Massachusetts will have 97 Medicare Advantage plans in 2027, down from 103 this year, and the average monthly premium for those plans rises to $37.80 from $36.19. Both figures come from the Massachusetts page of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ state-by-state landscape fact sheets, dated September 28. The six lost plans and the $1.61 increase, about 4.4 percent, arrive as open enrollment opens on October 15.
The state numbers run against the national ones. CMS projects that the weighted average monthly Medicare Advantage premium across the country will fall to $12.00 in 2027 from $14.37 in 2026, a 16.5 percent drop, and that the national plan count will slip only from 5,553 to about 5,532. The two measures are not identical, since one is a state average and the other an enrollment-weighted national projection, but they point in different directions for Massachusetts.
The question for the 1,516,549 Massachusetts residents the fact sheet counts as enrolled in Medicare is whether their own plan is one of those that continue, and at what price. The state sheet gives totals only: it does not name which six plans are gone or which stayed, so a member has to look up the specific plan to find out whether it exists for 2027 and what it will charge.
Six fewer Massachusetts plans and a $1.61 higher average premium make the weeks before December 7 the time to compare, not to renew by default. The 2027 Medicare Open Enrollment Decision Kit includes a cost calculator spreadsheet that compares plans on cost, drugs and doctors and the Open Enrollment calendar, so the changes are tallied against the member’s own plan.
Map the Massachusetts 2027 plan changes with the Decision Kit’s calendar and cost calculator →
The Massachusetts scorecard for 2027
CMS’s state sheet reports these figures for Massachusetts:
- Medicare Advantage plans: 97 in 2027, compared with 103 in 2026.
- Average monthly Medicare Advantage premium: $37.80 in 2027, up from $36.19.
- Zero-premium access: “100% of people with Medicare will have access to an MA plan with a $0 monthly premium.”
- Stand-alone prescription drug plans: 10 are available, and $13.30 is the lowest monthly premium among them.
- Extra Help: 32.08 percent of people with a stand-alone drug plan get it, the federal assistance that lowers drug costs for people with limited income.
The sheet adds that every person with a stand-alone Massachusetts drug plan has access to a plan with a lower premium than the one they paid in 2026. On the Medicare Advantage side, the sheet pairs a $0 plan within reach of everyone with a higher average premium across all 97 plans.
Where the national picture comes from
The national comparison is from CMS’s announcement of the 2027 plan landscape, also dated September 28. In it, CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz said: “We urge beneficiaries to use Open Enrollment as an opportunity to review their coverage.” The agency says more than 99 percent of beneficiaries nationally have at least one Medicare Advantage plan and 97 percent have ten or more, and that about eight in ten Medicare Advantage beneficiaries can keep their current plan with the same or a lower premium.
That last figure is a national share, not a Massachusetts one, and the state sheet does not report it.
For drug coverage, CMS projects the average stand-alone drug plan premium nationally to rise by less than $1, from $35.09 to $36, while the average Part D premium for Medicare Advantage plans after rebates falls from $11.32 to $7. Those are national projections as well. Massachusetts’s lowest stand-alone premium is the $13.30 figure on the state page.
When a plan’s disappearance opens a special window
If a plan disappears because its contract with Medicare ends or is not renewed, the usual open enrollment dates are not the only chance to switch. Medicare.gov’s special enrollment page says that when a plan contract is not renewed, the window to switch runs between December 8 and the last day in February of the following year. When a plan’s contract ends, the window starts one month before the contract ends and closes two full months afterward.
Those rules apply to contract endings, and the state sheet does not say whether any of the six departed Massachusetts plans fall into that category. A plan count can also shrink when insurers combine or trim plans without a contract ending, so the safe assumption is to treat October 15 to December 7 as the window that counts and to confirm any extra time with Medicare.
Comparing Massachusetts plans before December 7
The free sources are all federal. The CMS state sheet gives the market totals, and the Medicare Plan Finder lists the plans offered in a ZIP code, which CMS says helps beneficiaries compare health and drug plans. CMS’s announcement says 1-800-MEDICARE is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to help with comparing plans and costs.
The comparison that matters is the member’s own plan against two or three alternatives: monthly premium, drug deductible, the cost of each regular prescription, the annual out-of-pocket maximum, and whether each doctor and hospital stays in network. The $37.80 average cannot answer any of that, since an average across 97 plans covers cheaper and costlier ones alike.
The state sheet and national announcement share one date worth writing down: open enrollment runs from October 15 to December 7, 2026.
A $37.80 average hides what one plan charges
The Massachusetts average covers 97 plans of very different prices, so it says nothing about the bill for one member’s plan, and the choice closes December 7. The 2027 Medicare Open Enrollment Decision Kit pairs a cost calculator spreadsheet that compares plans on cost, drugs and doctors with the Open Enrollment calendar, so the detail that decides a year of premiums is checked before the date passes. The guide runs 55 pages.
Compare Massachusetts plans on cost and drugs with the Decision Kit’s calculator and calendar →
This article was produced with AI assistance and reviewed by The Financial Wire’s editorial team.
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.
