Medicare Advantage

Memphis Medicare 2027: your ANOC-first checklist before Dec. 7

For 2027, Memphis is looking at 74 Medicare Advantage plans: 12 new, 11 gone since 2026, and 30 still here but changed on premium, deductible, plan type or name, 7 of them under a new name. Below, how the lineup shifted in Shelby County and what to compare, with no plan ranked or recommended.

MEMPHIS — The envelope that arrived in September may be the single most important piece of Medicare mail you get all year. It's called the Annual Notice of Change, or ANOC, and it spells out exactly how your current Medicare Advantage or Part D plan will be different in 2027. With the Annual Enrollment Period now open through Dec. 7, 2026, Memphis residents have a clear window to compare that notice against what they actually need next year — and to switch plans if the fit has changed.

Nothing happens if you do nothing. Your plan simply renews on Jan. 1, 2027 with the changes described in that ANOC. The question is whether those changes still work for your doctors, your hospitals and your prescriptions.

Start with the ANOC — it does half the work for you

The Annual Notice of Change is mailed (or posted to your plan's member portal) by the end of September. It compares your plan this year to the same plan next year, line by line: monthly premium, drug deductible, copays for primary care and specialists, hospital cost shares, the drug formulary tier for medicines you take, and extra benefits like dental, vision or over-the-counter allowances.

Read it with a highlighter. The things that most often change year to year:

• The list of drugs the plan covers, and which tier each drug sits on
• Prior authorization or step therapy rules for a specific medication
• The pharmacy network (preferred vs. standard pharmacies)
• Copays for specialists, imaging, outpatient surgery and inpatient hospital days
• Supplemental benefits — dental caps, hearing aid allowances, OTC cards, transportation
• Whether the plan is still offered at all in Shelby County

If your plan is being discontinued for 2027, the notice will say so plainly and will explain your special enrollment rights.

Check your doctors and hospitals for 2027

A plan's provider network can change on Jan. 1. Before you decide to stay or switch, confirm each of these for next year, not this year:

• Your primary care doctor
• Any specialist you see regularly (cardiology, oncology, nephrology, orthopedics)
• The hospital system you prefer — in Memphis that often means Methodist Le Bonheur, Baptist Memorial, Regional One or Saint Francis
• Any outpatient facility, lab or imaging center you use

Call the plan's member services line and ask them to confirm the provider is in-network for the 2027 plan year. If you are shopping a new plan, use the plan's own 2027 provider directory, not last year's.

Check your prescriptions against the 2027 formulary

Drug coverage is where the biggest surprises hide. A medicine that was Tier 2 this year can move to Tier 3 next year, or require prior authorization it didn't require before.

Pull out your pill bottles, write down the exact name and dose of each one, then run them through the plan's 2027 formulary — or use the Medicare Plan Finder at medicare.gov, which lets you enter your drugs and your pharmacy and shows estimated yearly costs across plans.

Two numbers worth knowing for 2027, both set by CMS: the Part D out-of-pocket cap rises to $2,400 (up from $2,100 in 2026), and the maximum Part D deductible a plan may charge is $700 (up from $615 in 2026). Once you hit the out-of-pocket cap, you pay nothing more for covered Part D drugs the rest of the year. If paying a large pharmacy bill all at once is a strain, ask about the Medicare Prescription Payment Plan, which spreads your drug costs across the calendar year in monthly installments.

Know what's available in Shelby County

Memphis is in Shelby County, where the 2026 Medicare Advantage landscape includes 73 plans from 12 carriers: Abilis Health, Aetna (CVS Health), American Health Advantage of Tennessee, Blue Cross Blue Shield (HCSC), BlueCare Plus Tennessee, BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee, Centene (WellCare), Devoted Health, Elevance Health (Anthem), Humana, UnitedHealthcare and Zing Health. By plan type, that breaks down to 29 HMO, 19 HMO-POS and 25 PPO plans, and 29 of the 73 are Special Needs Plans designed for people with specific conditions, dual Medicare-Medicaid eligibility or who live in institutional settings.

The table below lists every plan offered in the county so you can see the full picture at a glance. CMS releases the 2027 landscape data in the fall; the Medicare Plan Finder is the fastest way to see next year's options once they're posted.

A few 2027 figures that aren't out yet

Two commonly asked-about numbers are not public yet: the 2027 Part B standard premium and deductible, and the 2027 IRMAA income brackets that determine high-income surcharges. CMS typically announces both in the fall, usually in November. Don't make a 2027 decision based on anyone's projection of those — wait for the official numbers at medicare.gov.

The Dec. 7 deadline, in plain terms

Dec. 7, 2026 is the last day to make an Annual Enrollment Period change for Jan. 1, 2027 coverage. After that, you generally cannot switch again until the Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period (Jan. 1 – March 31, 2027), which has narrower rules — it only lets someone already in a Medicare Advantage plan switch to another MA plan or return to Original Medicare, and allows one change.

So the practical sequence this fall:

1. Read your ANOC when it arrives. 2. List your doctors, hospitals, pharmacy and prescriptions. 3. Compare your renewing plan against two or three alternatives on medicare.gov's Plan Finder. 4. If a change makes sense, enroll by Dec. 7, 2026. 5. If your current plan still fits, do nothing — it renews automatically.