Medicare Part D

Medicare paths in Aurora for 2027

AURORA, Ill. — Every fall, people in Aurora sit down at the kitchen table with a stack of Medicare mail and the same big question: should I stick with Original Medicare and add a Medigap policy, or go with a Medicare Advantage plan? Both are legitimate ways to get Medicare coverage, but they are built very differently. Understanding the structure — before you shop — makes the rest of the decision much easier.

Two Roads, One Program

Medicare has four parts. Part A covers hospital stays, Part B covers doctors and outpatient care, Part C is Medicare Advantage, and Part D is prescription drugs.

When people talk about the "two paths," they mean this:

• Path 1: Original Medicare (Parts A and B), usually paired with a Medigap policy and a standalone Part D drug plan. This is the traditional route, run directly by the federal government.
• Path 2: Medicare Advantage (Part C). These are private plans approved by Medicare that bundle Part A, Part B, and usually Part D into one package. Many also add extras Original Medicare doesn't cover.

You can generally be in one path or the other — not both at the same time.

How Original Medicare + Medigap Works

With Original Medicare, you can see any doctor or hospital in the U.S. that accepts Medicare. There's no network. But Original Medicare alone leaves gaps — deductibles, the 20% you pay for most Part B services, and no cap on out-of-pocket costs.

That's where Medigap (also called Medicare Supplement Insurance) comes in. Medigap is sold by private companies and helps pay some of what Original Medicare doesn't. Policies are standardized by letter (Plan G, Plan N, and others), so a Plan G from one company covers the same medical costs as a Plan G from another.

Medigap does not include drug coverage. If you go this route, you'll typically add a separate Part D plan.

How Medicare Advantage Works

Medicare Advantage plans are offered by private insurers under contract with Medicare. They must cover everything Original Medicare covers, and they set their own networks, rules, and cost-sharing.

Most Medicare Advantage plans include Part D drug coverage built in, and many offer extra benefits like dental, vision, hearing, or fitness programs. In exchange, you generally use the plan's provider network and may need referrals or prior approval for certain services. Medicare Advantage plans also have an annual out-of-pocket maximum for medical care, which Original Medicare does not.

Aurora is in Kane County, where plan availability — the number of Medicare Advantage and Part D plans and the carriers offering them — is set at the county level. You can see the current list for your ZIP code using the Plan Finder at Medicare.gov.

What's New for 2027

A few program-level changes apply no matter which path you choose:

• Part D out-of-pocket cap: $2,100 in 2026 and $2,400 in 2027. Once your covered drug costs hit that amount in a given year, you pay nothing more for covered drugs the rest of that year.
• Part D maximum deductible: $615 in 2026 and $700 in 2027.
• The old "donut hole" is gone. As of 2025, Part D has three phases instead of four.
• Medicare Prescription Payment Plan. This optional program lets you spread your drug costs across the calendar year in monthly payments instead of paying big amounts at the pharmacy counter.
• IRMAA (higher-income premium surcharges) begin above $109,000 in income for a single filer in 2026.

These rules come straight from Medicare and apply the same in Aurora as anywhere else.

Key Dates to Circle

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

One important note about Medigap: outside of your initial six-month Medigap Open Enrollment window (which starts when you're 65 and enrolled in Part B), insurers in most states can use medical underwriting to decide whether to sell you a policy and at what price. That makes the very first choice — Original Medicare with Medigap, or Medicare Advantage — a meaningful one.

Star Ratings, Briefly

Medicare rates Medicare Advantage and Part D plans on a 1-to-5 scale based on things like customer service, member complaints, and quality of care. Star Ratings are a helpful data point, not a verdict. They're one piece of information alongside your doctors, your prescriptions, and how you like to get care.