Florida will have 560 Medicare Advantage plans in 2027, down 51 from 611, and Illinois 136, down 21 from 157, while Alabama goes the other way with 113, up 15 from 98, CMS state data show. The state fact sheets, published Sept. 28, give the first state-level picture of where the 2027 plan menus shrink and where they grow ahead of Open Enrollment, which begins Oct. 15.
Florida’s loss is the larger number, Illinois’s the larger share
The CMS fact sheets report each state’s Medicare Advantage plan count for 2026 and 2027. Florida’s 51-plan drop is the biggest in the states read, from Alabama through Kentucky, but it amounts to 8.3 percent of a 611-plan market, and Florida still lists more plans than any other state read, ahead of California’s 394 and Georgia’s 161. Illinois lost 21 plans, or 13.4 percent of 157, the larger share of the two, while its average premium slips from $8.49 to $7.11. The District of Columbia’s five-plan decline, from 20 to 15, is 25 percent of its total. Kansas fell from 87 to 80, Arkansas from 91 to 84, California from 402 to 394, Idaho from 48 to 44, Georgia from 166 to 161 and Colorado from 107 to 104.
Of the 17 jurisdictions with Medicare Advantage data in that span, plans fell in nine and rose in eight. The combined total moves from 2,352 to 2,298 plans. The fact sheets list no Medicare Advantage figures at all for Alaska, American Samoa or Guam.
Alabama’s 15 additions in context
Alabama’s 15 new plans, a 15.3 percent expansion, tie Arizona’s for the largest gain in the states read; Arizona went from 133 to 148. Indiana added 13, from 127 to 140, and Kentucky nine, from 114 to 123. Smaller increases appear in Hawaii (44 to 46), Connecticut (47 to 48), Delaware (37 to 38) and Iowa (63 to 64).
More plans did not mean higher prices in Alabama. The sheets show the state’s average monthly premium falling from $11.25 to $7.76, and Alabama lists 11 stand-alone drug plans for 2027. Florida, by contrast, pairs its plan loss with an average premium that edges up from $1.83 to $2.13.
A net count is not a list of exits
The state rows give totals for each year. They do not name the plans that are ending or the counties they served, and a net change blends plan exits with new entrants, so a state total cannot be read as a count of plans that ended. CMS said in its Sept. 28 announcement that about 5,532 Medicare Advantage plans will be available nationally in 2027, against 5,553 in 2026, and that approximately eight in 10 members can keep their plan at the same or a lower premium. That leaves about two in 10 members outside that group, and the state sheets do not say where they live.
For a member of a plan that is not renewed, the practical question is what replaces it. Medicare’s Open Enrollment page lists the choices from Oct. 15 to Dec. 7: join, drop or switch a Medicare Advantage plan, switch a drug plan while in Original Medicare, or move between Original Medicare and Medicare Advantage. A change takes effect Jan. 1 if the request arrives by Dec. 7.
The Medigap door for members who leave Medicare Advantage
A member who returns to Original Medicare may need supplemental coverage, and Medicare.gov describes Medigap as extra insurance sold by private companies to help pay Original Medicare cost-sharing. The guaranteed issue rights page defines those protections as “situations where an insurance company can’t deny you a Medigap policy.” During the six-month Medigap Open Enrollment Period an insurer cannot refuse a policy or charge more for pre-existing health problems. Outside that period, the page says to check with the State Insurance Department to see whether a policy can be bought. The cost side is on Medicare.gov’s costs page, which lists the 2026 standard Part B premium at $202.90 a month and says Medicare Advantage members keep paying it, so Part B is paid in either setting, and what a return to Original Medicare adds is the premium for a Medigap policy if one is bought.
Counseling offices in Florida, Illinois and Alabama
Each of the three states runs a State Health Insurance Assistance Program. The Florida Department of Elder Affairs describes its SHINE program as providing “free one-on-one insurance counseling and community education regarding Medicare options” through the Elder Helpline, 1-800-963-5337. The Illinois Department on Aging’s Senior Health Insurance Program is “a free statewide health insurance counseling service for Medicare beneficiaries and their caregivers,” reachable at 1-800-252-8966. In Alabama, the state’s SHIP “provides FREE education, counseling, and information” at 1-800-243-5463.
The CMS sheets put Florida’s Medicare enrollment at 5,334,437 and list 11 stand-alone drug plans in Florida and 10 in Illinois for 2027, the options for members who leave Medicare Advantage and keep drug coverage through a separate plan.
Comparing plans when a state’s Medicare Advantage menu shifts
State plan counts describe a market, not any one member’s plan, so the comparison that matters is between a current plan’s 2027 terms and the alternatives in the same county. Open Enrollment runs from Oct. 15 to Dec. 7, and the plans a member weighs differ in cost, drug coverage and doctor networks.
The 2027 Medicare Open Enrollment Decision Kit includes a cost calculator spreadsheet that compares plans on cost, drugs and doctors, a prescription-by-plan comparison and a provider call script.
Compare a current plan with finalists on cost, drugs and doctors →
This article was produced with AI assistance and checked against the primary sources linked above.
David M. Keller is a finance writer based in Columbus, Ohio, covering personal finance and consumer-focused economic topics. He earned his degree in journalism from Ohio University and began his career reporting on local business and economic trends for a regional media outlet. Since then, he has contributed to a variety of online publications, focusing on clear, practical coverage of topics such as cost of living, debt, and everyday financial decision-making.
