Medicare Open Enrollment 2027 in Jacksonville: What Changed and What to Check Before December 7

“I’m confused about when I can change my Medicare plan. Can you clarify the different enrollment periods for me?” That is a question a real person posted to a public Medicare Q&A site, and it is the first thing we hear from Jacksonville callers every October. Here is the short answer. From 15 October to 7 December 2026 you can change almost anything about your Medicare coverage for 2027, and the change starts on 1 January 2027. After 7 December, most of those doors close for the year.

This is the season’s overview: what CMS changed for 2027, what the 2027 landscape files show for Duval, Clay, St. Johns, Nassau and Broward counties, and the seven things to check before 7 December. If you already have your Annual Notice of Change on the kitchen table, our guide to reading the 2027 ANOC goes line by line through it. If your plan sent a letter saying it is ending, start with what to do when your Medicare Advantage plan is ending in 2027 instead, because your deadlines are different.

When is Medicare Open Enrollment for 2027 coverage?

The Annual Enrollment Period runs from 15 October to 7 December 2026. Medicare.gov states that coverage starts 1 January of the next year and that the plan must get your enrollment request by 7 December. CMS confirmed the same dates in its 28 September 2026 release on the 2027 plan year. That is the one real deadline in this article, and we will say it once: 7 December.

During that window you can switch from Original Medicare to a Medicare Advantage plan, switch back, move from one Medicare Advantage plan to another, or join, drop or change a stand-alone Part D drug plan. If you do nothing, you stay in the plan you have, on its 2027 terms, which may not be its 2026 terms.

There is a second window, and it is narrower. The Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period runs 1 January to 31 March 2027, and it is only for people already in a Medicare Advantage plan. In it you can switch to another Medicare Advantage plan, or drop Medicare Advantage and return to Original Medicare. It is a correction window, not a second Open Enrollment. If you are not sure which window applies to you, the Medicare enrollment period finder will tell you from your own dates.

What changed in Part D for 2027?

Three numbers moved, and all three are set by CMS rather than by your plan. The out-of-pocket threshold rises from $2,100 in 2026 to $2,400 in 2027. The maximum deductible any Part D plan may charge rises from $615 to $700. And the national base beneficiary premium, the figure CMS uses to calculate the late-enrollment penalty, goes from $38.99 to $41.33. Both the threshold and the deductible appear in CMS’s CY2027 Rate Announcement of 6 April 2026, and Medicare.gov restates them on its drug-costs page.

The way the benefit works does not change. You pay the deductible, then 25% coinsurance on covered drugs until your out-of-pocket spending reaches the threshold, then $0 for covered drugs for the rest of the calendar year. Medicare.gov notes that certain payments made on your behalf, such as through Extra Help, count toward that threshold too. The counter resets to zero every 1 January, so a person who hit the cap in August 2026 starts 2027 at the deductible again.

What that means in practice: the worst case for a person with heavy drug costs gets $300 worse in 2027, and the first-of-the-year bill for someone on a full-deductible plan gets $85 bigger. Neither is a reason to panic. Both are reasons to re-run your drug list rather than assume last year’s math still holds. We explain what counts toward the threshold in our short answer on what the Part D out-of-pocket cap is.

Which 15 drugs get Medicare-negotiated prices on 1 January 2027?

This is the second cycle of the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program. CMS selected 15 drugs covered under Part D, negotiated with the manufacturers, and published the agreed prices, which the statute calls maximum fair prices. CMS states those prices “will go into effect beginning January 1, 2027.” We fetched the CMS fact sheet and read the table itself. Here are the 15, with the negotiated 30-day price CMS published and the 2024 list price it compares against.

Read the table carefully, because it is easy to misread. The negotiated price is what the drug costs the system, not what you pay at the counter in Jacksonville. Your share is still set by your plan’s deductible, its 25% coinsurance or flat copay for that tier, and the $2,400 annual threshold. CMS’s own estimate is that people with Part D would save about $685 million in out-of-pocket costs in 2027 under the standard benefit. That is a real number spread across a lot of people, not a per-person promise.

It matters most for someone on one of these drugs who spends part of the year in the deductible or the 25% coinsurance phase, because 25% of a lower price is a smaller bill. CMS reports that about 5.3 million of the 53 million people with Part D coverage were dispensed these drugs in 2024. If you take one of them, the useful check this fall is whether each plan you are comparing still covers it in 2027 and on what tier. Price negotiation does not force a plan to put a drug on a low tier.

What will the Part B premium be in 2027?

Nobody can tell you yet. CMS publishes the Part B premium and deductibles by fact sheet each autumn, and as of 15 October 2026 the 2027 fact sheet does not exist; the CMS address where it will appear returned a “page not found” when we checked that day. Any figure you see quoted as the 2027 Part B premium today is a projection or a guess, not the number.

For budgeting, use the 2026 figures and expect them to change: the standard Part B premium is $202.90 a month in 2026 and the annual Part B deductible is $283. If you are on a $0-premium Medicare Advantage plan, you still pay the Part B premium. That is the most common surprise we see on the First Coast, and it is the reason “$0 premium” never means “$0 Medicare.” Higher earners pay more through IRMAA, and the 2027 IRMAA brackets have not been published either.

How did the Medicare Advantage market change in Duval, Clay, St. Johns, Nassau and Broward?

Every one of the five counties has fewer Medicare Advantage plans for 2027 than it had for 2026. These counts exclude Special Needs Plans, so they are the plans a typical person with Medicare can join. The table below comes straight from the CMS CY2027 and CY2026 landscape files. The detail for each county lives on its own page: Duval County, Clay County, St. Johns County, Nassau County and Broward County.

Three things stand out. First, the drop is steady rather than dramatic: St. Johns lost the most, six plans, and Nassau the fewest, one. Second, the $0 Part C premium is still the norm everywhere. In Duval, 37 of the 42 plans for 2027 charge no Part C premium. Third, the typical out-of-pocket limit held at $6,750 across the four First Coast counties except Nassau, where the median rose to $7,150, while Broward’s median stays much lower at $4,050.

The ceiling also moved. In every one of the five counties the highest in-network out-of-pocket limit in the 2027 file is $9,850, up from $9,250 in 2026. If you are on a plan near the top of that range and you have a hospital stay in 2027, that $600 difference is yours.

Fewer plans is not the same as worse plans. A county with 42 choices still has far more than one person can compare by hand, and CMS reports that nationally 97% of people with Medicare have access to 10 or more Medicare Advantage plans for 2027. What fewer plans does mean is that some people’s 2026 plan is not on the 2027 list. If that is you, the plan-ending post linked at the top of this article covers the special rules.

Why are drug deductibles higher on Jacksonville Medicare Advantage plans?

Because the federal ceiling went up and most plans moved with it. On Duval Medicare Advantage plans with drug coverage, the average Part D deductible rises from $502.43 in 2026 to $634.22 in 2027. Of the 32 Duval plans that include drugs, 20 charge the full $700 maximum for 2027, and one charges $0. The pattern repeats across the First Coast: 20 of 31 in Clay, 19 of 29 in St. Johns and 14 of 25 in Nassau sit at $700.

Broward looks different, and it is worth knowing why if you split time between Jacksonville and South Florida. The average Medicare Advantage drug deductible there is $452.64 for 2027, and 11 of the 36 Broward plans with drug coverage charge a $0 drug deductible, compared with one in Duval. Plans are filed county by county, so the market in Fort Lauderdale is genuinely not the market in Jacksonville.

What do the 2027 star ratings show for the First Coast?

CMS released the 2027 Star Ratings on 8 October 2026. Ratings are set at the contract level, so every plan under one contract shares the same score. Joined to the 2027 plan list, the picture is two-sided. The share of plans rated 4 stars or higher went up in all five counties: in Duval from 70% to 79%, in Clay from 71% to 82%, in St. Johns from 73% to 82%, in Nassau from 65% to 85%, and in Broward from 70% to 82%.

At the same time, the average rating went down in every county, from 4.16 to 3.98 in Duval, for example. Both things are true because the ratings bunched toward the middle. In the 2027 data for all five Florida counties, no Medicare Advantage plan carries 5 stars; the top is 4.5. In Duval, 10 plans are at 4.5, 23 at 4.0, 6 at 3.5 and 3 at 3.0.

Across the river it went the other way. In Camden County, Georgia, the share of plans at 4 stars or higher rose from 26% to 54%, and four plans carry 5 stars for 2027. Camden’s median in-network out-of-pocket limit is $9,850, though, against $6,750 in Duval, so a Kingsland or St. Marys resident is weighing a different trade.

How much weight should a star carry? Some, not all. A star rating measures things like customer service, complaints, appeals and how well members with chronic conditions are managed. It does not tell you whether your cardiologist is in the network or your inhaler is on the formulary. Use it to notice a 3.0 you were about to auto-renew into, then go back to your own doctors and drugs.

What about stand-alone Part D plans in Florida?

If you have Original Medicare, usually alongside a Medicare Supplement, your drug coverage is a stand-alone Part D plan, and those are sold statewide. Florida has 11 of them for 2027, up from 10 in 2026. The published monthly premiums run from $5.30 to $326.00 for 2027, and none is at $0, where two were in 2026. Eight of the eleven charge the full $700 deductible. Three carry a 4.5-star Part D rating for 2027, where none of the 2026 plans reached 4.0.

We wrote up the 2026 statewide drug-plan market in detail in Florida’s 2026 stand-alone Part D plans. The short version for this fall: the 2026 table no longer describes your options, and the plan you have may cost noticeably more in 2027. CMS reports the national average stand-alone Part D premium rising from $35.09 in 2026 to $36 in 2027 and attributes the market change in part to the end of the Part D Premium Stabilization Demonstration after 2026.

What it costs to let the plan roll over

Doing nothing is a decision. If your plan is still offered in 2027, you are re-enrolled automatically on its 2027 terms. On the First Coast that most likely means a higher drug deductible, possibly a different out-of-pocket limit, a different star rating and, quietly, a different formulary and network. None of that requires your signature.

The cost is not always money. Sometimes it is a specialist at Baptist or Mayo who is no longer contracted, or a brand-name drug that moved to a tier with a coinsurance instead of a copay. Sometimes it is a plan that still looks fine on paper and simply fits you less well than it did. The people who call us in January rarely chose badly. They did not choose at all.

The seven things to check before 7 December

This is the list we work through with every client, and you can do every step of it yourself, for free. Give it an hour the first time.

1. Confirm your 2027 plan still existsCheck the 2027 plan name and ID on your Annual Notice of Change or on Medicare.gov. If your plan is not on the 2027 list for your county, you are in a different situation with different rules; read the plan-ending guide before anything else.
2. Re-enter your exact drug list for 2027Every drug, every strength, every pharmacy. Use Medicare.gov’s Plan Finder or our prescription drug cost estimator with 2027 selected. With the $700 deductible and $2,400 threshold, last year’s estimate is out of date.
3. Check any of the 15 negotiated drugs by tierIf you take Ozempic, Trelegy, Janumet, Tradjenta, Linzess, Breo or any other drug on the 2027 negotiated list, confirm it is on each plan’s 2027 formulary and note its tier. The negotiated price helps most when the plan covers the drug sensibly.
4. Call each doctor’s office about 2027Ask the billing office, not the front desk, whether they will be in-network with that specific plan for 2027. Network directories lag. Write down who you spoke to and the date.
5. Compare the out-of-pocket limit, not just the premiumIn Duval the 2027 in-network limits run from $2,500 to $9,850. Two $0-premium plans can sit $7,000 apart in your worst year. Decide which number you could actually pay.
6. Look at the 2027 star rating, then keep goingFor 2027, no First Coast Medicare Advantage plan is rated 5 stars and most are 4.0 or 4.5. Use the rating to flag a low score, not to break a tie.
7. Ask whether you qualify for Extra HelpFor 2027, Extra Help caps generic copays at $5.80 and other drugs at $14.40. Screening is free through 1-800-MEDICARE or Florida’s SHINE program at 1-800-963-5337. Then enrol by 7 December and keep the confirmation number.

Bring your current plan and your prescription list; we’ll do the comparison with you.

Before and after: one Orange Park household’s review

Illustrative example only. Ray and Donna live in Orange Park. Ray is 71 and takes Janumet and two generics. Donna is 69, healthy, and takes one generic. They have been on the same $0-premium HMO for three years and have never opened the October envelope.

They may end up in the same plan. That is a fine outcome. The difference is that they chose it with their own drugs and doctors entered, and they know what January will cost before it arrives. We cannot promise anybody a saving, and neither can anyone else. We can promise you will know what you are buying.

How we help during Open Enrollment

We are an independent agency in Jacksonville. During Open Enrollment we run your exact doctors and drug list against the plans we represent in your county, and we show you an estimated total for a healthy year and a heavy-care year rather than just the premium. If you split time between Duval and Broward, or between Fernandina Beach and somewhere out of state, we compare both. You can read how that works on our Medicare services page.

We do not represent every plan in every county, and we will tell you that up front. For a complete, unbiased list, Medicare.gov’s Plan Finder shows every plan, 1-800-MEDICARE answers questions about your own enrollment, and Florida’s SHIP program, SHINE, offers free counselling through the Department of Elder Affairs at 1-800-963-5337. McDowell Business Resources is not affiliated with or endorsed by the U.S. government, CMS or the federal Medicare program.

We’re in Jacksonville, and we’ll meet you where it suits — in person, by phone or by video. If you’re in Orange Park or St. Augustine, we come to you.

The 2027 national picture, briefly

CMS’s 28 September 2026 release puts the local changes in context. Nationally, the number of Medicare Advantage plans goes from 5,553 in 2026 to about 5,532 in 2027. CMS projects the weighted average Medicare Advantage premium falling from $14.37 to $12.00 a month, and the average premium for Medicare Advantage plans with drug coverage, after rebates, falling from $11.32 to $7. More than 99% of people with Medicare have access to at least one Medicare Advantage plan.

National averages are a useful sanity check and a poor shopping tool. Your county, your doctors and your drug list decide what a plan costs you, and in Jacksonville the county numbers above moved differently from the national ones. Start local, then compare.

Where this leaves you

Most of what changed for 2027 is not dramatic. A higher drug cap and deductible, fewer plans, ratings bunched around 4 stars, lower prices on 15 drugs, and a Part B premium still to come. Taken together, they mean the plan you have will behave differently on 1 January 2027 than it did on 1 January 2026, and the only way to know how is to check.

If you are new to all of this, our guide to Medicare in Jacksonville covers the basics of the local market. Whatever you decide, decide it on the numbers. If you want help getting to them, we’re here.