Medicare Advantage

Utah County Medicare Advantage Tally: 42 Plans in Orem

OREM, Utah — If you're turning 65 in Orem, or you're already on Medicare and thinking about a change for 2027, here's the local picture: for the 2026 plan year, Utah County has 42 Medicare Advantage plans offered, according to CMS Medicare Plan Finder data. The 2027 lineup is described in each plan's Annual Notice of Change and on Medicare.gov's Plan Finder.

Orem seniors have plenty of Medicare choices heading into 2027

That's a lot of options to sort through — and that's before you factor in Original Medicare, Medigap, and prescription drug coverage. This article isn't about picking a plan. It's a plain-language look at how many choices you actually have where you live, and where to get trustworthy help sorting through them.

What the numbers look like in Utah County

Here's the availability snapshot for the area around Orem for the 2026 plan year:

• 42 Medicare Advantage plans available in Utah County
• 8 carriers (insurance companies) offering Medicare Advantage plans that include drug coverage
• 0 stand-alone Part D drug plans listed for the area in the current Landscape data
• Roughly 55,686 residents age 65 and older across the county

A quick note on that stand-alone Part D count: most people in Utah County who want drug coverage get it built into a Medicare Advantage plan. If you stay with Original Medicare and need drug coverage, ask 1-800-MEDICARE or your local SHIP counselor to walk you through what's available for your ZIP code — the online Plan Finder is the official source.

Why "42 plans" doesn't mean "42 good fits for you"

Forty-two is the number of plans a Medicare-eligible person in Utah County could look at. It doesn't mean 42 will match your doctors, your prescriptions, or how you like to get care.

When you narrow by:

• the doctors and hospitals you already use,
• the specific medications you take, and
• whether you travel or split time in another state,

the real short list gets much smaller — often just a handful. That's a good thing. It makes the choice more manageable.

Star Ratings: what they are (and aren't)

CMS publishes Star Ratings every year that score Medicare Advantage and Part D contracts on things like customer service, member complaints, and how well plans manage chronic conditions. Ratings run from 1 to 5 stars.

For the 2026 ratings cycle, no contracts serving the Utah County area were rated at 4 stars or higher in the data set we reviewed. That doesn't mean plans are "bad" — Star Ratings shifted nationwide, and the measurement is done at the contract level, not the city level. Use ratings as one input, not the whole decision.

Key Medicare facts worth knowing for 2026 and 2027

These are program-wide rules set by Medicare — they apply no matter which plan or path you choose:

• Part D out-of-pocket cap: $2,100 in 2026 and $2,400 in 2027. Once your out-of-pocket drug spending hits that amount in a given year, you pay nothing for covered Part D drugs the rest of that year.
• Part D maximum deductible: $615 in 2026 and $700 in 2027.
• The coverage gap ("donut hole") is gone as of 2025. Part D now has three phases instead of four.
• The Medicare Prescription Payment Plan lets you spread your drug costs across the year in monthly payments instead of paying big amounts at the pharmacy counter. It's optional and free to opt into.
• IRMAA (the income-related surcharge on Part B and Part D) starts above $109,000 in income for a single filer in 2026.

The dates to circle

• Annual Enrollment Period: October 15 – December 7. This is when most people compare and switch Medicare Advantage or Part D plans for the following year.
• Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment: January 1 – March 31. If you're already in a Medicare Advantage plan and it isn't working out, you get one chance to switch to another Advantage plan or return to Original Medicare.