Medicare Advantage

Anthem's Medicare Advantage plans in Plano for 2027: three new, three gone

PLANO, Texas — Anthem is reshuffling its Medicare Advantage lineup in Plano for 2027, with three plans not coming back and three new ones taking their place. If you have an Anthem plan now, the changes show up in the Annual Notice of Change (ANOC) your plan mailed out this fall — and you have until Dec. 7, 2026, to decide whether to stick with your plan, switch to a different Anthem plan, pick a different carrier, or move back to Original Medicare.

MyMedicarePlans.org is an independent news and education site, not Anthem and not Medicare. Anthem is one of 12 carriers offering Medicare Advantage in the county for 2027; this article focuses on Anthem's piece of that picture.

How many Anthem Medicare Advantage plans are offered in Plano for 2027?

Plano is in Collin County, where Anthem is offering 6 Medicare Advantage plans for 2027. By type, that is 3 HMO plans and 3 HMO-POS plans. All 6 include Part D prescription drug coverage.

Five of the six are Special Needs Plans (SNPs), which are built for people who meet specific eligibility rules: 3 are Dual Eligible SNPs (D-SNPs) for people who have both Medicare and Medicaid, and 2 are Chronic Condition SNPs (C-SNPs) for people living with certain qualifying conditions. The sixth is a general-enrollment HMO-POS. Anthem is not offering an I-SNP (for people living in an institutional setting) in the county for 2027.

The table below lists every Anthem plan available in the county for next year.

Which Anthem plans are new, and which are not returning in 2027?

Three Anthem plans are new for 2027 in Collin County, and three plans that were offered in 2026 are not being offered next year. CMS data does not show any plans that were simply renamed.

Anthem's 2027 plans, in alphabetical order, are:

• Wellpoint Chronic Care (HMO-POS C-SNP) — with drug coverage
• 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

If you are currently enrolled in an Anthem plan that is not continuing, Anthem is required to mail you a non-renewal notice. Read it carefully and compare the alternatives before Dec. 7, 2026. Doing nothing in that case can leave you back on Original Medicare without drug coverage on Jan. 1, 2027.

What's the difference between an HMO, an HMO-POS, and an SNP?

An HMO (Health Maintenance Organization) generally asks you to use in-network doctors and hospitals and to get a referral to see a specialist. An HMO-POS (Point of Service) is an HMO with a limited option to go out of network for some services, usually at a higher cost. A Special Needs Plan is an HMO or HMO-POS built around a particular group of members:

• D-SNP is for people who have both Medicare and Medicaid.
• C-SNP is for people with certain chronic conditions, such as diabetes, chronic heart failure, or end-stage renal disease.
• I-SNP is for people who live in a nursing facility or need that level of care at home.

You must meet the eligibility rules to enroll in an SNP, and you must keep meeting them to stay on the plan.

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

Use the official Medicare Plan Finder at medicare.gov. It is the one tool that lets you type in your drugs and preferred pharmacy and see how each plan handles them, and it links to each plan's provider directory so you can check whether your doctors are in network.

A quick checklist for Plano readers:

1. Have your Medicare card, your prescription list (with doses), and your preferred pharmacy ready. 2. At medicare.gov, enter your ZIP code and the plans you want to compare. 3. For each plan, look at the drug formulary, the pharmacy network, the provider directory, and the Summary of Benefits. 4. Call your doctor's office and the plan directly to confirm the doctor is still accepting that plan for 2027 — directories can lag. 5. If you want to talk it through, call 1-800-MEDICARE (TTY 1-877-486-2048), open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

The plan's Evidence of Coverage is the binding document for what is and isn't covered.

What's changing in Medicare for 2027 that I should know about?

A few program-wide figures are already set for 2027. 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 Medicare uses to calculate certain amounts, not the premium any specific plan charges.

CMS has not yet published the 2027 Part B standard premium and deductible or the 2027 IRMAA (income-related) brackets. Those usually come out later in the fall. We will update our coverage when they are released.

Also worth knowing: the coverage gap, often called the "donut hole," was eliminated starting in 2025. Part D now has three phases — deductible, initial coverage, and catastrophic. The Medicare Prescription Payment Plan is still available if you want to spread your drug costs across the calendar year in level monthly amounts instead of paying at the pharmacy counter.

What happens if I do nothing by Dec. 7, 2026?

If your current plan is being offered again in 2027, it renews automatically on Jan. 1, 2027, with whatever changes are listed in your ANOC — the premium, the drug list, the cost shares, and the provider network can all shift year to year. If your current plan is not being offered in 2027, you need to pick a new plan, or you will be moved to Original Medicare without Part D.

You also have a second window if you end up on a Medicare Advantage plan and want to change: the Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period runs Jan. 1 – March 31, 2027, and lets you switch to another MA plan or go back to Original Medicare once.