St. George · Hurricane · Ivins · Washington County · 2027 plan year

Medicare Advantage Plans in St. George, Utah for 2027

Washington County has fewer Medicare Advantage plans for 2027, and most of them cost more to use. The county drops from 12 plans with drug coverage to 9, $0-premium plans fall from 7 to 5, and eight of the nine remaining plans raised their out-of-pocket limit. Below, each 2027 plan is listed with its 2026 numbers, along with the three plans leaving, the effect on PPO choices for retirees who travel, and the changes in Cedar City and Kanab.

Medicare On Main Data Desk

Published October 2, 2026 · 10 min read · Reviewed by Brian Penner, 22+ years in Medicare

Washington County is Utah's biggest retiree market, so these changes reach a lot of people. In June 2026, CMS's monthly count showed 48,139 people on Medicare in the county. 25,036 of them, about 52%, were in Medicare Advantage, and 23,103 were on Original Medicare, 16,488 of whom had a stand-alone drug plan. For households that split the year between Utah and another state, or see specialists in Las Vegas or Salt Lake, a plan's out-of-network rules matter a great deal. Everyone can switch plans this fall; people in the three discontinued plans must choose a new one.

A note on the numbers below: CMS released the CY2027 landscape file at the end of September and revised it September 30. Plans can advertise starting October 1 under 42 CFR § 422.2263(a). I matched each plan by its ID to the 2026 file. The 2027 file has no Star Ratings yet, so any 2027 rating you see quoted before CMS publishes them is actually last year's. Medicare On Main does not offer every plan available in your area, and this article doesn't rank the plans.

Last year, Washington County's choices were tightly bunched: twelve plans from five carriers, all with limits between $5,000 and $6,750. For 2027 there are a quarter fewer plans, and nearly every remaining plan costs more.

Nine plans, side by side with their 2026 numbers

This table shows Advantage plans that include drug coverage ("MA-PD" in CMS's file), grouped by carrier. The premium is the monthly cost for medical and drug coverage combined, and you pay it on top of Part B. MOOP is the most you'd pay in a year for in-network care. The last column is the plan's yearly drug deductible. For 2027, no plan can set it above $700, and Medicare.gov caps what you pay for covered drugs at $2,400 a year.

Source: CMS CY2027 landscape file and CY2026 landscape file, Utah, Washington County, Contract Category Type MA-PD, read October 2, 2026. Plan names are as CMS lists them. A $0 premium is not the same as no cost; you still pay the Part B premium, copays and coinsurance up to the MOOP.

Compare the 2026 and 2027 numbers in each row, not just the premiums. Humana Value Choice is the only plan that kept the same out-of-pocket limit. Select Health's HMO kept its $0 premium but raised its limit by $1,050 and its drug deductible from $300 to $700. If you take one brand-name drug, that's $400 more you'll pay before the plan starts covering it. The AARP HMO-POS, the county's only plan of that type, raised its limit by $1,500. The two HumanaChoice PPOs, already the priciest plans here, added $10 and $23 to their monthly premiums. Every drug deductible in the county is now within $15 of the federal maximum, so when comparing plans, look at the formulary instead of the deductible.

What happened to St. George's PPO options

Many St. George retirees choose a PPO so they can see doctors outside a network when they travel or spend part of the year somewhere else. Regence's exit affects this group the most. Its MedAdvantage + Rx Classic PPO was the county's only PPO from a carrier other than Humana or UnitedHealthcare. For 2027, the six PPOs are Humana's four and UnitedHealthcare's two. Regence still sells Medicare Advantage in other Utah counties, and leaving one county isn't a statement about the company. Our 2026 comparison covers where it still operates.

A PPO's in-network limit, the one in the table, isn't the whole picture. PPOs also have a higher combined limit that covers out-of-network care, and the CMS file doesn't include it. If you travel, ask for that number in writing for each PPO you're considering.

The 3 plans that end on December 31

The three plans leaving Washington County are leaving for two different reasons. Two are non-renewals, meaning they aren't in the 2027 file anywhere in the country. The third is a service-area reduction: the plan still exists elsewhere in Utah but no longer covers this county. Either way, if you were enrolled, your plan had to mail you a notice at least 90 days before December 31. The statewide post explains how to tell which type of notice you got.

Source: plans present in the CY2026 file for Washington County and absent from the CY2027 file for the county. Described from the public data; nothing here is a judgment of any company or plan.

Two of the departing plans have names similar to plans that are staying. Humana Value Choice H5216-456 is ending, but a different plan with the same name, H5216-428, continues at $0 with a $6,750 limit. Select Health Medicare + Kroger is ending, while Select Health Medicare Essential continues. Similar names don't mean similar coverage. The network, drug list and extra benefits can all be different, and your letter will tell you whether you'll be moved to a new plan automatically or need to pick one yourself. The Humana Value Choice post lists which plan ID is which.

Plans for veterans and for people with Medicaid

St. George has a large veteran population, so the plans without drug coverage matter here. For 2027 there are 4 of them, down from 5: three Humana USAA Honor Giveback PPOs with in-network limits from $5,100 to $9,150, and the AARP Medicare Advantage Patriot No Rx HMO-POS at $7,150. Regence Valiance, the fifth plan last year, is gone. These plans are for people who already get their prescriptions through the VA and don't want to pay for drug coverage twice.

Special Needs Plans went from 12 to 11. There are nine Dual Special Needs Plans for people with both Medicare and Medicaid, from Aetna, Humana, Molina, Select Health and UnitedHealthcare. UnitedHealthcare also offers one chronic-condition plan, and American Health Advantage of Utah offers one institutional plan. Molina's Complete Care Select, its second D-SNP, isn't offered for 2027. None of these plans are in the table above.

Iron and Kane counties

Cedar City's choices shrank sharply, while Kanab's grew.

Source: CMS CY2026 and CY2027 landscape files, Utah, Contract Category Type MA-PD. Medicare On Main does not offer every plan available in your area.

• Iron County dropped from 14 plans to 8. Aetna's three plans and Regence's PPO left, as did the same two Humana and Select Health non-renewals that are leaving Washington County. What's left in Cedar City is Washington County's list without the Aetna HMO, from three carriers.
• Kane County grew from 4 plans to 7 as Humana and UnitedHealthcare added plans in rural Utah. Kanab has more Advantage plans than it's had in years, though still from only two carriers.

Medigap as an alternative

If your plan is ending, you can buy a Medigap policy without answering health questions, even if you're past your first six months on Part B. This guaranteed-issue window lasts 63 days after your old coverage ends and applies to specific Medigap plan letters, so it's worth learning the details before December. Utah's birthday rule doesn't help people leaving Advantage plans. A Medigap policy needs a stand-alone Part D plan beside it for drug coverage. Utah has eight for 2027, ranging from $5.30 to $238.00 a month, and all are capped at $2,400 a year in drug costs. Because Medigap has no network, it can suit retirees who split the year between St. George and another state. See Utah's 2027 Part D plans and Medigap pricing in St. George.

What to check before choosing a plan

• Doctors. Look up Intermountain St. George Regional Hospital, the Intermountain clinics, Revere Health and any specialists in each plan's 2027 directory. Last year's directory doesn't tell you who's in network this year; our post on Utah Advantage networks explains why.
• Prescriptions. Since every plan's drug deductible is now nearly the same, the real cost difference between two $0 plans comes from the formulary, drug tiers and prior-authorization rules, none of which are in the CMS file.
• Star Ratings. We'll add the 2027 ratings when CMS publishes them in October.

Local health statistics show why out-of-pocket limits and formularies matter more than extra benefits. According to CDC PLACES, 29.2% of adults in Washington County have high blood pressure, 34.1% have obesity and 8.8% have diabetes. These conditions mean ongoing prescriptions and specialist visits, which is exactly what a $700 drug deductible and a $7,150 out-of-pocket limit apply to.

Key dates

Open enrollment runs October 15 to December 7, and any plan you choose starts January 1 (Medicare.gov). You can look up plans now in Medicare's Plan Finder. If your plan is ending, you have until the last day of February to choose a new one. If you don't, you'll be moved to Original Medicare on January 1 with no drug plan and no Medigap policy. If you're already in an Advantage plan, you can switch once between January 1 and March 31. Your Annual Notice of Change should have arrived already; here's how to read it.

Where I'd start in Washington County

If your plan is ending, look at Original Medicare with Medigap first, because the guaranteed-issue window can't be reopened once it closes, then compare the 9 Advantage plans against it. If your plan is continuing, check its row in the table. A plan whose out-of-pocket limit went up by $1,000 or more will cost you more in a bad year, even with a $0 premium, and your Annual Notice of Change will show the same numbers. If you travel or live part of the year elsewhere, find out each PPO's combined in- and out-of-network limit before anything else. After that, check your doctors and prescriptions before looking at extra benefits, and choose by December 7 so your coverage starts January 1. We help St. George households with this every October, by phone and video.

Our sources: the Medicare On Main Data Desk read the CMS CY2027 and CY2026 Medicare Advantage and Part D landscape files directly on October 2, 2026, using the rows for Washington, Iron and Kane counties. Other sources: 42 CFR § 422.2263 (via Cornell LII), Medicare.gov's pages on enrollment periods and Part D costs, the CMS Medicare Monthly Enrollment data for Washington County, and CDC PLACES 2023. 2027 Star Ratings haven't been published, so none are listed here. Plan names and figures are for information only and aren't a recommendation for or against any carrier or plan.

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.