Medicare Advantage

Six Medicare Advantage plans debut in Virginia Beach for 2027: how to vet a brand-new plan

Virginia Beach city has 70 Medicare Advantage plans for 2027. Compared with 2026, 3 plans are not coming back, 6 are new, and 45 continuing plans changed in some way you should check before December 7, 16 of them under a new name. This guide covers what those numbers mean for Virginia Beach, not which plan to pick.

Virginia Beach, Va. — fall 2026. Six Medicare Advantage plans are new to Virginia Beach for the 2027 plan year, joining the lineup when the Annual Enrollment Period runs from October 15 to December 7, 2026. Two carriers — Humana and UnitedHealthcare — are bringing those new options to town, and because they are brand new, none of them has a Star Rating history yet. That doesn't make a new plan good or bad; it just means there is less public data to lean on, so matching a plan to your own doctors and prescriptions matters even more.

What's new in Virginia Beach for 2027

Virginia Beach is in Virginia Beach city, where Medicare plan availability is set at the county level. For 2027, CMS data show 6 Medicare Advantage plans that were not offered in 2026 are being added. Alongside those additions, 3 plans are not returning and 16 are being renamed (same plan, new name — the specifics are in each plan's Annual Notice of Change).

Here are the new plans for 2027, listed alphabetically by carrier. Every one of them includes drug coverage.

Humana (4 new plans)

• Humana DaVita Kidney Care (PPO C-SNP) — PPO Chronic Condition Special Needs Plan
• Humana DaVita Kidney Care (PPO C-SNP) — PPO Chronic Condition Special Needs Plan
• Humana Together in Health (PPO I-SNP) — PPO Institutional Special Needs Plan
• HumanaChoice H7617-125 (PPO) — PPO

UnitedHealthcare (2 new plans)

• AARP Medicare Advantage Direct Plus from UHC VA-26 (HMO-POS) — HMO-POS
• AARP Medicare Advantage Extras from UHC VA-30 (HMO-POS) — HMO-POS

The table below lists every Medicare Advantage plan offered in Virginia Beach city for the plan year, including these new ones along with returning and renamed plans.

What a "Special Needs Plan" means on this list

Several of the new 2027 plans are Special Needs Plans, or SNPs. These are Medicare Advantage plans designed for a specific group:

• C-SNP (Chronic Condition SNP) — for people living with a qualifying chronic condition. The two new Humana DaVita Kidney Care plans are C-SNPs built around chronic kidney disease.
• I-SNP (Institutional SNP) — for people who live in, or who meet the level-of-care need for, a nursing facility. The new Humana Together in Health plan is an I-SNP.
• D-SNP (Dual Eligible SNP) — for people who have both Medicare and Medicaid. (None of the six new plans is a D-SNP, but Virginia Beach's broader lineup includes several.)

If you don't qualify for a SNP, you can't enroll in one. The other new plans — HumanaChoice H7617-125 and the two AARP Medicare Advantage plans from UnitedHealthcare — are open to anyone with Medicare Parts A and B who lives in the service area.

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

A plan that has been sold before has a track record you can look up: a Star Rating, member complaint data, and years of experience with its network and formulary. A brand-new plan has none of that yet. Medicare generally does not publish a Star Rating for a plan in its first year.

That is not a reason to avoid a new plan, and it is not a reason to pick one. It just means two things:

1. You cannot compare a new plan on past Star Rating. 2. You have to verify its details — doctors, drugs, pharmacies, costs — directly from the plan's current documents and from Medicare's Plan Finder, rather than from word of mouth.

A renewing plan sends every current member an Annual Notice of Change (ANOC) by late September. If your plan is renewing (even under a new name), read it: premiums, drug tiers and provider networks can change year to year.

How to check a plan against your doctors and prescriptions before December 7

Before you enroll in any plan — new or renewing — walk through this short list:

1. Build your drug list. Write down every prescription you take, the dose and how often. Include the pharmacy you use. 2. Build your provider list. Write down each doctor and specialist you see, plus any hospital or clinic you want to keep using. 3. Use the Medicare Plan Finder. Go to medicare.gov, enter your ZIP code, add your drugs, and let the tool show how each plan handles your specific list. 4. Check the provider directory for the plan year you're enrolling in. A doctor who is in-network in 2026 may or may not be in-network in 2027. Call the office and the plan to confirm. 5. Confirm the pharmacy. Some plans use preferred pharmacies, so the same drug can cost different amounts at different stores under the same plan. 6. Read the Evidence of Coverage (available from the plan) for the full rules, not just the summary.

If any step turns up a mismatch — a drug not covered, a doctor out of network — that is useful information before you enroll, not after.

Key dates and figures to keep in mind

• Annual Enrollment Period: October 15 – December 7, 2026. Changes take effect January 1, 2027.
• If you do nothing: your current plan renews for 2027 if it is still offered, with the changes in its ANOC.
• Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment: January 1 – March 31, 2027, if you're already in a Medicare Advantage plan and want to switch once.
• Part D out-of-pocket cap: $2,400 in 2027 (up from $2,100 in 2026).
• Part D maximum deductible: $700 in 2027 (up from $615 in 2026).
• 2027 Part B premium and IRMAA brackets: CMS publishes these later in the fall, usually in November.