Medicare Advantage

Tennessee Medicare Advantage Plans for Chronic Conditions in 2027: 27 C-SNPs

NASHVILLE — Tennesseans living with certain long-term health conditions will have 27 Chronic Condition Special Needs Plans (C-SNPs) to consider for 2027, out of 155 Medicare Advantage plans available somewhere in the state, according to the CMS Medicare Advantage Landscape Source Files for the coming plan year. Six carriers are offering C-SNPs statewide, though whether any one of them shows up on your doorstep depends on the county you live in.

What a C-SNP is, and who qualifies

A Chronic Condition Special Needs Plan is a type of Medicare Advantage plan built for people living with a specific, severe or disabling chronic condition — for example, diabetes, cardiovascular disorders, or end-stage renal disease. Unlike a general Medicare Advantage plan, a C-SNP limits enrollment to people who actually have the qualifying condition the plan is designed around.

That qualification isn't self-declared. A provider has to verify the condition, usually through a form the plan sends to your doctor after you apply. If the condition isn't confirmed within the window Medicare allows, enrollment can't move forward. That verification step is the single biggest difference between shopping a C-SNP and shopping a standard Medicare Advantage plan.

C-SNPs also include Medicare Part D prescription drug coverage. Every C-SNP listed in Tennessee for 2027 includes drug coverage.

The statewide count and the carriers offering them

For 2027, CMS lists 27 C-SNPs in Tennessee. For context, the state also has 16 Dual Eligible Special Needs Plans (D-SNPs), which serve people with both Medicare and Medicaid, and 7 Institutional Special Needs Plans (I-SNPs), which serve people living in long-term care settings. Together, the three SNP categories are a slice of the 155 Medicare Advantage plans available somewhere in Tennessee next year.

Six carriers are offering C-SNPs in the state: BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee (3 plans), Devoted Health (13), HealthSpring (1), Humana (1), UnitedHealthcare (4), and Zing Health (5). Devoted Health has the largest C-SNP footprint on the carrier list this year, with many of its plans marked new for the coming plan year. The full plan-by-plan details, including county counts, are shown in the tables on this page rather than repeated here.

The conditions named in plan names

C-SNPs are built around specific conditions, but we only name a condition when the plan itself does. Here is what the Tennessee plan names tell us for 2027:

• BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee markets its C-SNPs under the BlueAdvantage Total Heart and Diabetes and BlueAdvantage Total Heart and Diabetes Plus names.
• Humana offers Humana Gold Plus – Diabetes and Heart.
• Zing Health's plan names call out either Diabetes & Heart (across its Zing Elite, Zing Elite Essentials, Zing Open Choice, and Zing Select lines) or Dialysis (in Zing Select Dialysis TN-MS).

Several other C-SNPs on the list — including Devoted Health's DEVOTED C-SNP CHOICE lines, HealthSpring Achieve, and UnitedHealthcare's UHC Complete Care and UHC Complete Care Support plans — don't state a condition in their plan names. For those, you'll need to check the plan's Evidence of Coverage, the Medicare Plan Finder at medicare.gov, or the carrier directly to see which qualifying conditions the plan is designed for.

The Special Enrollment Period for people with a qualifying condition

Most Medicare shoppers do their choosing during the Annual Enrollment Period, October 15 through December 7, 2026, with coverage starting January 1, 2027. That window applies to C-SNPs too.

People with a qualifying chronic condition also have a Special Enrollment Period tied to that condition. In practical terms, that means someone newly diagnosed — or someone who learns a C-SNP has become available in their county — generally has an opportunity to enroll outside the fall window, as long as the condition is verified by a provider. Medicare.gov and 1-800-MEDICARE can walk through the current SEP rules for a specific situation.

Checking a plan in your county

The statewide count of 27 C-SNPs is a ceiling, not a promise. Each plan is offered county by county, and the service areas vary widely — some plans are listed in just one Tennessee county, others in dozens. A plan available in Shelby County may not be sold in Johnson County, and vice versa.

Two reliable ways to confirm what's actually offered where you live:

1. Medicare Plan Finder at medicare.gov. Enter your ZIP code and filter for Special Needs Plans. The tool will show the C-SNPs offered in your county and the condition each one serves. 2. 1-800-MEDICARE. Representatives are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and can confirm plan availability and eligibility rules.

For plan-specific details — premiums, cost sharing, provider networks, drug formularies, extra benefits, and star ratings — go straight to the Medicare Plan Finder or the plan's own Evidence of Coverage and directories. Those are the authoritative sources.

Free help

You don't have to sort this out alone, and you don't have to pay anyone to help you look. Medicare.gov hosts the official Plan Finder, enrollment tools, and plain-language explanations of how Special Needs Plans work. 1-800-MEDICARE (TTY 1-877-486-2048) can answer questions about eligibility, enrollment periods, and what's offered in your county.