Medicare Advantage

Houston C-SNPs for 2027: Harris County chronic-condition Medicare plans, by carrier

People in Houston can choose from 99 Medicare Advantage plans for 2027, against 114 this year. 37 of this year’s plans are gone, 22 are new to Harris County, and 44 that continue have changed their premium, deductible, plan type or name, 17 of them under a new name.

Fall 2026 — Houstonians who live with a long-term health condition like diabetes, heart disease, chronic lung disease, or end-stage kidney disease have a specific kind of Medicare Advantage plan built for them: a Chronic Condition Special Needs Plan, or C-SNP. For the 2027 plan year, Harris County — the county Houston sits in — will have 20 C-SNPs offered by 9 carriers, according to the CMS Medicare Advantage Landscape Source File. Enrollment runs during the Annual Enrollment Period, October 15 – December 7, 2026, with coverage starting January 1, 2027. If you have a qualifying diagnosis, you may also be able to switch outside that window using a Special Enrollment Period.

What a C-SNP is, in plain words

A Chronic Condition Special Needs Plan is a type of Medicare Advantage plan. Like other Medicare Advantage plans, it bundles your Part A, Part B, and (in every Harris County C-SNP for 2027) Part D drug coverage into one plan from a private insurer.

What makes a C-SNP different is who it serves. Each one is designed for people living with a specific chronic condition — for example, diabetes, chronic heart failure, or end-stage renal disease. Because the membership all shares a condition, the plan can shape its drug list, provider network, and care coordination around that condition.

That focus is the point. A C-SNP typically assigns a care coordinator, works closely with specialists who treat that condition, and includes the medications most relevant to it on its formulary. It is still a Medicare Advantage plan, though, so the usual rules apply: you keep paying your Part B premium, you use the plan's network, and you follow its referral and prior-authorization rules.

Who can join — and why the diagnosis matters

You can only enroll in a C-SNP if you actually have the qualifying condition the plan is built for. Medicare requires the plan to confirm your diagnosis with your provider, usually within the first weeks after you sign up. The plan will ask you to list the doctor who treats the condition and may send a short form for that provider to sign.

If the provider confirms the diagnosis, you stay enrolled. If the plan cannot confirm it, you have a grace period to get verification; if that does not happen, the plan has to disenroll you and move you back to Original Medicare or another plan you qualify for.

A few things worth knowing:

• You do not need a referral from your current doctor to shop for a C-SNP — but you do need the diagnosis in your medical record.
• Only name the condition a plan serves if the plan's name states it. Some plans in the list below are labeled by condition (for example, kidney or lung); others use general C-SNP names and cover one or more conditions the insurer has defined. Call the plan or check its Summary of Benefits to confirm.
• Having the condition is not enough on its own — you also have to be entitled to Medicare Part A and enrolled in Part B, and live in the plan's service area.

The Special Enrollment Period for people with a chronic condition

Most people pick a Medicare Advantage plan during the Annual Enrollment Period (October 15 – December 7, 2026, for 2027 coverage) or the Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period (January 1 – March 31). People with a qualifying chronic condition get an additional option.

If you have a condition that qualifies for a C-SNP in your area, you may use a Special Enrollment Period to join that C-SNP once, outside the regular windows. This SEP is tied to the chronic condition itself — not to the calendar — and it generally ends once you enroll in a C-SNP. If you later lose eligibility (for example, the plan cannot verify the diagnosis), different SEP rules apply for getting back into another plan.

Because SEP rules have exceptions, it is worth calling 1-800-MEDICARE or checking medicare.gov before you make the change, so your effective date and your drug coverage line up cleanly.

The 2027 C-SNP lineup in Harris County, by carrier

For 2027, CMS lists 20 C-SNPs in Harris County from 9 carriers. For comparison, the county's full Medicare Advantage lineup for 2027 includes 99 plans, with 23 Dual-Eligible Special Needs Plans (D-SNPs) and 7 Institutional Special Needs Plans (I-SNPs) alongside the 20 C-SNPs.

Carriers offering C-SNPs in Harris County for 2027, in alphabetical order:

• Aetna (CVS Health) — 2 C-SNPs
• Devoted Health — 3 C-SNPs
• Elevance Health (Anthem) — 4 C-SNPs
• Humana — 2 C-SNPs
• MedCare Partners Health Plan of Texas — 2 C-SNPs
• ProCare Advantage — 2 C-SNPs
• SCAN Health Plan — 2 C-SNPs
• UnitedHealthcare — 2 C-SNPs
• Verda Health Plan of Texas — 1 C-SNP

The table below lists every 2027 C-SNP in Harris County by name and type. Several are new for 2027 — including Aetna Medicare Chronic Care Total, DEVOTED C-SNP GIVEBACK EXTRAS 087 TX, Wellpoint Chronic Care Advantage Select, MedCare Choice, MedCare Focus, ProCare Advantage – Diabetes Care Management, ProCare Advantage – Kidney Care, and SCAN Walmart Medicare Complete — and a few existing plans were renamed (for example, Aetna Medicare Chronic Care, DEVOTED C-SNP ENHANCED 030 TX, Wellpoint Chronic Care Select, and Wellpoint Lung Care Select). Whether you were in one of those plans this year or you are shopping fresh, read the Annual Notice of Change (ANOC) your current plan mailed in September — it spells out what is changing for 2027.

How to decide if a C-SNP fits you

Start with the diagnosis. If a specialist already treats you for a condition that is clearly chronic — long-term diabetes, heart failure, end-stage renal disease, severe lung disease — a C-SNP is at least worth comparing against a general Medicare Advantage plan or Original Medicare with a Part D plan.

A few questions to work through:

1. Are the doctors you see in the plan's network? C-SNPs usually have narrower networks. Check your current specialists in the plan's online directory before you enroll. 2. Are your medications on the plan's drug list? Every C-SNP in Harris County for 2027 includes Part D drug coverage, but formularies differ. Across all Medicare drug plans in 2027, the Part D maximum out-of-pocket cap is $2,400 (up from $2,100 in 2026) and the maximum deductible is $700 (up from $615 in 2026). Those are program-level caps; individual plans can set lower numbers. 3. How does the plan coordinate care? Ask how care coordinators work, how prior authorization is handled for specialists, and what happens if you need care outside Houston. 4. What does the Evidence of Coverage actually say? The EOC and Summary of Benefits are the documents that bind the plan, not the brochure. Prices, copays, and benefits all live there.

If you do nothing during the Annual Enrollment Period and your current plan is being offered again next year, it will renew automatically with the changes listed in its ANOC. Nothing happens on its own — but nothing is also a choice, so make sure the renewed plan still fits.

Where to get the specifics

Costs, copays, drug lists, and provider networks change year to year, and they are the details that matter most once you have narrowed your list. For personalized answers:

• medicare.gov — the Medicare Plan Finder lets you enter your ZIP code, drugs, and pharmacies and compare 2027 plans side by side starting in October 2026.

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