Medicare Advantage

Is Your Houston Medicare Advantage Plan Leaving in 2027?

People in Houston can choose from 82 Medicare Advantage plans for 2027, against 114 this year. 37 of this year's plans are gone, 22 are new to Harris County, and 27 that continue have changed something in their terms, and 17 continuing plans are under a new name.

Medicare AdvantageHouston, TX

HOUSTON — If you have a Medicare Advantage plan in the Houston area, this fall's mail is worth opening. For plan year 2027, CMS records show 37 Medicare Advantage plans leaving Harris County, 22 new plans arriving, and 17 keeping the same basic shape under a new name. One carrier, Memorial Hermann Health Plan, is not offering Medicare Advantage plans in the county next year, and a new carrier, MedCare Partners Health Plan of Texas, is entering.

If your plan is on the leaving list, you have protected time to switch — and you do not have to wait until you get a call from a sales agent to figure out what to do.

What's changing in Harris County

Houston sits inside Harris County, and Medicare Advantage plans are approved county by county. That means the list of plans a Houston resident can join is set at the Harris County level.

Comparing the CMS Medicare Advantage Landscape Source Files for 2026 and 2027, here is the shape of the change in Harris County:

• 37 plans leaving after 2026
• 22 plans new for 2027
• 17 plans renamed (same plan, different name on your card and paperwork)
• 27 plans changing on premium, deductible, plan type or name — CMS flags a change, but your Annual Notice of Change (ANOC) is where the specifics live
• 60 plans continuing largely as they were

The table below lists every plan available for the coming year. Use it alongside the ANOC your current plan mailed you in September.

Plans that will not be back in 2027

If you are enrolled in one of these plans, it will not renew for 2027 and you will need to make a choice. The leaving list includes plans from Blue Cross Blue Shield (HCSC) — including Blue Cross Medicare Advantage Basic, Choice Premier, Dental Value, Dual Care Plus, Optimum, Preferred, Saver and Secure; Centene (WellCare) — Wellcare Assist, Dual Liberty, Giveback, Simple Open and TexanPlus Patriot Giveback; Community Health Choice's Community DualCare Aligned; four Elevance Health (Anthem) Wellpoint Dual Advantage plans; two Humana plans, Humana Gold Choice H8145-084 and one Humana USAA Honor Giveback; all three Memorial Hermann plans (Memorial Hermann Advantage, Dual Advantage and Prime Value MA Only); SCAN MyChoice Texas and SCAN Strive Texas; and several UnitedHealthcare plans, including AARP Medicare Advantage from UHC TX-0006, AARP Medicare Advantage Giveback from UHC TX-31, AARP Medicare Advantage Patriot No Rx TX-MA05, six Erickson Advantage plans, UHC Complete Care Support TX-1A, UHC Dual Complete TX-Q3 and UHC Dual Complete TX-S003.

Your carrier should have sent a non-renewal letter. If you got one, hold onto it — it's your proof for the Special Enrollment Period.

Plans that are new for 2027

Twenty-two plans are joining the Harris County lineup. New offerings come from Aetna (CVS Health), Blue Cross Blue Shield (HCSC), Centene (WellCare), Community Health Choice, Devoted Health, Elevance Health (Anthem), Humana, MedCare Partners Health Plan of Texas (new to the county), ProCare Advantage, SCAN Health Plan and UnitedHealthcare. Many of these are Special Needs Plans for people with certain chronic conditions or with both Medicare and Medicaid — those plans have enrollment rules of their own, so check whether you qualify before you sign up.

Plans that were renamed

Seventeen plans are the same plan under a new name. That includes several Aetna plans (for example, Aetna Medicare Prime Chronic Care is now Aetna Medicare Chronic Care), a HealthSpring plan, two Wellcare plans that now carry the Superior HealthPlan brand, one Devoted Health C-SNP, three Wellpoint plans, five Humana plans, and one UnitedHealthcare plan (UHC Medicare Advantage TX-0030 is now AARP Medicare Advantage from UHC TX-61).

A rename can still come with real changes to costs or benefits. Do not assume "same name-ish" means "same plan." Read the ANOC.

How to decide what to do

Here is a simple path if you're a Harris County resident sorting through this:

1. Find your current plan on the leaving list above. If it's there, you must act — your coverage will end after December 31, 2026. 2. If your plan is continuing or renamed, read the Annual Notice of Change your carrier sent in September. It shows what will be different in 2027, including any premium, deductible, drug tier or network changes. 3. Make a short list of what matters to you: your doctors, your hospital, your prescriptions, and whether you need extras like dental or transportation. 4. Use the Plan Finder at medicare.gov to compare 2027 plans in Harris County side by side. It pulls the CMS data directly. 5. If you want a free, unbiased second opinion, call the Texas SHIP program (the Health Information, Counseling and Advocacy Program) at 1-800-252-9240.

Enrollment windows you can use

Two windows matter for Houston beneficiaries this season:

• Annual Enrollment Period (AEP): October 15 – December 7, 2026. Anyone with Medicare can join, switch or drop a Medicare Advantage or Part D plan for 2027.
• Special Enrollment Period for non-renewals. If your plan is on the leaving list, you get an SEP that runs through the end of February 2027. You can pick a new Medicare Advantage plan, or return to Original Medicare and add a stand-alone Part D plan.
• Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment: January 1 – March 31, 2027. If you are already in a Medicare Advantage plan on January 1, you can switch to another Advantage plan or go back to Original Medicare (with a Part D plan) once during this window.

A few 2026-into-2027 program facts worth knowing

These are program-wide rules, not plan-specific pitches, but they can shape your choice:

• Part D has a $2,100 out-of-pocket cap for covered drugs in 2026, rising to $2,400 in 2027.
• The Part D deductible cannot be more than $615 in 2026, or more than $700 in 2027.
• The old coverage gap ("donut hole") is gone as of 2025 — Part D now has three phases.
• The Medicare Prescription Payment Plan lets you spread drug costs across the year in monthly bills instead of paying all at once at the pharmacy.
• IRMAA surcharges on Part B and Part D begin above $109,000 in income for a single filer in 2026.