Medicare Advantage

Is Your Garland ANOC Still on the Kitchen Table?

Dallas County has 84 Medicare Advantage plans for 2027. Compared with 2026, 29 plans are not coming back, 20 are new, and 31 continuing plans changed in some way you should check before December 7, 9 of them under a new name. This guide covers what those numbers mean for Garland, not which plan to pick.

Garland, Texas — Fall 2026. If you have a Medicare Advantage or Part D plan, the mail you've been shoving to the side of the kitchen table is the one piece of paper that decides a lot about your 2027 coverage. The Annual Enrollment Period for 2027 runs October 15 through December 7, 2026, and any change you make lands on your plan on January 1, 2027. Here is a plain checklist Garland readers can work through before the deadline.

What is the December 7 deadline for Medicare in Garland?

December 7, 2026 is the last day of Annual Enrollment for 2027 coverage. Anything you change during the October 15 – December 7 window — switching Medicare Advantage plans, joining or dropping a Part D drug plan, moving between Original Medicare and Advantage — starts on January 1, 2027.

If you do nothing, nothing dramatic happens: your current plan renews for 2027 as long as it is still offered, with whatever changes are listed in its Annual Notice of Change. That is why the ANOC is the single most important envelope in the pile.

What is the Annual Notice of Change (ANOC) and where do I find it?

The ANOC is the document your Medicare Advantage or Part D plan sent you by September 30, 2026 that spells out exactly what is different about your plan in 2027 compared with 2026. Read it before anything else.

Flip to the pages that cover the premium, the deductible, the primary-care and specialist copays, the drug tiers, and the extra benefits (dental, vision, hearing, over-the-counter, fitness). If you cannot find your paper copy, log in to your plan's member portal or call the member services number on the back of your card and ask them to send another. The companion booklet, the Evidence of Coverage (EOC), is the long version with every rule.

How do I check my doctors, hospitals and prescriptions for 2027?

Confirm three things, in this order: your doctors, the hospitals you'd want to use, and every prescription you take. Plan networks and drug lists (formularies) can shift year to year, and a plan that worked in 2026 may cover things differently in 2027.

• Doctors and hospitals: Call each provider's office and ask, by name, whether they will be in-network for your specific 2027 plan — not just "the carrier." For hospitals in and around Garland, confirm both the hospital and the physician groups that staff it.
• Prescriptions: Pull up the 2027 formulary for the plan you're considering (your plan posts it; Medicare.gov's Plan Finder also lets you enter your drugs). Watch for tier changes, new prior authorization, step therapy, or a drug moving off the list entirely.
• Pharmacy: Check that your pharmacy is a "preferred" pharmacy on the 2027 plan, since cost-sharing often differs between preferred and standard.

How many Medicare Advantage plans are offered in Dallas County for 2027?

Garland is in Dallas County, where for 2026 CMS lists 93 Medicare Advantage plans from 12 carriers — 36 HMO, 20 HMO-POS, 35 PPO and 2 PFFS, with 35 Special Needs Plans and 81 that include drug coverage. The 2027 lineup publishes on Medicare.gov in October 2026; use that date to compare apples to apples for next year.

The 12 carriers serving Dallas County in 2026 are Aetna (CVS Health), American Health Advantage of Texas, Baylor Scott & White Health Plan, Blue Cross Blue Shield (HCSC), Centene (WellCare), Elevance Health (Anthem), Humana, Molina Healthcare of Texas, ProCare Advantage, Provider Partners Health Plans, UnitedHealthcare and Verda Health Plan of Texas. The table below lists every plan by carrier.

A bigger menu is not automatically better — it just means more homework. Focus on the plans that cover your doctors and your drugs, then compare the dollars.

What 2027 Medicare figures are already set, and what is still coming?

CMS has confirmed several Part D numbers for 2027. The out-of-pocket cap on covered drugs rises to $2,400 in 2027 (up from $2,100 in 2026). The maximum Part D deductible a plan can charge rises to $700 in 2027 (up from $615 in 2026). The Part D national base beneficiary premium — a formula input, not what any plan charges — is $41.33 for 2027.

Still to come: the 2027 Part B standard premium and deductible, and the 2027 IRMAA income brackets and surcharges. CMS typically publishes those in November. The coverage gap (the old "donut hole") remains eliminated — Part D has three phases now — and the Medicare Prescription Payment Plan, which spreads your drug costs across the calendar year in monthly bills, is still available if you want to opt in.

A short Garland checklist to work through before Dec. 7

1. Pull out the ANOC that arrived in September and read the "changes for 2027" pages. 2. List your doctors, your main hospital, your pharmacy and every prescription (with dose). 3. Go to Medicare.gov's Plan Finder, enter your drugs and your pharmacy, and look up both your current plan for 2027 and any alternative. 4. Call each doctor's office and ask about 2027 network status for the specific plan you're considering. 5. If you take expensive drugs, look at how the new $2,400 cap and the Medicare Prescription Payment Plan would apply to you. 6. Decide by December 7, 2026. If you do nothing, your current plan renews with the ANOC changes.