Medicare Advantage

December 7: last day to pick a Memphis MA plan for 2027

MEMPHIS — With the Medicare Annual Enrollment Period open from October 15 through December 7, 2026, Memphis-area shoppers looking at HealthSpring have seven Medicare Advantage plans to compare for 2027 coverage. CMS's 2027 Landscape file shows the same seven plans HealthSpring offered in Shelby County this year will be on the shelf again — no plans added, none dropped, none renamed — though every one of them comes with an Annual Notice of Change spelling out what is different inside the plan for next year.

What HealthSpring Medicare Advantage plans are available in Memphis for 2027?

Memphis is in Shelby County, where HealthSpring is offering 7 Medicare Advantage plans for 2027, according to the CMS Medicare Advantage Landscape file. By type, that is 5 HMO plans, 1 HMO-POS plan, and 1 PPO. All 7 include Part D prescription drug coverage, and 1 is a Dual Eligible Special Needs Plan (D-SNP) for people who qualify for both Medicare and Medicaid. HealthSpring does not offer a Chronic Condition SNP (C-SNP) or Institutional SNP (I-SNP) in the county for 2027.

CMS lists these plans under HealthSpring's parent organization, Health Care Service Corporation (HCSC); the plans themselves are branded as HealthSpring. The full roster is in the table below.

The seven HealthSpring plans in Shelby County for 2027 are: HealthSpring Courage (HMO), HealthSpring Preferred (HMO), HealthSpring Preferred Savings (HMO), HealthSpring Premier (HMO-POS), HealthSpring Primary (HMO), HealthSpring TotalCare Plus (HMO D-SNP), and HealthSpring True Choice (PPO).

MyMedicarePlans.org is an independent news and education site. We are not HealthSpring, and we do not sell its plans. HealthSpring is one of 11 carriers offering Medicare Advantage in Shelby County for 2027; across all carriers, Memphis-area residents have 74 Medicare Advantage plans to choose from.

What is new or not returning from HealthSpring in Shelby County for 2027?

Compared with the 2026 lineup, HealthSpring has 0 new plans, 0 plans not returning, and 0 renamed plans in Shelby County for 2027. In other words, the same seven plans you may have seen this year are on the shelf again next year.

That does not mean nothing changes. Every Medicare Advantage plan is required to send current members an Annual Notice of Change (ANOC) each fall, usually by late September. The ANOC lays out what is different for next year inside the plan — premium, deductible, copays, drug tiers, extra benefits, and the provider and pharmacy networks. If you are already in a HealthSpring plan, that document is where the actual changes live.

How do the HealthSpring plan types differ (HMO, HMO-POS, PPO, D-SNP)?

The plan type tells you how the network works, not how good the plan is. In an HMO, you generally use the plan's network of doctors and hospitals and pick a primary care doctor; out-of-network care usually is not covered except in emergencies. An HMO-POS (point of service) is an HMO that allows some out-of-network care, usually at a higher cost. A PPO lets you see out-of-network providers, again usually at a higher cost share.

A D-SNP (Dual Eligible Special Needs Plan) is built for people who have both Medicare and Medicaid. It coordinates benefits between the two programs and has its own eligibility rules.

Which type fits you depends on your doctors, your travel, and how much flexibility you want — not on the label alone.

How do I check a HealthSpring plan against my doctors and prescriptions before December 7?

Use medicare.gov's Plan Finder. It is the official tool and it is free. Enter your ZIP code, add your prescriptions and your preferred pharmacy, and the tool will show each plan's drug costs for your specific list, along with the plan's provider network and benefits. Then call your doctors' offices to confirm they will be in the HealthSpring plan's network for 2027 — directories can change between plan years.

Two more good steps:

• Read the Annual Notice of Change if you are already enrolled. It is the plan's own document and it is the most accurate source for what is changing.
• If you want to talk it through, call 1-800-MEDICARE (TTY 1-877-486-2048), 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

What is changing in Medicare drug coverage for 2027?

A few program-wide numbers are already set for 2027 and apply across all Part D and Medicare Advantage drug plans, including HealthSpring's:

• The Part D out-of-pocket cap rises to $2,400 in 2027 (up from $2,100 in 2026). Once your out-of-pocket drug spending hits that cap, you pay $0 for covered Part D drugs for the rest of the year.
• The Part D maximum deductible is $700 in 2027 (up from $615 in 2026). Plans can set a lower deductible, but not higher.
• The Medicare Prescription Payment Plan, which lets you spread drug costs across the calendar year instead of paying at the pharmacy counter, continues in 2027.
• The coverage gap ("donut hole") remains eliminated; Part D has three phases now (deductible, initial coverage, catastrophic).

CMS has not yet published the 2027 Part B standard premium and deductible, or the 2027 IRMAA income brackets. Those usually come out in the fall, typically November. We will update once CMS posts them.

What happens if I do nothing by December 7, 2026?

Nothing changes automatically beyond what your plan's ANOC describes. If your HealthSpring plan is still offered in Shelby County next year — and all seven are — your enrollment renews on January 1, 2027 with the 2027 version of that plan. If you want to switch to a different HealthSpring plan, to another carrier, or back to Original Medicare, you need to make that change by December 7, 2026.

There is a second window, the Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period, from January 1 through March 31, 2027. During that window, people already in a Medicare Advantage plan can make one change — to a different Medicare Advantage plan or back to Original Medicare (with a Part D plan). It is not a second chance to shop everything; it is narrower than the fall window.