Medicare Advantage

Anthem's 2027 Medicare Advantage plans in El Paso County, plan by plan

EL PASO — As the Annual Enrollment Period runs from October 15 through December 7, 2026, El Paso residents on Medicare are seeing their 2027 plan options come into focus. One of the carriers in the local market, Anthem — which CMS lists under its parent company Elevance Health — is offering six Medicare Advantage plans in El Paso County for 2027, including four that are new for next year and three from this year's lineup that are not returning.

MyMedicarePlans.org is an independent consumer news and education site. We are not Anthem and not Medicare. The counts below come from the CMS Medicare Advantage Landscape Source Files for 2026 and 2027.

Which Anthem Medicare Advantage plans are offered in El Paso County for 2027?

Anthem is offering six Medicare Advantage plans in El Paso County for 2027. By plan type, that breaks down as four HMO plans and two HMO-POS plans. Every one of the six includes Part D prescription drug coverage.

Five of the six are Special Needs Plans (SNPs), which are built for people who meet specific eligibility rules. Within that group, three are Dual Eligible Special Needs Plans (D-SNPs) for people who have both Medicare and Medicaid, and two are Chronic Condition Special Needs Plans (C-SNPs) for people with qualifying chronic conditions. Anthem is not offering an Institutional SNP in the county for 2027.

The full table below lists every plan Anthem is offering in El Paso County next year, in alphabetical order:

• Wellpoint Chronic Care Advantage (HMO C-SNP) — with drug coverage — new for 2027
• Wellpoint Dual Advantage (HMO D-SNP) — with drug coverage — new for 2027
• Wellpoint Dual Advantage Plus (HMO D-SNP) — with drug coverage — new for 2027
• Wellpoint Full Dual Advantage (HMO D-SNP) — with drug coverage — new for 2027
• Wellpoint Kidney Care (HMO-POS C-SNP) — with drug coverage
• Wellpoint Medicare Advantage 2 (HMO-POS) — with drug coverage

We are not attaching premiums, copays, deductibles, network details or star ratings to any of these — those details belong to the Medicare Plan Finder and the plan's own Evidence of Coverage.

What is new or not returning from Anthem in El Paso for 2027?

Four of Anthem's six plans in El Paso County are new for 2027: Wellpoint Chronic Care Advantage, Wellpoint Dual Advantage, Wellpoint Dual Advantage Plus, and Wellpoint Full Dual Advantage. Three plans Anthem offered in 2026 are not returning for 2027.

If you are currently in an Anthem plan, the most important document to open right now is your Annual Notice of Change (ANOC). It arrives by late September and spells out exactly what is changing about your plan — including whether your plan is being discontinued, renamed, or restructured, and what your options are if so. CMS also notifies members directly if their plan is leaving.

A plan sharing a familiar name is not a guarantee it is the same plan year over year. Costs, drug lists, provider networks and extra benefits can all shift between 2026 and 2027.

How do Special Needs Plans work in El Paso County?

A Special Needs Plan is a type of Medicare Advantage plan limited to people who meet certain eligibility rules. Five of Anthem's six El Paso County plans for 2027 are SNPs.

• A D-SNP is for people enrolled in both Medicare and Medicaid.
• A C-SNP is for people with a qualifying chronic condition — Anthem's Wellpoint Kidney Care plan, for example, is named for one such condition.
• An I-SNP is for people who live in a long-term care setting or who need that level of care at home. Anthem is not offering an I-SNP in El Paso County for 2027.

If you are not eligible for a SNP, the non-SNP plan in Anthem's 2027 El Paso lineup is Wellpoint Medicare Advantage 2 (HMO-POS). Other carriers in the county offer additional options.

How do I check an Anthem plan against my doctors and prescriptions before December 7?

The reliable way to see whether a specific 2027 plan covers your doctors, hospitals and medications is to run your own information through Medicare's official tools:

1. Go to medicare.gov/plan-compare and enter your ZIP code and the drugs you take, with doses and pharmacy. 2. Filter to the plan or plans you want to compare — the tool will show the 2027 premium, deductible, drug tiers and estimated yearly cost based on your medications. 3. Check the plan's provider directory to confirm your primary care doctor, specialists and preferred hospitals are in-network for 2027. Networks can change on January 1. 4. If something is unclear, call 1-800-MEDICARE (TTY 1-877-486-2048), available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, or call the plan directly using the number on the plan's listing.

Doing this before December 7, 2026 means any change you make takes effect January 1, 2027. If you do nothing and your plan is still offered next year, it will renew automatically with the changes listed in your ANOC.

What else should El Paso residents know about 2027?

A few program-level numbers are already confirmed for 2027 and apply to any Part D or Medicare Advantage plan with drug coverage, including Anthem's:

• The Part D out-of-pocket cap rises to $2,400 in 2027 (up from $2,100 in 2026).
• The Part D maximum deductible rises to $700 in 2027 (up from $615 in 2026).
• The Part D national base beneficiary premium for 2027 is $41.33 — this is a formula input CMS uses, not the premium any specific plan charges.
• The Medicare Prescription Payment Plan remains available in 2027, letting you spread drug costs across the calendar year in monthly bills instead of paying at the pharmacy.

CMS has not yet announced the 2027 Part B standard premium and deductible or the 2027 IRMAA income brackets. Those figures are typically published later in the fall.

Finally, remember that Anthem is one of 12 carriers offering Medicare Advantage in El Paso County for 2027, and there are 89 Medicare Advantage plans in the county across all carriers. If an Anthem plan is not the right fit, there are many other plans to compare on medicare.gov.