Medicare Advantage

Medicare and Medicaid in Utah: 11 Dual Special Needs Plans for 2027

SALT LAKE CITY — Utahns who qualify for both Medicare and Medicaid will have 11 Dual Special Needs Plans (D-SNPs) to consider for 2027, drawn from a wider slate of 51 Medicare Advantage plans listed statewide in the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Landscape files. The Annual Enrollment Period for Annual Enrollment 2027 runs October 15 – December 7, 2026, and a choice made during that window takes effect January 1, 2027.

D-SNPs are a specific kind of Medicare Advantage plan built for people who have both Medicare and Medicaid. They are not the only Special Needs Plans in the state — Utah's 2027 landscape also includes 5 Chronic Condition SNPs (C-SNPs) and 2 Institutional SNPs (I-SNPs) — but D-SNPs are the ones designed around dual eligibility.

What is a D-SNP in Utah and who qualifies in 2027?

A D-SNP in Utah is a Medicare Advantage plan limited to people who have both Medicare and Medicaid, and in 2027 there are 11 such plans listed in the CMS Landscape file for the state. The plan coordinates Medicare benefits (hospital, medical and, in these cases, prescription drug coverage) with the help a member already gets through Utah Medicaid.

Dual eligibility comes in two broad forms. "Full" dual eligibles get the full scope of Medicaid benefits alongside Medicare. "Partial" dual eligibles qualify for one of the Medicare Savings Programs, where Medicaid helps pay Medicare premiums and, in some categories, cost sharing, but does not provide full Medicaid benefits. Different D-SNPs are designed for different subsets of this population, so the plan a person is eligible to join depends on the Medicaid category Utah has placed them in. The Utah Department of Health and Human Services, which runs Medicaid in the state, is the office that confirms that category.

Because D-SNPs are tailored, enrollment is not automatic. A person has to pick a plan they qualify for, and the plan has to be offered in the county where they live.

How many D-SNPs are offered in Utah for 2027 and which carriers offer them?

Utah has 11 D-SNPs for 2027, offered by six carriers: Aetna (CVS Health), Devoted Health, Humana, Molina Healthcare of Utah & Idaho, Select Health, and UnitedHealthcare. Those 11 plans sit within a statewide total of 51 Medicare Advantage plans; the remaining SNPs in Utah include 5 C-SNPs and 2 I-SNPs.

The carrier breakdown for D-SNPs is: Aetna (CVS Health) with 2 plans, Devoted Health with 1, Humana with 3, Molina Healthcare of Utah & Idaho with 1, Select Health with 1, and UnitedHealthcare with 3. Two of the UnitedHealthcare plans — UHC Dual Advantage UT-V1 (PPO D-SNP) and UHC Dual Complete UT-Q1 (PPO D-SNP) — are renamed versions of plans listed in the 2026 Landscape file (previously UHC Dual Complete UT-V001 and UHC Dual Complete UT-S001, respectively). The full plan names, plan types, drug-coverage status and county counts are rendered as tables elsewhere on this page.

A plan being listed statewide does not mean it is sold in every Utah county. County availability among the 11 D-SNPs for 2027 ranges from a handful of counties for some plans — such as the two Aetna Medicare Full Dual plans and Select Health Medicare Dual (HMO D-SNP) — to 29 counties for each of the three UnitedHealthcare D-SNPs. Humana Dual Select H7617-039 (PPO D-SNP), HumanaChoice SNP-DE H5216-296 (PPO D-SNP), HumanaChoice SNP-DE H7617-038 (PPO D-SNP), Molina Medicare Complete Care (HMO D-SNP) and DEVOTED DUAL CHOICE FULL 004 UT (PPO D-SNP) each cover a different slice of the state.

How often can a dual-eligible person in Utah change plans in 2027?

Dual-eligible Utahns generally have more opportunities to change Medicare Advantage or Part D plans during 2027 than people who only have Medicare. In addition to the Annual Enrollment Period of October 15 – December 7, 2026 (effective January 1, 2027) and the Medicare Open Enrollment 2027 period of January 1 – March 31, 2027, people with both Medicare and Medicaid typically qualify for a Special Enrollment Period tied to their dual status, which allows a plan change once per calendar quarter during the first three quarters of the year.

The exact SEP rules depend on a person's Medicaid category and any recent changes to it, which is another reason to confirm status with Utah Medicaid before switching. Medicare.gov and 1-800-MEDICARE can walk through which window applies on a given date.

How do I check whether a 2027 D-SNP is offered in my Utah county?

To check whether any of Utah's 11 D-SNPs for 2027 is offered in a specific county, use the Medicare Plan Finder at medicare.gov or call 1-800-MEDICARE, which is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Entering a ZIP code returns the plans actually sold in that county, along with the plan's own documents.

The CMS Landscape file is the source for the statewide count and the carrier list in this article, but it is organized at the state and county level, not the ZIP code level. Plan Finder is where the county-by-county detail — premiums, cost sharing, drug lists, provider networks and star ratings — lives. Each plan's Evidence of Coverage and provider and pharmacy directories are the authoritative documents for those specifics.

Where can Utahns get free help with 2027 D-SNP decisions?

Free, unbiased help with Medicare choices in Utah for 2027 is available from Medicare directly: medicare.gov hosts the Plan Finder and plan documents, and 1-800-MEDICARE (TTY 1-877-486-2048) answers questions around the clock. For the Medicaid side of dual eligibility — whether a person is full or partial dual, and which category they fall into — the Utah Department of Health and Human Services is the office that confirms status.

Readers who want to compare year over year can also look at the CMS Medicare Advantage Landscape Source Files for 2026 and 2027 side by side; that is how the renamed UnitedHealthcare plans in Utah were identified for this article.