Medicare Advantage

Shopping Medicare Advantage in Dallas for 2027? Here is a clear way to compare

People in Dallas can choose from 84 Medicare Advantage plans for 2027, against 93 this year. 29 of this year’s plans are gone, 20 are new to Dallas County, and 31 that continue have changed their premium, deductible, plan type or name, 9 of them under a new name.

It is fall 2026, and the Annual Enrollment Period for 2027 Medicare coverage is open from October 15 through December 7, 2026. Any change you make in that window starts January 1, 2027. If you do nothing, your current Medicare Advantage plan simply renews — as long as it is being offered next year — with whatever updates are listed in its Annual Notice of Change.

In Dallas County, where the city of Dallas sits, the 2027 Medicare Advantage lineup is set. According to the CMS Medicare Advantage Landscape Source File for 2027, 84 Medicare Advantage plans from 12 carriers will be offered in the county next year. Twenty of those plans are new, and 29 plans available in 2026 are not returning. Nine plans are keeping their contract but changing their name. That is why a careful look this fall is worth your time, even if you like the plan you have.

What Dallas County has for 2027

For plan year 2027, the CMS Landscape file shows 84 Medicare Advantage plans available in Dallas County from 12 carriers. By plan type, that breaks down to 37 HMO plans, 21 HMO-POS plans, 25 PPO plans and 1 PFFS plan. All 84 include Part D drug coverage.

Forty-two of the 84 are Special Needs Plans (SNPs), built for people who meet specific rules: 20 are Dual-Eligible SNPs (D-SNPs) for people who have both Medicare and Medicaid, 15 are Chronic Condition SNPs (C-SNPs) for conditions like diabetes, heart disease or kidney disease, and 7 are Institutional SNPs (I-SNPs) for people who live in a nursing home or need that level of care.

The 12 carriers offering plans in the county next year are Aetna (CVS Health), Baylor Scott & White Health Plan, Centene (WellCare), Elevance Health (Anthem), HealthSpring, Humana, Molina Healthcare of Texas, Inc., ProCare Advantage, Provider Partners Health Plans, Texas Independence Health Plan, UnitedHealthcare, and Verda Health Plan of Texas. The table below lists every 2027 plan by carrier.

What is new for 2027

A few changes stand out this year.

• Twenty new plans enter Dallas County for 2027.
• Twenty-nine plans sold in 2026 will not be offered in 2027. If yours is one of them, your carrier will send you a non-renewal notice, and you have a Special Enrollment Period to pick a replacement.
• Nine plans are keeping the same contract but changing their name — the Annual Notice of Change will spell that out.
• At the program level, the Part D out-of-pocket cap rises to $2,400 in 2027 (up from $2,100 in 2026), and the Part D maximum deductible rises to $700 in 2027 (up from $615 in 2026). CMS has not yet announced the 2027 Part B premium, Part B deductible or IRMAA income brackets; those usually come out in the fall.

A step-by-step way to compare plans

Comparing Medicare Advantage plans is not about finding "the best" plan — it is about finding the plan that fits your doctors, your prescriptions and your budget. Here is a clean order of operations.

1. Read your Annual Notice of Change (ANOC). Your current plan mailed this to you in September. It lists every change for 2027: premium, deductible, copays, drug tier changes, network changes, extra benefits added or dropped. If every change still works for you, you may not need to switch at all.

2. List your doctors and hospitals. Write down the providers you want to keep seeing — primary care, specialists, your preferred hospital system. HMO and HMO-POS plans use tighter networks and usually require referrals; PPO plans let you go out of network at a higher cost; PFFS plans work differently again. For each plan you are considering, check the plan's own online provider directory, or call the plan, to confirm your doctors are in network for 2027. Networks can change on January 1.

3. List your prescriptions. Write down every drug, its exact dose and how often you take it. Then enter that list in the Medicare Plan Finder at medicare.gov/plan-compare. The Plan Finder shows how each plan covers each drug, which tier it is on, which pharmacies are preferred, and what your projected yearly drug cost would be. This is the single most useful step most people skip.

4. Check your pharmacy. A plan's preferred pharmacies usually cost less than its standard ones. If you use a specific neighborhood pharmacy or a mail-order service, confirm it is in the plan's preferred network.

5. Add up the total cost, not just the premium. A plan with a low premium can cost more overall if its copays or drug tiers are higher for the care you actually use. The Plan Finder estimates your yearly out-of-pocket cost based on your drug list.

6. Think about extras you will really use. Dental, vision, hearing, fitness, over-the-counter cards and transportation vary a lot by plan. A benefit you never use is not a benefit.

7. Decide and enroll by December 7, 2026. You can enroll through medicare.gov, by calling 1-800-MEDICARE, or directly with the plan.

If your plan is one of the 29 not returning

You will receive a non-renewal letter from your carrier. That letter triggers a Special Enrollment Period that runs into early 2027, so you have time, but it is easier to pick a 2027 plan during the Annual Enrollment Period so your coverage transitions cleanly on January 1. If you do nothing, you will go back to Original Medicare on January 1, 2027, without drug coverage — which is usually not what people want.

Two more windows to know about

The Annual Enrollment Period (October 15 – December 7) is the main shopping window. After that, from January 1 through March 31, 2027, there is a Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period. During that window, if you are already in a Medicare Advantage plan, you can switch to a different Medicare Advantage plan once, or go back to Original Medicare and add a Part D plan. It is a safety valve, not a second shopping season.