Medicare Open Enrollment 2027 in Utah: what changed, what to check, and the 15 October – 7 December deadline

What can I actually change between 15 October and 7 December?

You can change your Medicare Advantage plan, leave Medicare Advantage for Original Medicare, or join, switch or drop a stand-alone Part D drug plan. That is the whole list. Whatever you choose takes effect on 1 January 2027, and if you make more than one change during the window, the last one you make before 7 December is the one that counts.

One exception matters a great deal this year. If your Medicare Advantage plan is leaving Medicare or stops serving your area, Medicare gives you a guaranteed-issue right to buy certain Medigap plans without underwriting. That is covered further down, in the section on plans that are leaving.

What changed in Utah for 2027?

Utah has fewer Medicare Advantage plans for 2027, a slightly lower average premium, and fewer stand-alone Part D plans. CMS published the state figures on 28 September in its Utah fact sheet, and they are the starting point for any comparison.

Read the averages carefully. A $9.16 average premium is an average across plans, and premiums vary by plan. What moved more for most people this year is not the premium but the out-of-pocket maximum, which rose in every one of the five counties covered below.

Nationally, CMS projected the weighted average Medicare Advantage premium would fall from $14.37 in 2026 to about $12 in 2027, and the stand-alone Part D average would move from $35.09 to about $36. Those are national projections, not Utah prices, and they say nothing about any one plan.

What the 2027 federal rule changes

The CY2027 Medicare Advantage and Part D final rule, announced on 2 April 2026, writes the Inflation Reduction Act Part D redesign into regulation: no coverage gap, an annual out-of-pocket cap, and $0 for covered drugs once you reach it. It also streamlines the Star Ratings measures, sets clearer rules for how some supplemental benefits are paid, and was presented by the CMS Administrator as protecting patients when their providers leave a plan's network. For what any plan actually covers, read its Evidence of Coverage.

What changed in my county?

Every one of the five counties lost Medicare Advantage plans for 2027, and every one saw its out-of-pocket maximums rise. The size of the change is very different from county to county. Weber lost one plan. Morgan lost eight, and Box Elder lost six, which is a third of what it had.

Weber County. The count barely moved, but the mix did. Devoted Health enters Weber for 2027 with three non-SNP PPO plans plus special needs plans, while HealthSpring no longer has a non-SNP Advantage plan here. The lowest out-of-pocket maximum rose from $3,500 to $4,700 and the average from $6,065 to $6,521.

Davis and Salt Lake counties. The figures are identical in the CMS data for both: 31 non-SNP plans fall to 28. The carrier list stays broad, with Devoted Health adding plans, but HealthSpring's non-SNP plans are gone here too.

Morgan County. This is the biggest change on the map. Aetna, HealthSpring, Regence and Select Health have no non-SNP Advantage plans in Morgan for 2027, leaving Devoted Health, Humana and UnitedHealthcare. Plans with drug coverage fall from 18 to 12.

Box Elder County. Only Humana and UnitedHealthcare offer non-SNP Advantage plans for 2027, with Aetna, HealthSpring and Regence gone. Twelve plans remain, eight of them with drug coverage. If you live in Brigham City, Tremonton or Garland and were with one of the departing carriers, this is the year you cannot skip the review.

Special needs plans moved too. Weber has 17 for 2027 (10 D-SNP, 5 C-SNP, 2 I-SNP), up from 13. Davis and Salt Lake have 18 each, Morgan 12 and Box Elder 10. New chronic-condition plans include Devoted C-SNP plans and HumanaChoice - Diabetes and Heart (PPO C-SNP). If you have Medicaid as well as Medicare, or a qualifying chronic condition, those plans are worth asking about.

What are the Part D numbers for 2027?

The standard Part D deductible rises from $615 to $700 for 2027, and the annual out-of-pocket cap rises from $2,100 to $2,400. Once your out-of-pocket spending on covered drugs reaches $2,400, you pay $0 for covered drugs for the rest of 2027.

The stand-alone plan list changed more than the parameters did. Utah goes from 10 stand-alone Part D plans to 8, with SilverScript Choice and HealthSpring Extra Rx not offered for 2027. Several premiums moved sharply in both directions.

Someone on Humana Basic Rx now faces a $30.60 monthly premium in 2027 unless they act. Someone on AARP Medicare Rx Preferred faces $238.00, up from $132.60. Premium is still only one part of the cost, but a change of that size is exactly what the Annual Notice of Change is there to flag.

Our separate guide to Part D for 2027 in Utah goes through the full stand-alone plan list and how to price your own medications against it.

How should I use the 2027 Star Ratings?

Use them as a tiebreaker between plans that already pass your doctor, drug and cost checks, not as the first filter. The 2027 Star Ratings went live on Medicare.gov on or around 8 October, and you can see each plan's rating in the Plan Finder.

The jump in stand-alone Part D ratings, from about 2% of enrollees in 4-star-plus contracts to about 22%, is the headline nationally. CMS also added two new drug-safety measures for 2027: concurrent use of opioids and benzodiazepines, and anticholinergic polypharmacy, which is the use of several medications with similar side effects at once.

• A rating describes the contract, which can cover many plans across many states. It is not a rating of your local doctors.
• A high rating does not make a plan fit you. A five-star plan that does not cover your medication, or does not include your doctor, is still the wrong plan for you.
• Look at the drug-plan rating separately from the health-plan rating if your prescriptions are a large part of your costs.
• A rating that dropped since last year is a reason to ask questions, not automatically a reason to leave.

What will Part B cost in 2027?

Nobody knows yet. CMS has not announced the 2027 Part B premium; it typically does so in November. The 2026 Medicare Trustees Report projected $209.50 a month for 2027, up from the actual 2026 premium of $202.90, but that is a projection, not a price.

This matters for your comparison because almost everyone pays Part B regardless of which plan they choose. Whatever a Medicare Advantage plan's premium, your Part B premium still comes on top. The income-related surcharges for higher earners (IRMAA) for 2027 have not been announced either. When the official figures are published, add them to both sides of any comparison; they rarely change which option is cheaper, but they change the total you budget for.

What are the key dates for 2027 coverage?

The date that matters most is 7 December 2026: it is the last day to make a change that starts on 1 January 2027. Everything else on this calendar either leads up to that deadline or gives you a second chance afterwards.

What should I check before I decide?

Seven things, in this order. The order matters because each step can rule a plan out, and there is no point pricing a plan your cardiologist does not take.

1. Read your Annual Notice of Change. It lists what is changing in your current plan for 2027: premium, deductible, copays, out-of-pocket maximum, drug list and network. If you received a non-renewal letter instead, skip to the section on plans that are leaving.
2. Check your doctors and hospitals. Confirm each doctor, specialist and hospital is in the plan's 2027 network by calling the office and checking the plan's directory. A network can change even when the plan name does not.
3. List every medication with its exact strength and monthly quantity, and the pharmacy you actually use.
4. Price the drugs in Medicare's Plan Finder and sort by estimated total yearly cost, not by premium. Check each drug's tier and any prior authorization or step therapy.
5. Compare the out-of-pocket maximum. In all five counties covered here, the lowest MOOP rose for 2027. Know the worst-case number for each plan you are considering.
6. Look at the Star Ratings for the plans still on your list, health and drug ratings separately.
7. Write down your decision and act before 7 December. If you are switching, keep the confirmation number. If you are staying, write down why, so next year's review starts from something.

Two of those steps have their own guides on this site: how to read the Annual Notice of Change line by line, and how to check that your doctors are really in a plan's network before you enroll.

How do I compare two options on total yearly cost?

Work out two numbers for each option: what you pay in a quiet year, and what you pay in your worst year. The premium tells you the first. The out-of-pocket maximum, or for drug plans the Part D cap, tells you the second. Most comparisons people make only look at the first.

Example 1: two Advantage plans in Box Elder County (illustrative)

Premiums vary by plan. Box Elder's 2027 roster includes monthly premiums such as $49, $97 and $110 including drug coverage. Its 2027 out-of-pocket maximums run from $4,900 to $9,150. The example below pairs those real figures to show how the arithmetic works. It does not describe any specific plan.

In a quiet year, Plan A is $732 ahead. In a bad year, Plan B is $3,518 ahead. Neither is right in general. Which one fits depends on how much care you expect, how comfortable you are with a large bill in a bad year, and, before any of that, whether your doctors and drugs are covered. Add the Part B premium to both columns once it is announced; it was $202.90 a month in 2026, or $2,434.80 for the year.

Example 2: two stand-alone Part D plans with Original Medicare

The cap puts a ceiling on both, but only for drugs each plan covers. A lower deductible or lower copays on one plan can matter a great deal for someone with moderate drug use, and a drug that is not on a plan's formulary does not count toward the cap at all. That is why this arithmetic comes after the formulary check, never instead of it.

What if my Medicare Advantage plan is leaving?

You have choices and more time than the main deadline suggests, but the cleanest route is to pick a new plan before 7 December so it starts on 1 January with no gap. If your plan is not renewing, you should have received a non-renewal letter from the plan; that letter, not a news story or a list online, is what tells you your plan is ending.

• Choose a new plan during Open Enrollment (15 October – 7 December). It starts on 1 January.
• Use the non-renewal Special Enrollment Period, which runs from 8 December 2026 to the last day of February 2027. A request made between 8 and 31 December takes effect 1 January; one made in January takes effect 1 February.
• Do nothing, and you return to Original Medicare when the plan ends. That leaves you without drug coverage unless you add a Part D plan, and without a supplement unless you buy one.

Nationally, Humana said in July that it would exit additional Advantage plans for 2027 affecting roughly 600,000 members, and KFF's analysis of 2027 county availability found UnitedHealth Group exiting 228 counties and Humana 62. Those are national figures. Our guide to Medicare Advantage plan exits in Utah for 2027 goes county by county.

What mistakes do people make most during Open Enrollment?

The costliest mistake is doing nothing without reading the Annual Notice of Change. Your plan renews under 2027 rules automatically, and in 2027 those rules include higher out-of-pocket maximums in every county covered here and a higher Part D deductible and cap.

1. Choosing on premium alone. A low premium does not mean a low-cost year. Compare the worst-case total, as in the example above.
2. Assuming your doctors came with the plan. Networks change on 1 January. Check each doctor for 2027, not 2026.
3. Leaving Medicare Advantage expecting to buy a supplement. Outside a guaranteed-issue situation, Utah carriers can underwrite you. Get an answer before you drop anything.
4. Treating the January–March window as a backup. It allows one change and only for people already in an Advantage plan.
5. Enrolling twice by accident. Joining a new Advantage plan generally ends the old one, and joining a stand-alone Part D plan can end an Advantage plan's coverage. Know what each enrollment will do to the plan you already have.
6. Reading Morgan or Box Elder like the Wasatch Front. Fewer carriers means fewer networks. Check that the hospital you would use is in the plan you are considering.
7. Skipping Extra Help. Only 13.60% of Utah stand-alone PDP enrollees get it. If your income and savings are modest, check before you assume it is not for you.

How should I handle the phone calls and mail?

Assume anyone who calls you unprompted to sell a plan is not Medicare. Medicare does not call people to sell them a plan, and it will not ask for your Medicare Number by phone unless you have given permission in advance. Medicare's marketing rules also restrict plans and agents from contacting you without your permission.

• Never give your Medicare Number, Social Security number or bank details to a caller you did not contact first.
• A caller who says your benefits will stop unless you act today is using pressure, not information. Your current plan stays in place until you change it.
• Treat ads promising more money in your Social Security check with the same care. What any plan actually covers is in its Evidence of Coverage, not in the ad.
• If you are unsure whether a call was genuine, hang up and call 1-800-MEDICARE or the member services number on your card.

Mail is less risky but just as noisy. Separate the two envelopes that matter, your plan's Annual Notice of Change and any non-renewal letter, from everything else, and read those first.

The bottom line

Medicare Open Enrollment runs 15 October to 7 December 2026, and 2027 is a year to look rather than glance. Utah has 51 Advantage plans, down from 55. Morgan and Box Elder lost several carriers. Out-of-pocket maximums rose in all five counties covered here, and the Part D deductible and cap rose to $700 and $2,400. Read your Annual Notice of Change, check your doctors and drugs for 2027, compare the worst-case total rather than the premium, and decide before 7 December. If your plan is leaving, your letter is the authority, and you have options.