What changed in Medicare: October 2026

In short: Annual Enrollment for 2027 coverage opens Friday, October 15 and closes Tuesday, December 7. The 2027 plan lineup is public, and in many Colorado and New Mexico counties there are fewer Medicare Advantage plans to choose from than last year. Most people on Original Medicare get a one-time $90 Part B premium rebate this month without doing anything. Part D's yearly cap on drug costs rises to $2,400. The 2027 Part B premium has not been announced yet.

Annual Enrollment opens October 15

Between October 15 and December 7 you can join, switch or drop a Medicare Advantage or Part D plan for 2027. Changes take effect January 1. If you do nothing, you keep your current plan with whatever changes its Annual Notice of Change described. That letter should have reached you by September 30; if it has not, call your plan.

Our Annual Enrollment hub has a week-by-week plan for the season, and every office in this directory will sit down with you, free, to go through your options.

The 2027 plan lineup is out, and it is smaller in many counties

CMS published the 2027 Medicare Advantage and Part D plan list on September 30. Plans are approved county by county, and this year the count went down in most of the counties we track. A few examples from the file:

• El Paso County, Colorado: 49 Medicare Advantage plans for 2027, down from 56.
• Denver County, Colorado: 64 plans, down from 71.
• Mesa County, Colorado: 24 plans, down from 33.
• Bernalillo County, New Mexico: 36 plans, down from 51.

Standalone Part D drug plans also thinned out: 8 in Colorado for 2027, down from 10, and 10 in New Mexico, down from 11.

If your plan is one that is leaving, your Annual Notice of Change says so, and you have a guaranteed right to buy a Medigap policy for a limited time. Read what to do when your plan is ending. To see the count for your own county, use our plans-by-county pages.

Nationally, CMS projects the average Medicare Advantage premium will fall from $14.37 a month in 2026 to about $12.00 in 2027, and the average standalone Part D premium will rise by less than a dollar, to about $36. Averages hide a lot of variation, so check your own plan's 2027 premium in its notice.

Part D: higher deductible, higher cap, and the end of a premium cushion

Three Part D numbers change for 2027:

• The most a plan may charge as a deductible rises from $615 to $700. Many plans charge less, or nothing.
• The yearly cap on what you pay for covered drugs rises from $2,100 to $2,400. Once you reach it, you pay nothing more for covered drugs that year.
• The national base premium, which also sets the late enrollment penalty, rises from $38.99 to $41.33.

CMS is also ending the demonstration program that held down standalone drug plan premium increases in 2025 and 2026. CMS says the market is returning to normal conditions, which means some standalone Part D premiums may move more than they did in the last two years. Compare the 2027 premium in your Annual Notice of Change against the other plans available to you.

A one-time $90 Part B premium rebate, paid automatically

CMS published details on October 3 of a one-time $90 Medicare Improvement Fund Premium Rebate for people in Original Medicare Part B who live in the United States, do not have Medicaid paying their premium, and do not pay the higher-income IRMAA surcharge. CMS says about 20.8 million people qualify. People in Medicare Advantage plans are not included.

You do not need to apply or call anyone. CMS says most people will receive a $90 direct deposit from Social Security on or around October 8, with a letter or email following in mid-October; people without direct deposit get a check. Anyone who phones, texts or knocks offering to "sign you up" for the rebate, or asks for your bank or Medicare number to release it, is running a scam.

Still to come: the 2027 Part B premium

CMS normally announces the next year's Part B premium, Part B deductible, Part A amounts and the IRMAA income brackets in November. Until then, the 2026 amounts apply: a standard Part B premium of $202.90 a month and a $283 deductible. We will update Medicare costs in 2027 the day the new figures are published. Medicare's Star Ratings for 2027 plans are also due in October.

Watch out for this

Medicare does not call people to sell plans, and agents may not call or knock on your door without your permission. During Annual Enrollment the calls and mailers pick up. If someone contacts you out of the blue about your Medicare, hang up. If you want help, you go to them: find an office, call your state's free counseling program, or call 1-800-MEDICARE.

What to do this month

1. Read your Annual Notice of Change, especially the premium, the drug list and whether your doctors are still in the network.
2. Write down your doctors, your prescriptions with dosages, and your pharmacy. The checklist →
3. Check how many plans are available in your county so you know what you are comparing against.
4. From October 15, visit or call an office and compare. There is no cost to meet with an agent.
5. Decide by December 7. Keeping your plan is a fine decision if it still fits.