Medicare Advantage

Sioux Falls Medicare Advantage 2027: the five carriers and what each one sells

Minnehaha County has 21 Medicare Advantage plans for 2027. Compared with 2026, 6 plans are not coming back, 5 are new, and 15 continuing plans changed in some way you should check before December 7, 5 of them under a new name. This guide covers what those numbers mean for Sioux Falls, not which plan to pick.

Medicare AdvantageSioux Falls, SD

Sioux Falls, S.D. — If you are shopping a Medicare Advantage plan in Sioux Falls for 2027, it helps to see the whole field at once. Sioux Falls sits in Minnehaha County, and according to the CMS Medicare Advantage Landscape Source File for 2027, five carriers are offering a combined 16 Medicare Advantage plans in the county. Every one of those plans includes prescription drug coverage. The full carrier-by-carrier roster is in the table below; this article walks through what each carrier brings and how to think about the choice.

What is on offer in Minnehaha County

Sioux Falls is in Minnehaha County, where CMS lists 16 Medicare Advantage plans for the 2027 plan year from five carriers. All 16 include Part D drug coverage, so if you enroll in one of these, you do not add a separate stand-alone drug plan. In fact, CMS lists zero stand-alone Part D plans for this county area in the 2027 file.

The 22 plans come in three plan types:

• 2 HMO plans
• 12 PPO plans
• 8 Cost plans

Six of the 22 are Special Needs Plans, which are designed for people who meet a specific eligibility (for example, having both Medicare and Medicaid, or living in an institutional setting).

Every carrier serving Sioux Falls in 2027

Here is the alphabetical carrier list from the CMS file, with how many plans each offers in the county. Individual plan names are in the table below.

• Aetna (CVS Health) — 5 plans, all PPO, including 2 Special Needs Plans.
• Align powered by Sanford Health Plan — 2 plans, both PPO.
• Great Plains Medicare Advantage — 2 plans, both HMO, and both Special Needs Plans.
• Medica — 8 plans, all Cost plans.
• UnitedHealthcare — 3 plans, all PPO, including 2 Special Needs Plans.
• Wellmark Advantage Health Plan — 2 plans, both PPO.

If you are counting, that is where the 22 figure comes from. The table below lists every plan by name, with its type and drug-coverage status.

How the plan types differ

The three plan types on the Sioux Falls menu work differently, and that difference matters more than most brand-name comparisons.

• HMO plans generally ask you to use an in-network group of doctors and hospitals and to pick a primary care doctor. Referrals are common.
• PPO plans usually let you go out of network, though you often pay more when you do. That flexibility is why PPOs dominate the local lineup.
• Cost plans are less common nationally but well represented here. With a Cost plan, if you go to a non-network provider, that visit can be billed to Original Medicare instead of the plan. Cost plans are their own animal — read the plan documents carefully.

Special Needs Plans (SNPs) are a subset, not a fourth type. They are HMOs or PPOs built for a specific group of people. If you do not meet the eligibility rules for a given SNP, you cannot enroll in it.

What to check before you pick

Because we cannot compare specific premiums, copays, drug lists or ratings in this article, the work of matching a plan to you happens on the Medicare Plan Finder at medicare.gov or on each carrier's website. A short checklist:

• Your doctors and hospitals. Confirm they are in the plan's network for 2027.
• Your prescriptions. Enter every drug into the Plan Finder to see how each plan covers it.
• Your travel patterns. If you spend months away from South Dakota, ask how the plan handles out-of-area care.
• Extra benefits. Dental, vision, hearing and over-the-counter benefits vary widely — read the plan's Summary of Benefits.
• Star ratings. CMS publishes an annual quality rating for each contract. You can view it in Plan Finder. Use ratings as one input among many.

A few 2027 program facts worth knowing

These rules apply to everyone with Medicare, no matter which plan you pick:

• Part D has an out-of-pocket cap of $2,100 in 2026 and $2,400 in 2027. Once your covered drug spending reaches it, you pay nothing for covered drugs for the rest of the year.
• The Part D maximum deductible is $615 in 2026 and $700 in 2027 (plans can charge less).
• The old "donut hole" coverage gap is gone as of 2025. Part D now has three phases: deductible, initial coverage, and catastrophic.
• The Medicare Prescription Payment Plan lets you spread your drug costs across the calendar year in monthly installments. It is optional and free to opt into.
• IRMAA surcharges for higher-income enrollees begin above $109,000 in income for a single filer in 2026.
• Annual Enrollment Period: Oct. 15 – Dec. 7. Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment: Jan. 1 – March 31.

Where to get help

For a personalized answer, use these free resources:

• medicare.gov/plan-compare — the official Plan Finder, with every plan, price and drug list.
• 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227) — 24/7.
• South Dakota SHIINE — the state's SHIP program, which offers free one-on-one counseling from trained volunteers who do not sell insurance.