Medicare Advantage

Which 2027 Medicare Advantage Plans Reach Richmond?

People in Richmond can choose from 74 Medicare Advantage plans for 2027, against 72 this year. Eight of this year’s plans are gone, 10 are new to Richmond city, and 42 that continue have changed their premium, deductible, plan type or name, 14 of them under a new name.

Richmond residents shopping for 2027 Medicare Advantage coverage have a long menu to work through. According to the CMS Medicare Advantage Landscape Source File for the 2027 plan year, 60 Medicare Advantage plans from 8 carriers are available in Richmond city, the county Richmond sits in. Of those, 50 continue from 2026, 10 are new, 14 have been renamed, and 8 plans available in 2026 are not returning; 28 continuing plans change something in their terms, spelled out in each plan's Annual Notice of Change. The full carrier-by-carrier roster appears in the table below.

What's on offer in Richmond for 2027

The eight carriers with Medicare Advantage plans in Richmond city, in alphabetical order, are Aetna (CVS Health), Blue Cross Blue Shield (HCSC), Devoted Health, Elevance Health (Anthem), Humana, Lifeworks Advantage, Sentara Medicare and UnitedHealthcare. Humana lists the most plans in the area at 28, followed by UnitedHealthcare with 14 and Elevance Health (Anthem) with 12. Sentara Medicare and Lifeworks Advantage each list 2.

Availability like this is set at the county level. That means a plan showing up on Richmond's list is available to someone with a Richmond city address, but a neighbor a few miles away in Henrico or Chesterfield may see a different list.

Plan types, in plain English

Medicare Advantage comes in a few flavors, and Richmond's 2027 roster includes most of them.

• HMO plans typically ask you to use an in-network provider and often need a referral to see a specialist.
• HMO-POS plans work like HMOs but allow some out-of-network care at a higher cost.
• PPO plans give you more freedom to go out of network, usually at a higher cost share.
• PFFS (Private Fee-for-Service) plans let you see any Medicare-approved provider who agrees to the plan's terms.

Richmond city's 2026 mix: 24 HMO, 18 HMO-POS, 28 PPO and 2 PFFS.

Special Needs Plans in the mix

Of the 72 plans available in Richmond city, 29 are Special Needs Plans (SNPs). SNPs are Medicare Advantage plans built for people who fit a specific profile:

• D-SNPs for people with both Medicare and Medicaid (dual eligible).
• C-SNPs for people with a qualifying chronic condition, such as diabetes or heart failure.
• I-SNPs for people who live in a nursing home or need a similar level of care.

If any of these describe your situation, look at whether an SNP fits you before comparing general plans. The table below flags each plan's type, so SNPs are easy to spot.

Drug coverage and the 2027 rules to know

All 72 Medicare Advantage plans in Richmond city include Part D drug coverage. There are no stand-alone Part D plans listed for the area under this file, so if you want drug coverage bundled with your Medicare Advantage plan, you'll find it built in across this roster.

A few program-level facts for 2027 apply no matter which plan you pick:

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

How to compare Richmond's plans without getting lost

The roster below shows every plan by carrier, its plan type, and whether it includes drug coverage. It does not include premiums, copays, deductibles, provider networks, drug formularies or star ratings — those change every year, and the fair way to compare them is with your own doctors and medications in hand.

A short checklist that helps:

1. Write down your doctors, hospitals and regular prescriptions. 2. On medicare.gov, use the Plan Finder to enter your ZIP code, drugs and pharmacies. 3. Filter by plan type (HMO, PPO, etc.) if you already know your preference. 4. Check that your providers are in-network and your drugs are on the formulary. 5. Look at the total picture — premium, deductible, copays, and out-of-pocket max — not just one number.

Star Ratings, published by CMS, are a general quality signal you can view in the Plan Finder. They're one input, not a scoreboard.

Key dates

• Oct. 15 – Dec. 7: Annual Enrollment Period. You can join, switch or drop a Medicare Advantage or Part D plan. Changes take effect Jan. 1.
• Jan. 1 – March 31: Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment. If you're already in an MA plan, you can switch to another MA plan or go back to Original Medicare (and add a Part D plan).