Medicare Advantage

Medicare and Medicaid in Washington: 24 Dual Special Needs Plans for 2027

OLYMPIA, Wash. — For Washingtonians who qualify for both Medicare and Medicaid, 2027 brings a slightly wider shelf of Dual Special Needs Plans to choose from. According to the CMS Medicare Advantage Landscape Source Files for 2027, 24 of the 115 Medicare Advantage plans available somewhere in the state are D-SNPs built specifically for people with both kinds of coverage. The same files list 16 Chronic Condition SNPs (C-SNPs) and 4 Institutional SNPs (I-SNPs) alongside them.

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A D-SNP is not the same thing as a regular Medicare Advantage plan. It is designed around the fact that a member has two payers — Medicare and Washington Apple Health (Medicaid) — and it coordinates between them. The 24 plans listed in CMS's statewide file are counted once each, but each is actually sold county by county, so what shows up on this page may or may not be available where you live.

What a D-SNP is and who qualifies

A Dual Special Needs Plan is a type of Medicare Advantage plan limited to people who have both Medicare and Medicaid. All 24 Washington D-SNPs in the 2027 Landscape include Part D prescription drug coverage.

Dual eligibility comes in two broad flavors. "Full" dual eligibles are enrolled in Medicare and receive the full scope of Washington Apple Health benefits. "Partial" dual eligibles get help from Medicaid with Medicare costs — for example through a Medicare Savings Program — but do not necessarily receive full Apple Health benefits. Different D-SNPs are built for different subsets of this population, so two plans with similar-sounding names can be aimed at very different members.

The key gatekeeper is the Washington State Health Care Authority, which administers Apple Health. The plan and CMS rely on the state Medicaid agency's records to confirm that a person is dual-eligible and at what level. If Apple Health coverage lapses, D-SNP enrollment can be affected, so keeping Medicaid paperwork current matters as much as the Medicare side.

The statewide count and the carriers offering them

For 2027, six carriers appear in the Washington D-SNP column of the Landscape:

• Centene (WellCare) — 2 plans
• Community Health Plan of WA Medicare Advantage — 2 plans
• Elevance Health (Anthem) — 3 plans
• Humana — 4 plans
• Molina Healthcare of Washington, Inc. — 3 plans
• UnitedHealthcare — 10 plans

The full list of 24 plans — including the three Wellpoint Dual Advantage plans that are new from Elevance Health (Anthem), the Molina Medicare Elect plan that is new from Molina, and several renamed plans from Centene (WellCare), Humana, and UnitedHealthcare — appears in the table on this page. County reach varies widely: some plans show up in 39 counties, while others are listed in only a handful.

Being on the statewide list is not the same as being available on your street. For example, Humana Gold Plus SNP-DE H1036-325 (HMO D-SNP) is listed in 2 counties, while Community Health Plan of WA Dual Complete (HMO D-SNP) is listed in 39. The only way to know what you can actually enroll in is to check by ZIP code.

How often a dual-eligible person can change plans

Most people with Medicare think in terms of one shopping window a year: the Annual Enrollment Period, October 15 – December 7, 2026, with coverage beginning January 1, 2027. That window applies to dual-eligible Washingtonians too.

But people with both Medicare and Medicaid also qualify for a Special Enrollment Period tied to that dual status. Under current CMS rules, a dual-eligible or Extra Help-eligible person can generally make one change per calendar quarter during the first three quarters of the year (January–March, April–June, and July–September), on top of AEP. There are also separate rules that allow a switch when Medicaid status changes.

In practice, that means a Washingtonian who signs up during AEP for January 1, 2027 coverage is not locked in for the full year. If a plan is not the right fit — the pharmacy, the clinic, or the Medicaid alignment turns out differently than expected — there is room to move during the year.

Checking a plan in your county

Because D-SNPs are sold county by county, the single most useful step is a ZIP code search. The Medicare Plan Finder at Medicare.gov will show which of the 24 Washington D-SNPs are actually offered where you live, along with the official premium, deductible, cost-sharing, pharmacy network, provider network, drug list, and star rating for each. Those plan-level details should always be confirmed against the plan's Evidence of Coverage and provider and pharmacy directories before enrolling.

When comparing, it helps to have your Medicare number, your Apple Health ID, a list of prescriptions with doses, and the names of the doctors, clinics, and pharmacies you want to keep.

Free help

Dual-eligible decisions involve two programs at once, and the paperwork can be a lot. Free, unbiased help is available directly from Medicare:

• Medicare.gov — plan comparisons, enrollment, and official plan documents.
• 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227), TTY 1-877-486-2048 — available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

For questions about Apple Health eligibility specifically, the Washington State Health Care Authority is the authoritative source, since D-SNP enrollment depends on what the state's Medicaid records show.