A Wisconsin senior's Medicare Advantage plan is being canceled for the second time — a million Americans face the same headache this fall

Sterling said rising medical costs have pushed that figure closer to 92%, leaving insurers less for overhead. “They shrink the plan service area, and what that means is the places where people live in order to enroll in the plan, so fewer people can enroll. And then they will raise premiums,” he noted.

Mary Vellemure of Altoona, Wisconsin, got a letter saying her Security Health plan would no longer cover her area. She’s on a fixed income. “It’s very frustrating because you don’t know from one year to the next what your health is going to be and what your costs are going to be and what’s going to be covered,” she said.

The impacts and projected costs

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) says in 2027, more than 99% of people with Medicare will have access to at least one Medicare Advantage plan and 97% will have access to at least 10. About eight in 10 current members can keep their plan at the same or a lower premium. The agency projects the average monthly premium to fall from $14.37 to $12.

That still leaves about two in 10 members who must change plans.

While CMS says the voluntary Part D Premium Stabilization Demonstration has a “planned discontinuation in 2027,” it notes there’s still “broad pricing stability across the Part D market” and projects the average stand-alone Part D premium at $36 a month, up from $35.09.

What to do now

If your plan isn’t renewed and you do nothing, you’ll be “enrolled by default in traditional Medicare,” national health policy organization KFF says. Without Extra Help, it notes you’ll need a separate Part D drug plan to keep drug coverage.