Medicare Advantage

Wausau Medicare 2027: Marathon County Options

Wausau, Wisconsin — If you're sorting through your Medicare choices this fall, here's a grounding fact: Marathon County residents had 32 Medicare Advantage plans to consider for 2026, according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) plan landscape data. The 2027 lineup is spelled out in each plan's Annual Notice of Change (ANOC) and on Medicare.gov's Plan Finder. Knowing how the choices are counted can make comparing them feel less overwhelming.

What the numbers look like around Wausau

Wausau is in Marathon County, where CMS listed 32 Medicare Advantage plans available for 2026 from 8 different carriers offering Medicare Advantage with prescription drug coverage (MA-PD). For 2027, check each plan's ANOC and Medicare.gov's Plan Finder for the updated count.

CMS also shows 0 stand-alone Part D prescription drug plans listed at the county level in the current landscape file for this area. If you're on Original Medicare and want drug coverage, that's an important detail to confirm on Medicare's Plan Finder before Dec. 7, because stand-alone Part D availability is set regionally and can shift year to year.

With more than 26,500 residents age 65 and older in Marathon County, plan availability matters to a big share of the community.

Why "how many plans" is the right first question

A lot of Medicare coverage articles jump straight to benefits. But before benefits, it helps to know the shape of your local market:

• How many Medicare Advantage plans are offered in your county
• How many carriers are competing for your business
• Whether stand-alone Part D plans are available if you want to stay on Original Medicare
• Which contracts carry higher Star Ratings (a CMS quality measure)

Those counts don't tell you which plan fits you — that's personal. But they tell you whether you have a wide field to compare or a narrow one. In Marathon County, 32 MA plans across 8 carriers is a reasonably broad field to sort through.

A word on Star Ratings in the area

CMS publishes Star Ratings each year to help people gauge plan quality on things like customer service, member complaints, and preventive care. In the current landscape file for this area, no contracts serving Marathon County are shown with 4 stars or higher.

Star Ratings can change from year to year, and they're just one input. Use them the way CMS intends — as one data point alongside your doctors, your prescriptions, and your budget.

Key Medicare program facts every Wausau reader should know

These are national Medicare rules, not plan-specific promises:

• Part D out-of-pocket cap: $2,100 in 2026 and $2,400 in 2027. Once your drug spending reaches that limit, you pay nothing for covered Part D drugs the rest of the year.
• Part D maximum deductible: $615 in 2026 and $700 in 2027 (plans can charge less).
• No more "donut hole": As of 2025, Part D moved to three phases — deductible, initial coverage, and catastrophic.
• Medicare Prescription Payment Plan: An optional program that lets you spread your out-of-pocket drug costs across the calendar year in monthly payments instead of paying at the pharmacy counter.
• IRMAA: Higher-income surcharges on Part B and Part D start above $109,000 in income for a single filer in 2026.

Dates to circle

• Annual Enrollment Period: Oct. 15 – Dec. 7, 2026. This is when you can join, switch, or drop a Medicare Advantage or Part D plan for 2027.
• Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment: Jan. 1 – March 31. If you're already in a Medicare Advantage plan, you get one chance during this window to switch to a different MA plan or return to Original Medicare.