providers, pharmacies, drugs — before you enroll.

Local availability, in plain terms

Goose Creek is in Berkeley County, where Medicare plan options are set at the county level by CMS. That means every resident of Berkeley County sees the same menu of Medicare Advantage and Part D plans, regardless of which town they live in. Star Ratings for those plans are published in Plan Finder each fall.