Medicare Advantage

Nashville Medicare Advantage for 2027: a six-step way to compare plans before Dec. 7

Davidson County has 69 Medicare Advantage plans for 2027. Compared with 2026, 14 plans are not coming back, 9 are new, and 30 continuing plans changed in some way you should check before December 7, 9 of them under a new name. This guide covers what those numbers mean for Nashville, not which plan to pick.

Nashville, Tenn. — Fall 2026 is the window when Medicare's Annual Enrollment Period reshuffles coverage for next year. From Oct. 15 through Dec. 7, 2026, people on Medicare in Nashville can switch, drop or pick up a Medicare Advantage plan, and whatever they choose takes effect Jan. 1, 2027. If a reader does nothing, their current plan simply renews for 2027 if it is still offered — with whatever changes are spelled out in the plan's Annual Notice of Change (ANOC).

Nashville is in Davidson County, where the Medicare Advantage lineup is set. For 2027, CMS lists 69 Medicare Advantage plans from 12 carriers in the county, down from 74 plans and 13 carriers in 2026. Nine plans are new for 2027 and 14 are not returning. That shift is the reason this fall is worth a careful hour at the kitchen table, even for someone happy with last year's coverage.

What is on offer in Davidson County for 2027

Of the 69 Medicare Advantage plans available in the county next year, CMS counts 29 HMO plans, 12 HMO-POS plans and 28 PPO plans. All 69 include prescription drug coverage.

Thirty-two of them are Special Needs Plans (SNPs), built for people in specific situations:

• 12 D-SNPs for people with both Medicare and Medicaid
• 13 C-SNPs for people with certain chronic conditions, such as diabetes or heart conditions
• 7 I-SNPs for people living in a nursing home or needing that level of care

The 12 carriers offering 2027 plans in Davidson County are Abilis Health, Aetna (CVS Health), American Health Advantage of Tennessee, BlueCare Plus Tennessee, BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee, Devoted Health, Elevance Health (Anthem), HealthSpring, Humana, NHC Advantage, UnitedHealthcare and Zing Health. The table below lists every plan by carrier.

What is new for 2027

Three things changed in Davidson County's lineup this year:

• 9 new plans are being offered for the first time in 2027.
• 14 plans that were sold in 2026 are not returning. If a plan is leaving, the carrier is required to send a non-renewal notice; the member has a Special Enrollment Period and does not have to decide on Dec. 7.
• 9 plans were renamed. The underlying contract may be the same, but the name on the card is different — a reason not to shop by name memory alone.

Program-wide, two Part D numbers are also moving for 2027. The annual out-of-pocket cap on covered drugs rises to $2,400 (from $2,100 in 2026), and the maximum Part D deductible a plan can charge rises to $700 (from $615 in 2026). CMS has not yet announced the 2027 Part B standard premium, deductible or IRMAA income brackets; those are typically published later in the fall.

A six-step way to compare

The point of comparing is not to find the "best" plan on paper — it is to find the plan that fits your doctors, your drugs and your budget. Here is a clear order to do it in.

1. Read your Annual Notice of Change (ANOC). Carriers mail it by late September. It lists, side by side, what your current plan charges and covers in 2026 versus 2027 — the premium, the drug deductible, specialist copays, the maximum out-of-pocket, and any benefit that is being added or dropped. If nothing in the ANOC bothers you, you may not need to change anything.

2. Check your doctors and hospitals. Call each provider's billing office, or check the carrier's online directory, and ask whether they will be in-network for the specific 2027 plan you are considering. Networks can change on Jan. 1, and HMO, HMO-POS and PPO plans treat out-of-network care differently.

3. Run your prescriptions through the Medicare Plan Finder. Go to medicare.gov/plan-compare, enter your ZIP code, add every drug you take with the dose and quantity, and pick your preferred pharmacy. The Plan Finder will show you each plan's estimated yearly drug cost at that pharmacy, including the deductible and the new $2,400 cap.

4. Confirm the pharmacy. A plan can look cheap at one pharmacy and expensive at another. Preferred pharmacies usually have the lowest cost sharing. If you use mail order, check that too.

5. Look at the plan type and extras. HMOs usually require a primary care doctor and referrals; HMO-POS plans allow some out-of-network use; PPOs offer the most flexibility, often at a higher premium. Extras such as dental, vision, hearing and over-the-counter allowances vary a lot — read the Summary of Benefits, not the TV ad.

6. If you qualify, look at a Special Needs Plan. The 32 SNPs in Davidson County for 2027 are only for people who meet the eligibility rules (dual Medicaid, a listed chronic condition, or an institutional level of care). The benefits are built around those needs.

What happens if you do nothing

Nothing bad, in most cases. If your 2026 plan is on the 2027 list, you stay in it with the ANOC changes applied. If your plan is one of the 14 not returning, the carrier will tell you in writing and you will get a Special Enrollment Period that runs past Dec. 7. And if you change your mind after Jan. 1, Medicare Advantage members have a second window — the Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period, Jan. 1 through March 31, 2027 — to switch to a different Medicare Advantage plan or return to Original Medicare once.