Medicare Advantage

Before you pick a Medicare Advantage plan in Salt Lake City: the 9 carriers and how HMO, PPO and SNPs differ

For 2027, Salt Lake City is looking at 46 Medicare Advantage plans: 4 new, 6 gone since 2026, and 22 still here but changed on premium, deductible, plan type or name, 9 of them under a new name. Below, how the lineup shifted in Salt Lake County and what to compare, with no plan ranked or recommended.

Salt Lake City residents shopping for Medicare Advantage in 2027 will see eight insurance carriers competing for their business — and a mix of plan types that work in very different ways. Salt Lake City sits in Salt Lake County, where CMS lists 37 Medicare Advantage plans for the 2027 plan year, all of which include prescription drug coverage. Before you compare any single plan, it helps to understand who the carriers are and what the letters after each plan name (HMO, PPO, D-SNP and so on) actually mean.

Who sells Medicare Advantage in Salt Lake County

Eight carriers offer MA-PD plans in the county for 2027. In alphabetical order, they are:

• Aetna (CVS Health) — 7 plans (HMO, PPO; 2 Special Needs)
• American Health Advantage of Utah — 1 plan (HMO; 1 Special Needs)
• Blue Cross Blue Shield (HCSC) — 2 plans (HMO-POS, PPO)
• Devoted Health — 5 plans (PPO; 3 Special Needs)
• Humana — 13 plans (HMO, PPO; 3 Special Needs)
• Molina Healthcare of Utah & Idaho — 2 plans (HMO; 2 Special Needs)
• Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Utah — 3 plans (PPO)
• Select Health — 4 plans (HMO; 1 Special Needs)
• UnitedHealthcare — 11 plans (HMO-POS, PPO; 5 Special Needs)

The number of plans a carrier offers doesn't tell you whether the plan fits your doctors, your medications, or your budget. It just tells you how many options are on the shelf. The full roster — every plan name, carrier and type — is in the table below.

HMO, HMO-POS and PPO: how the plan types differ

Most Medicare Advantage plans in Salt Lake County fall into three buckets: HMO, HMO-POS and PPO. Of the 48 plans available, 10 are HMOs, 7 are HMO-POS plans, and 31 are PPOs.

• HMO (Health Maintenance Organization). You generally use doctors and hospitals inside the plan's network, and you typically need a primary care doctor and referrals to see specialists. Out-of-network care is usually only covered in an emergency.
• HMO-POS (Point of Service). An HMO with a limited exception: the plan lets you go out of network for certain services, usually at a higher cost.
• PPO (Preferred Provider Organization). You can see any doctor who takes Medicare and agrees to bill the plan. You usually pay less in network, more out of network, and referrals typically aren't required.
• PFFS (Private Fee-for-Service). A type of Medicare Advantage plan where the plan — not Medicare — sets the payment terms for providers. No PFFS plans are listed in Salt Lake County for 2027, but it is a plan type the program allows.

Special Needs Plans (SNPs): who they're for

Seventeen of the 48 plans in Salt Lake County are Special Needs Plans. SNPs are limited to people who meet the plan's eligibility criteria — you can't just choose one because you like the design. There are three flavors:

• D-SNP (Dual Eligible). For people enrolled in both Medicare and Medicaid.
• C-SNP (Chronic Condition). For people with a qualifying chronic illness, such as diabetes or certain heart or lung conditions.
• I-SNP (Institutional). For people who live in a nursing home or need a similar level of care.

You'll see SNPs from Aetna, American Health Advantage of Utah, Devoted Health, Humana, Molina, Select Health and UnitedHealthcare in the roster. If you think you might qualify for one, your local State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP) counselor can walk you through the rules.

What every 2027 plan in the county has in common

All 48 Medicare Advantage plans in Salt Lake County include Part D prescription drug coverage. That matters because a few program-level rules apply no matter which plan you pick:

• The Part D out-of-pocket cap is $2,100 in 2026. Once your spending on covered drugs hits that ceiling, you pay $0 for the rest of the year.
• The Part D maximum deductible is $615 in 2026 (individual plans may set a lower one).
• The coverage gap — the old "donut hole" — was eliminated in 2025. Part D now has three phases instead of four.
• The Medicare Prescription Payment Plan is optional and lets you spread your drug costs into monthly bills instead of paying at the pharmacy counter.
• IRMAA surcharges on Part B and Part D premiums begin above $109,000 in income for a single filer in 2026.

Star Ratings and what they do (and don't) tell you

CMS publishes a Star Rating for each Medicare Advantage contract, from 1 to 5 stars, based on things like member experience and clinical quality. Ratings can be a useful data point, but they describe a contract, not your personal experience with a plan. For the current snapshot, no contracts serving Salt Lake County are rated 4 stars or higher in the data used here — so ratings are less useful as a filter, and doctor networks and drug lists matter more.

Key dates to have on your calendar

• Oct. 15 – Dec. 7: Medicare Annual Enrollment Period. You can join, switch or drop a Medicare Advantage or Part D plan.
• Jan. 1 – March 31: Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment. If you're already in a Medicare Advantage plan on Jan. 1, you get one chance to switch to a different MA plan or go back to Original Medicare.