Medicare Open Enrollment Ends Dec. 7: What You Can Change for 2027, and Your State’s Plans

What you can change by Dec. 7

Medicare.gov lists three moves for open enrollment:

• Switch from Original Medicare to a Medicare Advantage plan, or from Medicare Advantage back to Original Medicare.
• Join, drop or switch Medicare Advantage plans, with or without drug coverage.
• Join, drop or switch a stand-alone Part D drug plan if you’re in Original Medicare.

The new plan has to receive your request by Dec. 7. Coverage starts Jan. 1, 2027.

You can enroll on the Medicare Plan Finder at Medicare.gov, through the plan, or by calling 1-800-MEDICARE. A mailed form counts only if the plan gets it by the deadline.

Do you have to do anything?

No. CMS says people who want to keep their current coverage don’t need to re-enroll.

The catch is that “current coverage” isn’t frozen. Plans set new premiums, drug lists and networks each year, and they started notifying members of their 2027 changes in September.

Three things are worth checking before Dec. 7: whether your drugs are still on the plan’s list, whether your doctors and pharmacy are still in network, and what the plan’s estimate of your yearly drug costs is on the Plan Finder.

What’s different in 2027

• Drug cap: $2,400. Out-of-pocket spending on covered Part D drugs is capped at $2,400 in 2027, up from $2,100, under the inflation formula in the law.
• Deductible: up to $700. The standard Part D deductible rises from $615. Plans can charge less.
• Insulin stays at $35 for a month’s supply of each covered insulin, with no deductible.
• GLP-1s for weight loss: since July 1, 2026, the Medicare GLP-1 Bridge program covers certain GLP-1 drugs for weight loss for people with Part D who meet its requirements, at a $50 copay a month.
• Telehealth flexibilities are extended through Dec. 31, 2027.
• Premiums: CMS projects the average Medicare Advantage premium falls to $12.00 a month, from $14.37, and the average stand-alone drug plan rises less than $1, to $36. In Medicare Advantage plans with drug coverage, the drug part averages $7 after rebates, from $11.32.

CMS counts about 5,532 Medicare Advantage plans nationally for 2027, against 5,553 this year, and says about eight in 10 members can stay in their plan at the same or a lower premium.

Your state’s 2027 plans

CMS published a fact sheet for every state and territory on Sept. 28. Here are the numbers that matter for shopping, side by side: how many Medicare Advantage plans you can pick from, their average premium, and the cheapest stand-alone drug plan. Premiums are monthly and don’t include the Part B premium. On a phone, swipe the table sideways.

Where the choices shrink

Most states lose a few Medicare Advantage plans, but some lose many. Ohio goes from 212 to 180, Florida from 611 to 560, Illinois from 157 to 136, Minnesota from 68 to 53, Maryland from 63 to 47, New Jersey from 85 to 72, Montana from 32 to 23 and Wyoming from 14 to 8.

The average premium jumps the most in Wyoming ($45.91 to $69.23), Idaho ($27.81 to $37.93) and Connecticut ($16.89 to $25.31). It falls the most in Minnesota ($69.11 to $59.40), DC ($26.28 to $16.91) and Mississippi ($11.18 to $4.08).

Alaska, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and the U.S. Virgin Islands have no Medicare Advantage plans in CMS’s count; people there choose a stand-alone drug plan.

If your plan is leaving Medicare

If your Medicare Advantage or drug plan’s contract isn’t renewed, you get extra time: from Dec. 8 to the last day of February. If you don’t pick a new Medicare Advantage plan, you’re put in Original Medicare.

Leaving a plan that had drug coverage without picking a new drug plan can leave you without Part D, so choose both.

Missed Dec. 7?

• Jan. 1 to March 31: if you’re already in Medicare Advantage, you can switch to another Medicare Advantage plan or go back to Original Medicare and add a drug plan. The change starts the first of the following month.
• Dec. 8 to Nov. 30: you can switch once to a plan with a 5-star rating, if one is offered where you live.
• Life changes such as moving, losing other coverage, getting Medicaid or Extra Help open special windows.

The Medigap trap

Going back from Medicare Advantage to Original Medicare is easy. Buying a Medigap policy to cover Original Medicare’s gaps may not be.

Medicare.gov warns that if you dropped Medigap to join Medicare Advantage, you may not get the same policy back, or in some cases any Medigap policy, unless you leave Medicare Advantage during your 12-month trial right period. The Medicare & You handbook adds that after your first Medigap enrollment window, you may not be able to buy a policy, or it may cost more, unless you have a guaranteed issue right.

Before you leave Medicare Advantage, ask a Medigap insurer, or your state’s SHIP, whether it will sell you a policy.

1:08

Free, unbiased help

• Medicare Plan Finder at Medicare.gov: enter your drugs for a yearly cost estimate per plan.
• 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227; TTY 1-877-486-2048), 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
• SHIP (State Health Insurance Assistance Program): free one-on-one counseling, not tied to any insurer, at shiphelp.org.
• Medicare Savings Programs and Extra Help lower premiums and drug costs for people with limited income.

Not on Medicare? The health insurance marketplace has its own window, Nov. 1 to Jan. 15: see Obamacare open enrollment 2027.

How we built the state table

Every number comes from CMS’s Sept. 28, 2026, fact sheet for each state and territory. “Average MA premium” is CMS’s average monthly premium for Medicare Advantage plans in that state; your plan’s premium can be higher or lower, and it’s on top of the Part B premium. The national figures come from CMS’s press release the same day; the Part D cap and deductible come from CMS’s 2027 Rate Announcement and the Medicare & You 2027 handbook.