Medicare Advantage

El Paso Has 91 Medicare Plans for 2027: How to Pick

El Paso County has 89 Medicare Advantage plans for 2027. Compared with 2026, 18 plans are not coming back, 16 are new, and 48 continuing plans changed in some way you should check before December 7, 19 of them under a new name. This guide covers what those numbers mean for El Paso, not which plan to pick.

EL PASO, Texas — It is fall 2026, and the mailbox is doing its yearly job. Somewhere in that stack of envelopes is your plan's Annual Notice of Change, the booklet that spells out what will be different about your Medicare coverage on January 1, 2027. If you want to switch Medicare Advantage or Part D plans for next year, you have until December 7, 2026 to do it.

Nothing dramatic happens if you do nothing — your current plan rolls into 2027 with the changes listed in that notice. But a short review now is the best way to avoid a surprise at the pharmacy counter or the doctor's office in January.

Step 1: Read the Annual Notice of Change

Your current Medicare Advantage or Part D plan mailed you two documents in September: the Annual Notice of Change (ANOC) and the Evidence of Coverage (EOC).

The ANOC is the short one. It compares your 2026 plan side-by-side with the 2027 version. Look for changes to:

• The monthly premium and the deductible.
• Copays for primary care, specialists, urgent care and the ER.
• The drug formulary — which tier your medications land on, and whether any are being dropped.
• Extra benefits like dental, vision, hearing, over-the-counter and transportation.
• The provider and pharmacy network.

If your ANOC did not arrive, call the member services number on your insurance card and ask for it, or download it from your plan's website.

Step 2: Check your doctors and hospitals for 2027

Networks change every year. Before you decide to stay put, confirm your 2027 plan still contracts with:

• Your primary care doctor.
• Any specialists you see regularly.
• The hospital system you prefer in El Paso — for many residents that means The Hospitals of Providence, Las Palmas Del Sol Healthcare, University Medical Center of El Paso or William Beaumont Army Medical Center for eligible veterans and family.

The quickest way to check is to pull up the plan's 2027 provider directory online and search by name. If you cannot find it, call the plan and ask them to confirm each provider in writing or by email.

Step 3: Check your prescriptions

Even if your doctors stay in network, a drug change can cost you real money. For each medication you take:

1. Find it on your 2027 plan's formulary (drug list). 2. Note the tier and any restrictions (prior authorization, step therapy, quantity limits). 3. Confirm the pharmacy you use is still a preferred pharmacy for 2027.

The Medicare Plan Finder at medicare.gov lets you enter your drug list and ZIP code and see how every plan in El Paso County would cover them in 2027. It is the single most useful tool during this window.

Two 2027 Part D numbers worth knowing as you compare:

• The out-of-pocket cap for covered Part D drugs is $2,400 in 2027 (up from $2,100 in 2026). Once your spending hits that cap, you pay $0 for covered drugs the rest of the year.
• The maximum Part D deductible a plan can charge is $700 in 2027 (up from $615 in 2026). Many plans charge less.

If paying for drugs in big lumps is a problem, ask about the Medicare Prescription Payment Plan, which spreads your out-of-pocket drug costs across the year in monthly bills.

Step 4: See what else is available in El Paso County

El Paso is in El Paso County, where Medicare Advantage availability is set. For 2027, CMS lists 91 Medicare Advantage plans from 12 carriers in the county. By plan type: 43 HMO, 16 HMO-POS, 30 PPO and 2 PFFS. All 91 include prescription drug coverage, and 39 are Special Needs Plans designed for people with specific conditions, dual Medicare-Medicaid eligibility, or who live in an institutional setting.

The 12 carriers offering plans in El Paso County for 2027 are, in alphabetical order:

• Aetna (CVS Health)
• Alignment Health Plan
• Blue Cross Blue Shield (HCSC)
• Centene (WellCare)
• Devoted Health
• El Paso Health Medicare Advantage
• Elevance Health (Anthem)
• Humana
• Molina Healthcare of Texas, Inc.
• ProCare Advantage
• Provider Partners Health Plans
• UnitedHealthcare

The table below lists every plan available in the county, so you can see each one next to the others.

Step 5: Know what is not announced yet

Two 2027 numbers are not out yet as of early fall 2026:

• The 2027 Part B standard premium and deductible — CMS typically announces these in November.
• The 2027 IRMAA income brackets and surcharges, which affect higher-income beneficiaries. These usually land with the Part B figures.

If either number matters to your decision, watch for the CMS announcement before December 7.

Step 6: Mark the date and make the call

December 7, 2026 is the deadline to:

• Switch from Original Medicare to a Medicare Advantage plan, or back.
• Change from one Medicare Advantage plan to another.
• Join, drop or switch a stand-alone Part D drug plan.

If you are already in a Medicare Advantage plan, you also get a second window — the Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period, January 1 through March 31, 2027 — to make one change to a different Advantage plan or go back to Original Medicare.

For personalized help, call 1-800-MEDICARE (TTY 1-877-486-2048), 24 hours a day, or compare plans at medicare.gov.