Medicare Advantage

48 New Medicare Advantage Plans in Tennessee for 2027: The List

NASHVILLE — Tennesseans comparing Medicare Advantage coverage this fall will see a wider menu than they did a year ago. According to the CMS Medicare Advantage Landscape Source Files for the current and coming plan year, 48 of the 155 Medicare Advantage plans offered statewide in 2027 are new — meaning they were not offered in 2026. The new plans come from six carriers and vary widely in how many Tennessee counties they reach.

New for 2027Tennessee

Here is a plain-English walkthrough of what is new, how to tell whether a new plan is actually available where you live, and what to do before the Annual Enrollment Period closes.

How many plans are new, and from which carriers

Tennessee's 2027 Medicare Advantage landscape includes 155 plans statewide. Of those, 48 are new for 2027, meaning they were not on the 2026 landscape. The new plans break down this way by carrier:

• Aetna (CVS Health): 7 new plans
• BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee: 3 new plans
• Devoted Health: 22 new plans
• Humana: 7 new plans
• UnitedHealthcare: 8 new plans
• Zing Health: 1 new plan

The full plan-by-plan list — with county counts for each entry — appears in the tables on this page. Rather than repeat every row in prose, this article focuses on what the list means for Tennessee shoppers.

New plans with the widest county reach

Among the 48 new plans, a few stand out for how many Tennessee counties they are listed in on the CMS Landscape file:

• Humana's new Humana Together in Health (PPO I-SNP) is listed in 93 counties, the widest reach of any new plan.
• Devoted Health's DEVOTED C-SNP CHOICE PLUS 031 TN (PPO C-SNP) is listed in 72 counties.
• Several Devoted Health PPO and PPO C-SNP entries — including the 026 TN, 020 TN, 034 TN, 029 TN, and 042 TN plans — appear in 31 counties each.
• UnitedHealthcare's AARP Medicare Advantage Extras from UHC TC-7 (HMO-POS) and new UHC Dual Complete TN-Q1 and UHC Dual Complete TN-Y2 (HMO-POS D-SNP) entries are each listed in up to 44 counties.
• BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee's BlueAdvantage Emerald (PPO) is listed with county counts of 21, 16, and 8 across three new entries.
• Aetna's new Aetna Medicare Eagle (HMO-POS), Aetna Medicare Enhanced (HMO), and Aetna Medicare Signature (HMO) plans are listed in 13, 12, or 3 counties depending on the specific entry.
• Zing Health's Zing Elite Essentials Diabetes & Heart TN-MS (HMO C-SNP) is listed in 1 county.

Several of the Devoted Health, Humana, UnitedHealthcare, and Zing Health plans on the list are Special Needs Plans (D-SNP, C-SNP, or I-SNP), which have their own eligibility rules — generally tied to Medicaid status, specific chronic conditions, or living in an institution.

What "new" means for a plan

A "new" plan is one that CMS did not list in Tennessee for 2026 but does list for 2027. Two factual consequences follow:

1. No CMS Star Rating yet. CMS Star Ratings are built from several years of plan performance data. A plan in its first year generally does not have its own rating. That is a fact of how ratings work, not a mark against the plan. 2. No Tennessee track record. Because the plan was not sold here last year, there is no local year-over-year history to compare against. Current and prospective members rely on the plan's own documents — the Evidence of Coverage, Summary of Benefits, provider directory, and formulary.

Neither point makes a new plan better or worse than a returning one. It just means the information you look at is different.

Checking whether a plan is offered in your county — and covers your doctors and drugs

The CMS Landscape file counts a plan once statewide, even if it is sold in only a handful of counties. So a plan on the "new" list may not be available where you live. Three steps help here:

1. Confirm county availability. Enter your ZIP code at medicare.gov/plan-compare to see which plans — new or returning — are actually offered in your county. 2. Check your doctors and hospitals. Each plan has its own network. Verify your providers in the plan's current directory, or call the plan directly, before enrolling. Networks can also differ between HMO, HMO-POS, and PPO versions of plans with similar names. 3. Check your prescriptions. Each plan has its own formulary (drug list), tiers, and pharmacy network. Run your medications through Medicare Plan Finder, which shows coverage and cost estimates for the plans available in your ZIP code.

For Special Needs Plans — the many Devoted C-SNP entries, Humana's I-SNP, UnitedHealthcare's D-SNP entries, and Zing Health's C-SNP — you also need to meet the eligibility criteria for that plan type.

What to do before December 7

The Annual Enrollment Period runs October 15 – December 7, 2026, per CMS's Medicare enrollment periods page. A choice you make during that window takes effect January 1, 2027. A straightforward checklist:

• Read the Annual Notice of Change (ANOC) from your current plan, if you have one, so you know what is changing in 2027.
• Make a short list of your doctors, hospitals, and prescriptions.
• Use medicare.gov/plan-compare to see every 2027 plan — new and returning — available in your county.
• If a new plan interests you, request the Evidence of Coverage and verify your providers and drugs.
• Decide, enroll, and keep a confirmation number.

There is no advantage to rushing. The deadline is a date, not a countdown.

Free help

Two sources of help are free and available to every Tennessean with Medicare:

• medicare.gov — the official site for plan comparison, enrollment, and plan documents.
• 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227), available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, including TTY at 1-877-486-2048.