Medicare Advantage

Should you pick a plan with no Star Rating yet?

People in Austin can choose from 56 Medicare Advantage plans for 2027, against 60 this year. 15 of this year’s plans are gone, 11 are new to Travis County, and 21 that continue have changed their premium, deductible, plan type or name, 8 of them under a new name.

AUSTIN, fall 2026 — When the Annual Enrollment Period opens Oct. 15, Travis County shoppers will see 11 Medicare Advantage plans that were not sold here for 2026. The newcomers come from five carriers, and most are Special Needs Plans built for people with specific health or financial situations. Every new plan includes drug coverage.

Here is who is new, what type of plan each one is, and how to size up a brand-new plan against one you already know — all before the Dec. 7 deadline.

What's new in Austin for 2027

Travis County will have 56 Medicare Advantage plans available for 2027. Of those, 11 are new — meaning they were not offered in the county for 2026. In alphabetical order by carrier, the new plans are:

• Devoted Health — DEVOTED C-SNP GIVEBACK EXTRAS 082 TX (HMO C-SNP); DEVOTED GIVEBACK EXTRAS 109 TX (HMO)
• Elevance Health (Anthem) — Wellpoint Dual Advantage (HMO D-SNP); Wellpoint Dual Advantage Plus (HMO D-SNP); Wellpoint Full Dual Advantage (HMO D-SNP)
• Humana — Humana Together in Health (PPO I-SNP)
• Provider Partners Health Plans — Provider Partners Texas Advantage Plan (HMO I-SNP)
• UnitedHealthcare — UHC Dual Advantage TX-V11 (HMO-POS D-SNP); UHC Dual Complete TX-Q6 (HMO-POS D-SNP); UHC Dual Complete TX-S6 (HMO-POS D-SNP); UHC Dual Complete TX-YL2 (HMO-POS D-SNP)

The table on this page lists every 2027 Medicare Advantage plan sold in the county, new and returning.

Plan types and Special Needs Plans

The 11 newcomers come in a mix of plan types. You'll see HMO, HMO C-SNP, HMO D-SNP, HMO-POS D-SNP, and PPO I-SNP among them. HMO plans generally keep care inside a defined network with a primary doctor; HMO-POS plans allow some out-of-network care; PPO plans typically offer wider out-of-network use at a higher cost share.

Most of the new plans are Special Needs Plans, which only serve people who meet specific eligibility rules:

• D-SNP (Dual-Eligible Special Needs Plan) — for people enrolled in both Medicare and Medicaid.
• C-SNP (Chronic Condition SNP) — for people with a qualifying chronic condition such as diabetes or certain heart conditions.
• I-SNP (Institutional SNP) — generally for people living in a nursing home or who need a similar level of care at home.

If you don't meet the eligibility rules for one of these plans, you can't enroll in it. That is set by Medicare, not the carrier.

Every one of the 11 new plans includes Part D prescription drug coverage.

How a brand-new plan is different from a renewing one

A new plan looks the same as any other on the Medicare Plan Finder — benefits, costs, network, and drug list are all listed. The one thing you will not see is a Star Rating. CMS rates plans based on how they have performed over time (member experience, customer service, chronic care management, drug safety, and more). A plan in its first year does not have enough history yet to be scored, so it either shows no rating or an inherited rating under CMS's rules.

Treat that as information, not a verdict. A new plan is not automatically better or worse than one that has been around; it simply doesn't have a public track record yet. The way to size it up is the same as any other plan: look at the specific coverage documents and check it against the care you actually use.

How to check a plan against your doctors and prescriptions before Dec. 7

Before you move to a new plan — or stay with the one you have — do these four checks:

1. Read your Annual Notice of Change (ANOC). If you're already in a Medicare Advantage or Part D plan, the carrier mailed (or emailed) your ANOC in September. It spells out what is changing for 2027, from premiums to copays to the drug list. 2. Look up each of your doctors and hospitals. On medicare.gov's Plan Finder, open the plan and check its provider directory, or call the plan directly. Networks can shift year to year, even for a plan you've been in. 3. Enter every prescription, exact dose and pharmacy. The Plan Finder will show whether each drug is on the plan's formulary, what tier it sits on, and the yearly cost estimate at your pharmacy. Mail-order and preferred pharmacies can change the number. 4. Confirm Special Needs Plan eligibility if that's what you're considering. A D-SNP needs active Medicaid; a C-SNP needs a qualifying diagnosis; an I-SNP needs an institutional-level-of-care determination.

If you do nothing by Dec. 7, your current plan renews for 2027 as described in its ANOC, assuming it is still offered.

2027 rules worth knowing while you shop

Two Part D figures are confirmed for 2027:

• The Part D out-of-pocket cap rises to $2,400 in 2027 (it is $2,100 in 2026).
• The Part D maximum deductible rises to $700 in 2027 (it is $615 in 2026).

The 2027 Part B standard premium and deductible, and the 2027 IRMAA income brackets, have not been announced yet. CMS typically publishes them later in the fall. We'll update as soon as they're official.