Medicare Advantage

Six new Medicare Advantage plans land in Chesapeake for 2027 — how to vet one before Dec. 7

People in Chesapeake can choose from 70 Medicare Advantage plans for 2027, against 67 this year. Three of this year’s plans are gone, 6 are new to Chesapeake city, and 45 that continue have changed their premium, deductible, plan type or name, 16 of them under a new name.

CHESAPEAKE, Va. — Fall 2026. As the Annual Enrollment Period runs October 15 through December 7, 2026, Chesapeake residents comparing Medicare Advantage coverage for 2027 will see six plans on the Medicare Plan Finder that were not sold here a year ago. Two carriers — Humana and UnitedHealthcare — are bringing them in. Because these plans are brand new, they do not yet have a Star Rating or a local track record, so a careful check against your doctors and prescriptions matters more than usual.

Which Medicare Advantage plans are new in Chesapeake for 2027?

Six of the 70 Medicare Advantage plans offered in Chesapeake city for 2027 are new this year, according to the CMS Medicare Advantage Landscape Source File. Chesapeake is in Chesapeake city, where Medicare plan availability is set at the county level, so the same list applies to anyone enrolling from a Chesapeake ZIP code.

In alphabetical order by carrier, the new plans are:

• Humana DaVita Kidney Care (PPO C-SNP) — Humana; PPO Chronic Condition SNP; with drug coverage
• Humana DaVita Kidney Care (PPO C-SNP) — Humana; PPO C-SNP; with drug coverage (a second plan under the same name)
• Humana Together in Health (PPO I-SNP) — Humana; PPO Institutional SNP; with drug coverage
• HumanaChoice H7617-125 (PPO) — Humana; PPO; with drug coverage
• AARP Medicare Advantage Direct Plus from UHC VA-26 (HMO-POS) — UnitedHealthcare; HMO-POS; with drug coverage
• AARP Medicare Advantage Extras from UHC VA-30 (HMO-POS) — UnitedHealthcare; HMO-POS; with drug coverage

The table below lists every 2027 plan in the county, new and renewing, side by side.

Which carriers are adding new plans in Chesapeake city for 2027?

Humana is adding four new plans and UnitedHealthcare is adding two. The other carriers serving Chesapeake city — Aetna, Elevance Health (Anthem), Lifeworks Advantage and Sentara Medicare — are not introducing a brand-new Medicare Advantage plan for 2027, though several of their existing plans may appear under a renamed or renumbered contract. CMS counts 16 renamed plans and three plans not returning in the county for 2027; your Annual Notice of Change (ANOC), which arrived in September, spells out which category your current plan falls into.

Are the new Chesapeake plans Special Needs Plans, and do they include drug coverage?

Five of the six new plans in Chesapeake city for 2027 are Special Needs Plans (SNPs), and all six include Part D prescription drug coverage.

SNPs are limited to people who meet specific eligibility rules:

• A C-SNP (Chronic Condition SNP), like the two new Humana DaVita Kidney Care plans, is for people with a qualifying chronic condition — in this case, end-stage renal disease.
• An I-SNP (Institutional SNP), like the new Humana Together in Health plan, is generally for people who live in or need the level of care provided in a nursing facility.
• The two new AARP Medicare Advantage plans from UnitedHealthcare are standard HMO-POS plans — not SNPs — open to anyone on Medicare in the service area.
• HumanaChoice H7617-125 is a standard PPO, also open to anyone eligible.

If a plan is a SNP, you have to qualify for it before you can enroll.

How is a brand-new plan different from one that is renewing?

A new plan has no history yet. CMS calculates Star Ratings using data from prior plan years — member surveys, customer service measures, how the plan handled appeals, how well it managed chronic conditions. A plan that did not exist in 2026 cannot have those numbers for its first year, so you will often see "Not enough data available" on the Medicare Plan Finder rather than a star score. That is simply how the rating system works; it is neither a good nor a bad sign.

A renewing plan, by contrast, carries over its rating and its reputation, and the only thing you need to compare is what changed between the 2026 version and the 2027 version — spelled out in the ANOC the carrier mailed in September.

For a new plan, there is no shortcut: you have to look at the plan documents directly.

How do I check a new plan against my doctors and prescriptions before December 7?

The quickest neutral check is at medicare.gov/plan-compare. Sign in (or use the plan finder as a guest), enter your Chesapeake ZIP code, and add your prescriptions and your preferred pharmacy. Medicare's tool will show you each 2027 plan's formulary status for your drugs and its estimated yearly cost for them.

For doctors and hospitals, the Plan Finder links out to the carrier's provider directory, but these are updated frequently — the most reliable step is to:

1. Call the plan's member services line (listed on medicare.gov) and read them the National Provider Identifier (NPI) or full name of each doctor you want to keep. 2. Call your doctor's billing office and ask if they are contracted with that specific plan for 2027 — not just with the carrier, since a doctor can be in-network for one Humana or UnitedHealthcare plan and out-of-network for another. 3. For a SNP, confirm you meet the eligibility rules before you spend time comparing benefits.

You can also call 1-800-MEDICARE (TTY 1-877-486-2048), 24 hours a day, for a walk-through.

What else is changing in 2027 that I should know about?

Two Part D figures are already confirmed for 2027: the out-of-pocket cap on covered drugs rises to $2,400 (up from $2,100 in 2026), and the maximum Part D deductible a plan may charge rises to $700 (up from $615 in 2026). The Part D national base beneficiary premium is set at $41.33 for 2027 — that is a formula input used to calculate certain surcharges, not what any particular plan charges.

The 2027 Part B standard premium and deductible, and the 2027 IRMAA income brackets, have not been announced yet. CMS publishes them later in the fall, usually in November.

If you do nothing between now and December 7, your current Medicare Advantage plan — if it is still offered in Chesapeake for 2027 — simply renews on January 1, 2027, with whatever changes are listed in its ANOC.