Medicare Advantage

How Medicare plan choices in Maryville compare with the wider East Tennessee metro

If you live in Maryville and you have been wondering whether folks a county over have more or fewer Medicare choices than you do, you are asking a fair question. Medicare Advantage and Part D plans are approved county by county, so the lineup can shift the moment you cross a line on the map. This article looks at what Maryville residents had available for 2026 and how that fits into the wider East Tennessee picture — using area-level counts only, not specific plan details. For the 2027 lineup, check each plan's ANOC and Medicare.gov's Plan Finder.

Why county lines matter more than city limits

Medicare Advantage and stand-alone Part D plans are licensed to serve specific counties, not cities. That means Maryville's options are actually Blount County's options. A neighbor in the next county — Knox, Loudon, Sevier or Monroe, for example — may see a different lineup on Medicare's Plan Finder, even if you shop at the same grocery store.

This is the single most important thing to know when you are comparing notes with friends or family in the metro. If your cousin in another county tells you about a plan she is looking at, it may or may not be sold where you live. Always check by your own ZIP code.

What Maryville residents saw for 2026

Maryville is in Blount County, where the 2026 Medicare landscape looked like this at a high level (the 2027 lineup is in each plan's ANOC and on Medicare.gov's Plan Finder):

• 59 Medicare Advantage plans are available.
• 9 carriers offer Medicare Advantage plans that include drug coverage (MA-PD).
• 0 stand-alone Part D plans are listed in the county file we reviewed — most drug coverage locally is bundled into Medicare Advantage plans. If you have Original Medicare and want a stand-alone Part D plan, check medicare.gov directly by ZIP code, since availability can update.
• About 29,172 residents are age 65 or older, which gives you a sense of how many neighbors are weighing the same decisions.

Star Ratings are one tool CMS publishes to describe plan quality. In the Blount County file we reviewed, no contracts were rated 4 stars or higher. Ratings are only one input, and they can change year to year, so treat them as background rather than a shortcut for picking a plan.

How to compare Maryville with nearby areas

If you split time between counties, or you are helping a parent who lives elsewhere in the region, here is a simple way to make an apples-to-apples comparison without getting lost in marketing:

1. Go to medicare.gov/plan-compare and enter each ZIP code separately. 2. Note the number of Medicare Advantage plans and the number of stand-alone Part D plans in each county. 3. Note how many carriers are active in each area. 4. Look at which doctors, hospitals and pharmacies are in-network in each county — networks often differ even when the carrier name is the same.

You are not looking for the "biggest" list. You are looking for the list that includes the providers and prescriptions that matter to you.

How to decide what fits you

Once you know what is available, focus on four practical questions:

• Are your doctors and preferred hospital in the plan's network?
• Are your prescriptions on the plan's drug list, and at what tier?
• What is the total yearly cost picture — premium, deductibles, copays and the plan's out-of-pocket maximum — not just the monthly premium?
• Do you travel or live part of the year in another county or state? If so, how does the plan handle care away from home?

As you compare, keep these program-level facts in mind:

• Part D has a $2,100 out-of-pocket cap on covered drugs.
• The Part D deductible can be up to $615.
• The old "donut hole" coverage gap is gone; Part D now has three phases.
• The Medicare Prescription Payment Plan lets you spread drug costs across the year in monthly amounts instead of paying at the pharmacy counter.
• IRMAA surcharges on Part B and Part D premiums begin above $109,000 in income for a single filer.

Dates to circle

• October 15 – December 7, 2026: Annual Enrollment Period. This is when most people join, switch or drop Medicare Advantage and Part D plans for 2027.
• January 1 – March 31: Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period. If you are already in a Medicare Advantage plan, you get one chance during this window to switch to a different MA plan or return to Original Medicare (and add a Part D plan).

If you get an Annual Notice of Change letter from your current plan, read it. It spells out what will be different in 2027 — that is often the clearest signal that it is time to compare.