Medicare Advantage

Why Your ZIP Code Shapes Your Medicare Choices

For 2027, Bellevue is looking at 59 Medicare Advantage plans: 18 new, 27 gone since 2026, and 31 still here but changed on premium, deductible, plan type or name, 10 of them under a new name. Below, how the lineup shifted in King County and what to compare, with no plan ranked or recommended.

Bellevue sits in one of the busiest corners of the Puget Sound Medicare map, and 2027 is shaping up to give people here a wide field of choices. If you live in Bellevue and you've been wondering how the plan landscape in your area compares to what your friends or family have across the lake or over in Pierce County, this snapshot is for you.

The short version: Medicare Advantage availability is set county by county, not city by city. That means Bellevue's options are King County's options — and neighboring counties have their own plan lineups, sometimes very different from ours.

Why "nearby areas" matters for Medicare in the Bellevue metro

Medicare Advantage and Part D plans are approved and priced at the county level. That is a small piece of paperwork with a big real-world effect: the plan a neighbor in Redmond can join may not be the same one a cousin in Tacoma or Everett can join, even though it feels like the same metro.

For Bellevue residents, the county that matters is King. But if you commute, own a second home, or are helping a parent who lives in another county, it helps to know that each county is its own Medicare market.

What the King County numbers look like for 2027

According to CMS Medicare Advantage and Part D Landscape data for 2026, King County — the county Bellevue is in — has 68 Medicare Advantage plans available, offered by 10 carriers that include prescription drug coverage. King County is also home to roughly 320,899 residents age 65 and older, one of the largest senior populations in the state.

One quirk worth flagging: the CMS Landscape file shows 0 stand-alone Part D drug plans listed at the county level in this data pull. In practice, stand-alone Part D plans are sold on a regional basis in Washington, so if you have Original Medicare and want drug coverage, you'll still have options — they're just categorized differently. Medicare.gov's Plan Finder will show what's available at your ZIP code.

How neighboring counties fit into the picture

Snohomish County (Everett, Lynnwood, Edmonds), Pierce County (Tacoma, Puyallup), and Kitsap County (Bremerton, Bainbridge Island) each have their own separate Medicare Advantage lineup. A plan offered in King County may or may not be offered next door, and the carriers competing in one county aren't always the same ones competing in another.

That is why two people living 20 miles apart can look at Medicare and see very different menus. It is not that one area is being shortchanged — it is that each county is its own approved service area.

Star Ratings and what they mean here

You may see plans labeled with a Star Rating from CMS, on a 1-to-5 scale. Star Ratings measure things like customer service, member complaints, and how well plans manage chronic conditions. They are a useful quality signal, but they are assigned to a contract, not to your specific ZIP code, and they change every year.

In the current King County data, the number of contracts rated 4 stars or higher shows as 0 in this snapshot — but ratings are updated by CMS each fall, so always check the current year's ratings on Medicare.gov before you decide anything.

Key 2027 rules that apply no matter which county you're in

A few things do not depend on where you live in the metro:

• The Part D out-of-pocket cap is $2,100 in 2026 and $2,400 in 2027. Once your covered drug spending hits that ceiling, you pay nothing for covered drugs the rest of the year.
• The Part D maximum deductible is $615 in 2026 and $700 in 2027.
• The old 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 into monthly installments instead of paying big bills at the pharmacy counter.
• IRMAA — the higher-income surcharge on Part B and Part D — kicks in above $109,000 in income for a single filer in 2026.

Dates to circle

• Oct. 15 – Dec. 7: Medicare Annual Enrollment Period. You can join, switch, or drop a Medicare Advantage or Part D plan for coverage starting Jan. 1.
• Jan. 1 – March 31: Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment. If you are already in a Medicare Advantage plan, you can switch to another MA plan or return to Original Medicare (and pick up a Part D plan).