Newsroom · Statewide Utah

Is Aetna Leaving Medicare Advantage in Utah for 2027?

Aetna is staying on the Wasatch Front and in St. George, and leaving most of the rest of its Utah map. Ten counties that had an Aetna plan this year have none for 2027, from Cedar City to Logan to Price. Here is the county list, what remains in each one, and what changed for the members whose plans continue.

Medicare On Main Data Desk

Published October 11, 2026 · 8 min read · Reviewed by Brian Penner

The answer depends on your county. I pulled every Aetna row for Utah out of the CMS 2026 and 2027 landscape files on October 11 and matched them by contract-plan ID, which is the only reliable way, because carriers rename plans from one year to the next. Aetna did that here: this year's Signature Extra (PPO) is next year's Signature (PPO), same ID. What follows is the county map first, then the plans that continue, then what to do if yours did not. Nothing in this post is a judgment of Aetna. Carriers add and withdraw plans every fall, and our statewide list of discontinued Utah plans shows it was not the only one.

The ten Utah counties with no Aetna plan for 2027

"Members counted" is every Aetna plan in the county, including the Dual Special Needs Plans, from CMS's September 2026 enrollment file. CMS does not publish a plan's county enrollment when it is under 11, so the true totals are a little higher. The last column is what the county's Medicare Advantage shelf with drug coverage looks like for 2027.

Sources: CMS CY2027 landscape file compared against the CY2026 file by Contract Plan ID; CMS enrollment by contract, plan and county, September 2026. Plan and carrier names are reproduced from the public files for information and do not imply endorsement of any company or plan.

Two counties stand out. Iron County is the largest loss and a different kind: Cedar City had three Aetna drug plans this year, and all three still exist in 2027, just not in Iron County. A member there holds a plan that continues in Salt Lake City and ends in Cedar City. Carbon County is the tightest shelf: with Aetna gone, every 2027 Medicare Advantage drug plan in Price and Helper comes from one carrier. That is not a reason to avoid those plans. It is a reason to price Original Medicare with a Medigap policy and a drug plan beside them before deciding.

In nine of the ten counties the only Aetna drug plan was Enhanced (PPO), and it is the one plan that disappears from the whole file. It carried the highest premium on Aetna's Utah shelf, $105 a month, and CMS counted 107 members in it across five counties in September, with four more counties under the reporting threshold. It was a small plan, and for the people in it the decision is now unavoidable.

Sources: CMS landscape files · CMS September 2026 enrollment · CMS 2027 Star Ratings data tables.

Where Aetna stays: every plan, 2026 and 2027

Premium is the monthly plan premium on top of Part B. Cap is the in-network maximum out-of-pocket for the year. The drug deductible is the Part D deductible.

Source: CMS CY2026 and CY2027 landscape files, October 11, 2026. Aetna's two Dual Special Needs Plans also continue in fewer counties: Full Dual (PPO D-SNP) in Davis, Salt Lake and Utah, and Full Dual (HMO D-SNP) in those three plus Washington and Weber, both at $0 for 2027.

If you live in Davis, Salt Lake, Utah, Washington or Weber County and your card shows one of the continuing plans, you are not losing it. Your plan ID is the same, and you stay enrolled unless you choose something else. What you received was an Annual Notice of Change, not a non-renewal notice, and three lines in it are worth reading closely:

• The cap. Signature (PPO) goes from $5,900 to $7,150, Elite from $5,500 to $6,500, Value Plus from $5,500 to $6,500, and Signature (HMO) from $5,000 to $6,350. The cap is what a bad year costs you, and it moved more than anything else.
• The drug deductible. Three of the four plans move from $615 to $700. Value Plus goes the other way, to $500, and its premium falls from $37.60 to $6.50. A lower premium beside a higher cap is a trade to weigh.
• The Star Rating. CMS published 2027 ratings on October 8. The contract behind the three PPOs is 4 stars for 2027, down from 4.5; the Signature (HMO) contract is 3.5, unchanged. Our Star Ratings post lists every Salt Lake County plan beside its rating.

Salt Lake County members who want to see those caps in context can find all 22 county plans ranked in the lowest-cap post, and St. George members will find Signature (HMO) on the Washington County shelf.

If your Aetna plan ended: three doors

It does not matter whether your plan vanished everywhere, like Enhanced (PPO), or only left your county, like the Cedar City plans. Either way federal rules require a notice by mail at least 90 calendar days before the end date (42 CFR § 422.506), and Medicare.gov states the obligation plainly: "You must look for a new plan for coverage next year." With no Aetna plan left in the county, there is nothing for you to be moved into. You choose, or on January 1 you are in Original Medicare with no drug plan.

1. Another Medicare Advantage plan in your county, chosen between October 15 and December 7 so it starts January 1 (Medicare.gov). The table above shows who still sells in each county. Check your doctors and hospital first, your prescriptions second, the cap third and the premium last. Tooele, Box Elder and Morgan have their own post with every plan listed.
2. Original Medicare with a Medigap policy and a stand-alone drug plan. Because your plan was discontinued, you can buy Medigap Plan A, B, D, G, K or L with no health questions if you return to Original Medicare, applying from 60 days before to 63 days after your coverage ends (Medicare.gov): November 1, 2026 through March 4, 2027. Medigap has no network, which matters in a county with two or three carriers. This is a separate right from Utah's birthday rule, which only helps people who already own a Medigap policy.
3. Original Medicare with a drug plan and no Medigap. The lowest monthly cost and no network, but no yearly limit on your 20% share. Price a hospital stay before you accept it.

Miss December 7 and a Special Enrollment Period still runs from December 8 through February 28 (42 CFR § 422.62), but the start date slides a month at a time. How long you have, date by date.

Eagle (PPO) members are a special case. Eagle is a medical-only plan, built for people who get prescriptions somewhere else, often the VA. It continues in Davis, Salt Lake and Utah counties and ends in ten others, and the replacement shelf for a plan without drug coverage is short. The medical-only post lists all six Utah plans of that kind for 2027.

The calendar from here

Utah is not the only state

The same comparison for Colorado, which we ran a week ago, showed Aetna's Medicare Advantage drug plans going from 33 counties to 17, again keeping the population centers and withdrawing from rural and mountain counties (the Colorado post). Other carriers redrew their Utah maps this fall as well: HealthSpring, the former Cigna Medicare business, has no Utah Medicare Advantage plan for 2027, and Regence and Select Health each pulled back to fewer counties. In southeast Utah nothing changed on this front. Grand and San Juan counties had no Aetna plan in either year.

What I would do this week

1. Read the plan number on your card, not the plan name. H5521-656 is gone everywhere. The other IDs in the table depend on your county.
2. Sort your mail. A letter saying your plan will not be offered next year is a non-renewal notice; keep it. A booklet of next year's changes is an Annual Notice of Change, and your plan continues.
3. List every doctor, your hospital, every prescription and your pharmacy. In a county with two or three carriers, the network is the comparison.
4. If Medigap interests you, get quotes now and apply on or after November 1. There is no reason to wait for December.
5. Be careful with phone calls. A plan ending draws marketing. Nobody can enroll you in a 2027 plan before October 15, and no legitimate agent needs your Medicare number to "verify" anything.

How we know all this: the Medicare On Main Data Desk frames every article with public data — here, the CMS CY2026 and CY2027 landscape files compared by Contract Plan ID on October 11, 2026, the CMS September 2026 enrollment file by contract, plan and county, the CMS 2027 Star Ratings data tables published October 8, 2026, and the federal rules and Medicare.gov pages on non-renewal notices, enrollment periods and Medigap guaranteed-issue rights. Enrollment cells under 11 are suppressed by CMS and are not in our totals. We do not know what any individual member's letter says; your letter and your plan do. Medicare On Main is a licensed independent insurance agency. We do not offer every plan available in your area. Any information we provide is limited to the plans we do offer in your area. Please contact Medicare.gov or 1-800-MEDICARE to get information on all of your options. Not connected with or endorsed by the U.S. government or the federal Medicare program. Mentioning a carrier is not an endorsement or a criticism; plan availability is a fact of the market. This is education, not advice; confirm your plan, costs and eligibility with a licensed agent or Medicare.gov.