Your drug plan just changed
Your drug plan just changed: what 2027 does to the 10 most popular stand-alone Part D plans
Drug plans change every year. Your card usually stays the same, but the premium, the deductible and the drug list don't. For 2027 the changes are bigger than usual: no stand-alone drug plans anywhere have a $0 premium, and for more than 1.2 million people, their plan won't be offered in 2027.
Medicare publishes every plan's 2027 premium and deductible, and Medicare Plan Finder already shows 2027 plans. We took that file and the most recent enrollment counts and looked at the ten stand-alone drug plans (PDPs) with the most members. Together they cover about 18 million people, roughly 7 in 10 of everyone in an individual stand-alone drug plan.
Here's what we found, and what to do about it before open enrollment closes on December 7.
The short version
- $0-premium drug plans are gone. 70 stand-alone plans charged no premium in 2026 for some regions. In 2027, the cheapest anywhere is $5.30 a month.
- The standard deductible goes up from $615 to $700. All ten plans raise their deductible.
- The most you can pay for covered drugs in a year goes up from $2,100 to $2,400. If you take expensive medicines, that $300 may matter more than any premium change.
- Premiums mostly go up, by anywhere from a couple of dollars to more than $100 a month, depending on the plan and the state.
- Two big plans are leaving much of the country. SilverScript Choice won't be offered in 27 states, and HealthSpring Extra Rx won't be offered in most of the states where it's sold today.
- The same plan can get cheaper in one state and much more expensive in the next. Reviewing your local options is important.
The ten plans, 2026 to 2027
Premiums for drug plans are set region by region, so one plan has dozens of prices. The change shown is weighted by members.
Many members of the largest plans get Extra Help, and in those plans they usually pay $0 in premium whatever the plan charges. For them, the table describes the plan, not their bill.
| # | Plan | Members (Aug 2026) | Change in the plan's monthly premium (member-weighted) | Where the premium goes up / down | 2027 deductible |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wellcare Value Script | 6.2 million | +$1.70 | up in 19 regions, down in 15 | $700 (was $615) |
| 2 | Wellcare Classic | 2.7 million | +$1.60 | up in 25, down in 9 | $700 (was $615) |
| 3 | SilverScript Choice | 1.8 million | +$27.70 where it continues | up in 19, down in 1 | $700 (was $615) |
| 4 | AARP Medicare Rx Preferred from UHC | 1.8 million | +$77.20 | up in 36, down in 3 | $300 or $700, depending on region |
| 5 | Humana Value Rx Plan | 1.6 million | +$19.30 | up in 33, down in 1 | $687 (was $601) |
| 6 | Humana Basic Rx Plan | 1.3 million | +$6.30 | up in 30, down in 4 | $700 (was $615) |
| 7 | HealthSpring Assurance Rx | 1.2 million | +$9.30 | up in 20, down in 13 | $700 (was $615) |
| 8 | AARP Medicare Rx Saver from UHC | 0.6 million | +$56.00 | up in all 34 | $700 (was $615) |
| 9 | Humana Premier Rx Plan | 0.6 million | +$19.30 | up in 32, down in 2 | $350 (was $0) |
| 10 | HealthSpring Extra Rx | 0.4 million | offered in only 4 of its 27 regions in 2027 | $700 (was $615) |
Five things that stood out
1. The biggest plan barely moves. The AARP plans move a lot.
Wellcare Value Script, the largest stand-alone drug plan in the country, changes by about the price of a gallon of gas... in 2001: in Florida, its biggest region, it goes from $0 to $5.30 a month. Wellcare Classic in California, also its biggest region, goes from $6.20 to $7.30.
The two AARP plans are a different story. AARP Medicare Rx Preferred rises for the typical member by about $77 a month. In Florida, its largest region, the premium goes from $119.10 to $184.10, and the deductible from $130 to $300. In Kansas it goes from $147.00 to $264.50. AARP Medicare Rx Saver goes up in every one of its 34 regions. In South Carolina it nearly doubles, from $122.10 to $235.30 a month.
If you're on either AARP plan, this is the year to compare.
2. $0-premium drug plans are gone
In 2026, 70 of the 367 stand-alone drug plans sold around the country charged no premium. In 2027, none of the 323 does. The cheapest anywhere is Wellcare Value Script, at $5.30 a month.
Some of the plans that cost nothing in 2026:
- Humana Basic Rx in Ohio: $0 to $11.30 a month, with the deductible going from $615 to $700. (We checked this one against Medicare Plan Finder, and it matches.)
- Humana Value Rx in Illinois: $0 to $22.30.
- HealthSpring Assurance Rx in California: $0 to $9.30.
- Humana Basic Rx in Idaho and Utah: $0 to $30.60.
3. Some prices go down, so don't assume
Not everything goes up. Humana Basic Rx in Texas drops from $41.70 to $6.30 a month. Wellcare Value Script in New Jersey falls from $22.80 to $5.30. HealthSpring Assurance Rx goes down in 13 of its 33 regions.
The single biggest cut among these ten plans: HealthSpring Assurance Rx in South Carolina, from $152.50 a month in 2026 to $15.50 in 2027, a drop of $137. It's a small region for the plan (about 1,600 members), and the 2027 price is for the plan offered under HealthSpring's new contract (see below).
The only way to know which way yours went is to look up your own plan in your own state.
4. SilverScript Choice is leaving 27 states
Aetna's SilverScript Choice is not offered in 2027 in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming. About 960,000 people were in SilverScript Choice in those states in August.
HealthSpring Extra Rx is offered in 2027 in only 4 of the 27 regions where it's sold today. About 300,000 members are in the regions where it isn't.
If your plan isn't coming back, it will send you a letter saying so in October (Medicare calls it a Plan Non-Renewal Notice). Choose a new plan by December 7 so your coverage starts January 1. You do get extra time, through the end of February, but a plan you join after December 7 starts later, and a plan that ends doesn't quietly carry on: if you want drug coverage, you have to join a new plan.
5. HealthSpring changed hands, so check the fine print
Every 2026 HealthSpring drug plan is listed on Medicare's Plan Finder as "Plan unavailable in 2027." Plans with the same names are offered in 2027 under a new Medicare contract, run by Health Care Service Corporation, the company behind the Blue Cross plans in Illinois, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas. HealthSpring Assurance Rx is offered again in every region where it's sold today; the prices in the table compare it with that new plan.
Your plan's letter will tell you whether you're moved to the new plan or need to choose one yourself. Either way, the pharmacy network, drug list and prices are worth checking, as they would be for any new plan.
What to do this fall
- Read your Annual Notice of Change. Your plan mailed it by the end of September. It lists what changes for you in 2027: premium, deductible, and which of your drugs move tiers.
- Check your drugs, not just the premium. A plan that's $10 cheaper a month can cost far more in a year if your medicines sit on a higher tier. Look up each drug on each plan you're considering.
- Compare at least two other plans in your state. Prices vary so much by region that national advice ("plan X is cheapest") is often wrong where you live.
- Make your choice between October 15 and December 7. The new plan starts January 1.
If you get Extra Help (the Low-Income Subsidy), the premiums above aren't what you pay. Many plans cost you $0, and your deductible is $0. If your plan is leaving your state, Medicare will move you to another plan automatically if you don't choose one (you'll get a letter in late October). But compare first: the plan Medicare picks may not cover your drugs.
If your income is higher: Part D IRMAA
The premiums in this article are what the plan charges. If your income is above a set level, you pay an extra amount on top of it, called the Part D income-related monthly adjustment amount ("Part D IRMAA"). It's based on your tax return from two years earlier.
For 2026, it applies if your 2024 income was more than $109,000 on an individual tax return, or more than $218,000 on a joint return. If you have to pay it, Social Security sends you a letter.
How we did this
Every example in this article was checked against Medicare Plan Finder on October 1, 2026: each plan's 2026 and 2027 monthly premium and drug deductible, and that SilverScript Choice and HealthSpring Extra Rx have no 2027 plan in regions where we say they're not offered.
We used Medicare's 2027 plan file (CMS's CY2027 Landscape release, September 2026) and its 2026 equivalent for every stand-alone drug plan's monthly Part D premium and deductible. "Members" and "most popular" come from CMS's monthly enrollment report for August 2026, counting individual plans only (not employer plans). A plan is matched from 2026 to 2027 by its name and region, so a plan offered again under a new contract, like HealthSpring Assurance Rx, is compared with its 2027 namesake. Premiums shown are the plan's full Part D premium before any Extra Help.
When a plan appears in 2026 but not 2027, it is either ending in that region or being replaced, and Medicare's file alone doesn't say which. Your plan's letter does.