If you have a Medicare Advantage plan, 2027 is another year when it will pay to look closely at your coverage before allowing your current plan to renew automatically.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has finalized several changes affecting Medicare Advantage and Medicare Part D for 2027. Some are designed to make plan quality easier to evaluate, strengthen prescription drug protections, and clarify how certain supplemental benefits are administered.

But there is an important distinction for retirees: changes to the Medicare Advantage program do not necessarily tell you how your individual plan will change.

What Is Changing?

One area receiving attention is Medicare’s Star Ratings system, which helps beneficiaries compare the quality of Medicare Advantage and prescription drug plans. CMS is removing several measures that it says provide little useful distinction among plans and is placing greater emphasis on clinical care, health outcomes, and patient experience.

CMS is also clarifying requirements for supplemental benefits, including debit cards that some Medicare Advantage plans use for benefits such as healthy foods and other approved services. The goal is to provide more consistent rules and help ensure that beneficiaries receive the benefits their plans promise.

Prescription drug coverage remains another important area to watch. CMS is incorporating changes to the Medicare Part D benefit structure into its regulations for 2027, including the elimination of the coverage-gap phase and protections that limit an enrollee’s costs once the catastrophic phase is reached.

At the same time, CMS estimates that average payments to Medicare Advantage plans will increase by 2.48% in 2027, representing more than $13 billion in additional payments. That figure describes payments to plans—not what an individual beneficiary will necessarily pay or receive.

What Should You Review?

When your plan’s 2027 information becomes available, don’t look only at the monthly premium.

Review your deductibles and copayments. Check whether your doctors, hospitals, and specialists remain in the network. Review your prescription drug formulary and pharmacy network. And if your plan includes dental, vision, hearing, transportation, food allowances, or other supplemental benefits, find out whether those benefits or their eligibility rules have changed.

Most importantly, compare what you actually use with what the plan will provide next year.

Bring Your Questions to Medicare 101

The upcoming NCRO Insurance Committee Medicare 101 Webinar is a good opportunity to get better prepared before Open Enrollment.

Consider bringing questions such as:

• How can I tell whether my Medicare Advantage plan is still the best choice for me?

• What changes should I look for in my Annual Notice of Change?

• How do I compare Medicare Advantage with a Medicare Supplement plan?

• What should I check if my prescriptions or doctors change for 2027?

• How do supplemental benefits such as dental, vision, hearing, and allowance cards really work?

Join us Thursday, September 24, from 9:30 AM–12:30 PM EDT for the free NCRO Medicare 101 Webinar.

Getting informed before Open Enrollment gives you time to ask questions, compare your options, and make a decision based on the coverage you actually need.