Grand Junction · PERA retirees · The 2027 booklet is out
PERACare Moda Medicare Companion Plan vs. Plan G for 2027
On October 1 Colorado PERA posted the 2027 Medicare booklet, and with it the four numbers we told you in September to wait for: the Moda Health Medicare Companion plan costs $443 a month, the PERA subsidy still tops out at $115, a Humana Part D plan is built in, and you need Part A and Part B to take it. Here is the plan's published benefit list set beside a standardized Medigap Plan G, line by line, for a Mesa County retiree deciding between October 19 and November 19.
The bottom line
- $443 a month, $328 after the full subsidy. That is the Moda Medicare Companion premium for one retiree with 20 or more years of PERA service, drug plan included. With a Medicare-eligible spouse it is $886 before the subsidy.
- Medically, it reads like Plan G. Part A deductible paid, Part B 20% paid after you meet the Part B deductible ($283 in 2026), any provider that takes Medicare, no network, nationwide.
- Three places it is not Plan G. It includes a Humana Part D plan ($300 deductible, $2,400 cap). The booklet does not mention Part B excess charges, which Plan G covers. And it is a group plan PERA re-contracts each year, not a policy you own.
- No health questions, Part A and B required. That is the door that did not exist last year for a PERA retiree who has been on Advantage and could not pass Colorado underwriting. Part B-only retirees cannot take it.
- Enrollment is not automatic. UnitedHealthcare members roll to Humana unless they act. The Moda plan takes a form, October 19 to November 19, for a January 1 start.
Medicare On Main is not affiliated with Colorado PERA and does not sell PERACare plans. We write about them because a large share of the retirees who sit down with us in Grand Junction, Fruita and Palisade spent a career with a school district, a county or the state, and the PERACare packet and the individual-market mailers land in the same week. In September we laid out what PERA had announced and listed the four things the October booklet had to answer: how prescriptions work under the Moda plan, whether Part A is required, what the subsidy does to the premium, and where "similar to Plan G" stops being similar. The 2027 Medicare booklet went up October 1. It answers all four.
One frame before the numbers. Mesa County had 41,709 people on Medicare in June 2026, and 22,554 of them were on Original Medicare rather than an Advantage plan, per the CMS enrollment file. Most of those people pair Original Medicare with a Medigap policy. The Moda plan is PERA's first offer to its retirees of that same arrangement, with the subsidy attached, and that is why it deserves a careful comparison rather than a glance at the premium.
What PERA published on October 1: the 2027 premiums
Monthly premiums from page 17 of the booklet, for retirees with both Part A and Part B. The net column subtracts the maximum PERA health care subsidy of $115, which applies at 20 or more years of service credit and drops $5.75 for each year below that (ten years of service is $57.50). The subsidy applies to the health plan only, never to PERACare dental or vision.
| 2027 PERACare Medicare plan | What it is | Retiree only | Retiree + spouse | Retiree only, after $115 subsidy |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Humana Medicare Advantage PPO, MA #1 | Group Medicare Advantage PPO (drug plan included) | $370 | $740 | $255 |
| Humana Medicare Advantage PPO, MA #2 | Group Medicare Advantage PPO (drug plan included) | $184 | $368 | $69 |
| Kaiser Permanente Senior Advantage HMO | Group Medicare Advantage HMO, Kaiser Colorado service area | $182 | $364 | $67 |
| Moda Health Medicare Companion | Group plan alongside Original Medicare, Humana drug plan included | $443 | $886 | $328 |
Source: PERACare 2027 Medicare booklet, pp. 16–17. Every PERACare Medicare plan also requires you to keep paying the Part B premium to Social Security ($202.90 in 2026; the 2027 amount has not been announced). Retirees under the Denver Public Schools benefit structure without Part A have a separate, higher premium table and a $230 maximum subsidy, and the Moda plan is not offered to them.
Two things jump out. The Moda plan is the most expensive line on the page, $73 a month more than the richer Humana PPO, which has a $2,000 out-of-pocket cap and no drug deductible. And the subsidy does the same $115 of work on every line, so it does not change the ranking, only the level. For a full-career retiree the Moda plan is $328 a month, $3,936 a year, with drugs included. For a ten-year retiree it is $385.5.
Benefit by benefit: the Moda Medicare Companion plan beside Plan G
The left column is what the booklet says, in the booklet's words where it matters. The right column is a standardized Medigap Plan G as Medicare.gov's plan-benefit chart and the 2026 Medigap guide define it; every insurer's Plan G in Colorado has to pay these same benefits, which is what makes the comparison fair.
| Benefit | PERACare Moda Medicare Companion (2027 booklet) | Individual Medigap Plan G (standardized) |
|---|---|---|
| Part A hospital deductible | Covered in full | Covered in full ($1,736 per benefit period in 2026) |
| Part B deductible | You pay it ($283 in 2026; 2027 figure not yet published) | You pay it (same $283) |
| Part B 20% coinsurance (doctors, outpatient, labs, imaging, therapy, Part B drugs) | Covered in full after the Part B deductible | Covered in full after the Part B deductible |
| Part B excess charges (a doctor who does not accept assignment bills up to 15% more) | Not mentioned in the 2027 booklet. Ask Moda in writing before you rely on it. | Covered |
| Hospital stay | Covered in full | Covered: Part A coinsurance plus 365 extra lifetime days |
| Skilled nursing facility | Covered in full at a Medicare-certified facility, up to 100 days per benefit period | Covers the day 21–100 coinsurance; Medicare pays days 1–20 in full |
| Emergency room, urgent care, ambulance | Covered in full | Covered after the Part B deductible |
| Emergency care outside the U.S. | 80%, up to $50,000 per member lifetime; you file the claim | 80% of emergency care, up to the plan's limits |
| Which doctors and hospitals | Any licensed Medicare provider, all 50 states; no network | Any provider that accepts Medicare, nationwide; no network |
| Prescription drugs | Included: Humana Part D plan, $300 deductible, $2,400 yearly cap, $15 / $45 / $60 retail copays | Not included. You add a stand-alone Part D plan (Colorado has 8 for 2027, $5.30 to $260.20 a month) |
| Health questions to get in | None at PERACare Open Enrollment | None in your 6-month Medigap Open Enrollment or with a guaranteed-issue right; otherwise Colorado insurers can underwrite and decline |
| Routine chiropractic, dental, vision, hearing | Routine chiropractic not covered; gym benefit, nurse line and coaching included; PERACare dental and vision are separate premiums | Not covered; some insurers add discount programs |
| Medicare Star Rating | None. Medicare does not rate companion or supplement plans | None |
| Who sets next year's price | PERA and Moda, under a group contract renewed each year, one rate for every age | The insurer, under a filed rate that typically rises with your age and medical inflation |
| If the plan ends or you leave it | PERA says you can re-enroll in a future Open Enrollment and keep the subsidy. If a retiree group plan ends, Medicare gives you a 63-day guaranteed-issue right to Plan A, B, D or G | Guaranteed renewable for life as long as you pay the premium |
Sources: PERACare 2027 Medicare booklet, pp. 3, 5–6, 12–13, 17; Medicare.gov Medigap benefit chart; CMS Product No. 02110; Medicare.gov 2026 costs; CMS CY2027 landscape file for the Colorado Part D count. Plan G premiums vary by insurer, age and tobacco use and are not quoted here.
The four September questions, answered
1. Prescriptions
Answered, and better than we expected. Plan G never includes drugs; a Mesa County retiree on Plan G buys one of Colorado's 8 stand-alone Part D plans for 2027, which run $5.30 to $260.20 a month depending on the formulary. The Moda plan comes with a Humana Part D plan built in: a $300 deductible, the federal $2,400 cap on what you pay for covered drugs in 2027, retail copays of $15, $45 and $60 by tier for a 30-day supply, double that for a 100-day mail-order supply through CenterWell, and a $75 specialty copay. It is the same formulary and the same drug plan that the Humana MA #2 enrollees get. So the honest premium comparison is Moda at $328 net against Plan G plus a drug plan, and the drug half of that is where a Plan G buyer's price swings most.
Two cautions. A $300 deductible is less than half the $700 maximum Medicare allows for 2027, but it is a deductible, and it applies to every tier; there is no "generics skip the deductible" line in the booklet. And a drug list is a drug list: before you pick the Moda plan for its convenience, run your prescriptions through the Humana PERACare formulary on PERA's carriers page, exactly as you would for any other plan.
2. Part A
Answered: you need both. "To enroll in the Medicare Companion plan, you must be enrolled in both Medicare Part A and Part B," and the premium page says the plan "is not available to retirees who are enrolled in Medicare Part B only." The PERACare Advantage plans remain open to Part B-only retirees, which is why the booklet carries a separate, higher premium table for Denver Public Schools retirees without Part A. If you are a long-career PERA retiree who never earned premium-free Part A, the Moda door is closed to you unless you buy Part A, and that is a different conversation; our July post walks through the Part A question for PERA retirees and what the Social Security Fairness Act changed.
3. The subsidy
Answered: it applies in full. Nothing in the booklet carves the Moda plan out of the subsidy chart. $115 at 20 or more years of service credit, down to $5.75 at one year, deducted from the gross premium before PERA takes the balance from your monthly benefit. The subsidy is also the main reason an individual plan is not an automatic win on price: leaving PERACare forfeits it for as long as you are out.
4. Where "similar to Plan G" stops
Mostly answered, with one gap. The published medical benefits track Plan G closely: Part A deductible paid in full, Part B services paid in full after the Part B deductible, hospital and skilled nursing covered, no network, any licensed Medicare provider in any state. The international benefit is 80% up to $50,000 per member for life, filed by you and reimbursed by Moda, which is the same shape as Plan G's foreign travel benefit. Routine chiropractic is excluded, as it is in Plan G. The gap is Part B excess charges. Plan G pays the up-to-15% a non-participating doctor can bill above the Medicare-approved amount; the Moda booklet does not say whether the Companion plan does. Most Western Slope physicians accept assignment, so the dollars are usually small, but "usually" is not "always," and this is a question to put to Moda's PERACare line in writing before you enroll, not after.
PERA booklet on one side of the table, Plan G quotes on the other?
Bring both to our Grand Junction office, or call. We will put the Moda plan's benefit page next to an individual Plan G and a 2027 drug plan, run your prescriptions through each, and show you the net monthly and worst-year numbers. We do not sell PERACare and have no stake in which door you take. Free, no pressure, nothing to sign.
Book a PERACare comparison →What a group plan is, and is not
This is the part the booklet cannot say for itself. A Medigap Plan G is a standardized, individually owned, guaranteed-renewable policy: the insurer cannot cancel it or change its benefits as long as you pay, and the benefit list is set in federal and Colorado law. The Moda Medicare Companion plan is an employer-group retiree plan under a contract between PERA and Moda. Its benefits and premium are whatever that contract says for the year, and PERA re-decides every year. 2027 is itself the proof: PERA replaced UnitedHealthcare with Humana and added Moda in a single cycle. That is not a criticism; group plans are supposed to work that way, and it is how PERA keeps the subsidy attached. But it means the right comparison is not "Moda versus Plan G forever." It is "Moda this year, with the understanding that I will read a new booklet every October."
Three protections soften that. First, PERA's own rule: "if you leave PERACare for an individual Medicare plan, you can reenroll during a future open enrollment and still be eligible for your monthly PERA health care subsidy." Second, Medicare's rule, from the 2026 Medigap guide: if "you have Original Medicare and an employer group health plan (including retiree, COBRA, or union coverage) that pays after Medicare pays, and that plan is ending," you have a guaranteed-issue right to buy Plan A, B, D or G from any insurer selling it in Colorado, with no health questions, for 63 days after the coverage ends. So if PERA ever drops the Moda plan, the individual Plan G door opens without underwriting. Third, the group rate is one price for every age, which for a 78-year-old is often a better deal than an attained-age Plan G rate and for a 65-year-old often is not. Leaving the Moda plan voluntarily, by contrast, triggers no guaranteed-issue right; an individual Medigap application then goes through Colorado underwriting.
One more rule from page 5, because it bites: "If you enroll in a PERACare Medicare plan, do not enroll in any other Medicare plan, including a Medicare Advantage plan, Medicare Supplement plan, or standalone Medicare Part D prescription drug plan. Medicare will notify PERA of the additional enrollment, and your PERACare Medicare coverage will be canceled." A retiree who takes the Moda plan and, in a moment of caution, also buys a stand-alone Part D plan has just cancelled the Moda plan.
Where the Humana and Kaiser plans fit
The Moda plan is new, but for most PERA retirees the live decision is still Moda versus the Humana PPO they are being moved into. Humana MA #1 is $370 ($255 net) with a $2,000 in-network out-of-pocket cap and no drug deductible; MA #2 is $184 ($69 net) with a $3,500 cap and the same $300 drug deductible as Moda. The booklet says both PPOs charge the same cost share whether a provider is in Humana's network or simply participates in Medicare and accepts the plan, which is the group-PPO feature that makes St. Mary's, Community Hospital and Family Health West a directory check rather than a deal-breaker. Check them anyway, for 2027, on the Humana PERACare microsite linked from PERA's carriers page; how to do that properly. Kaiser's HMO is $182 with a $3,000 cap, built around Kaiser's Colorado medical offices, so confirm your ZIP is inside its service area before you count it.
The individual market is the other reference point. Mesa County's 2027 shelf has 10 Advantage drug plans, 8 at $0, with in-network caps of $4,900 to $9,850; every one is listed here. A PERA retiree weighing a $0 individual plan against Humana MA #1 at $255 net is really buying a $2,900-to-$7,850 lower worst-year cap for $3,060 a year. That arithmetic deserves its own post, and it will get one once the Humana PERACare directory is live.
Who the Moda plan is built for
- The PERA retiree who has been on Advantage since 65 and could not pass underwriting now. This is the headline case. Colorado has no Medigap birthday rule and no annual Medigap open enrollment, so a stent, a joint replacement or a drifting A1c has effectively locked people into Advantage. The Moda plan is Original Medicare plus a Plan G-shaped benefit with no health questions, inside PERACare, subsidy attached.
- The couple who winters in Arizona or sees specialists in Denver or Salt Lake. Any licensed Medicare provider, every state, no network, no prior authorization from a plan. The Humana PPO's "same cost in or out of network" feature narrows this gap, but it does not close it.
- The retiree who already has an individual Plan G and is happy. Probably not for you, unless your Plan G premium plus your drug plan now exceeds $328 and you are willing to trade a policy you own for a group plan PERA renews yearly. Run the numbers; do not switch on instinct. And remember the page-5 rule: you cannot hold both.
- The Part B-only retiree. Not eligible. The Humana plans are your PERACare options.
Mesa County's health profile is the reason the "any provider, no network" column matters more than the extras: per CDC PLACES, 26.6% of adults here live with high blood pressure, 29.8% with obesity and 8.1% with diabetes, conditions that mean specialists, imaging and prescriptions every year, not just in a bad one.
The calendar, on two clocks
- Now: the 2027 booklet, premiums and enrollment forms are on PERA's Open Enrollment page; the Humana and Moda directories and formularies are reachable from the carriers page. Mailed packets reach current enrollees in early October.
- October 15 to December 7: Medicare's own Annual Enrollment Period, the window for an individual Advantage or Part D plan if you decide to leave PERACare.
- October 19 to November 19: PERACare Open Enrollment. The Moda plan requires the 2027 Medicare enrollment/change form, signed before January 1 and no more than 90 days ahead. Doing nothing as a UnitedHealthcare member means Humana on January 1.
- By the 15th of the month: if you are leaving PERACare, PERA must receive the cancellation by the 15th for coverage to end that month.
- January 1, 2027: every choice above takes effect.
What I would do
If you are a PERA retiree on an Advantage plan who has wanted Original Medicare and a Supplement and been told no, take the Moda plan seriously: get the excess-charge answer from Moda in writing, run your prescriptions through the Humana PERACare formulary, confirm your service years and subsidy, and compare $328 a month to what you would actually pay for an individual Plan G plus a drug plan at your age. If you are happy on Advantage and your doctors are in the Humana PERACare directory, Humana MA #1 at $255 net with a $2,000 cap is a strong group plan and the comparison to make is against the individual shelf, not against Moda. Either way, read the 2027 booklet yourself, and plan on reading a new one next October. We do this at our Grand Junction office every fall, and by phone anywhere on the Western Slope. Not affiliated with PERA; we just know the booklet.
How we know all this: the Medicare On Main Data Desk frames every article with public data — here, Colorado PERA's 2027 Medicare Coverage booklet (posted October 1, 2026), PERACare Open Enrollment 2027 page, 2027 changes newsletter and carriers page, read October 2, 2026; Medicare.gov's Medigap benefit chart and CMS Product No. 02110 (March 2026) for Plan G and the guaranteed-issue rule; Medicare.gov's 2026 cost and 2027 Part D cost pages; the CMS CY2027 landscape file for Colorado Part D and Mesa County Advantage counts; the CMS Medicare Monthly Enrollment file for Mesa County; and CDC PLACES for Mesa County health prevalence. 2027 Part B premium and deductible are not yet published and none is stated. Medicare On Main is a licensed independent insurance agency. We are not affiliated with Colorado PERA, Moda Health, Humana or Kaiser Permanente and do not sell PERACare plans. 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. Plan names, premiums and benefits are reproduced from PERA's booklet for information; nothing here is a recommendation of, or a judgment about, any company or plan.
Frequently asked questions
How much is PERACare for Medicare retirees in 2027?
From PERA's 2027 Medicare booklet, before the subsidy: Humana Medicare Advantage MA #1 $370 a month, Humana MA #2 $184, Kaiser Permanente Senior Advantage HMO $182, and the new Moda Health Medicare Companion plan $443 ($886 with a Medicare-eligible spouse). The PERA health care subsidy is $115 a month at 20 or more years of service credit, so the Moda plan nets to $328 for a full-career retiree. You also keep paying the Medicare Part B premium, $202.90 in 2026, to Social Security.
Is the PERACare Moda Medicare Companion plan a Medicare Supplement?
Not technically. It is an employer-group retiree plan that PERA describes as working alongside Original Medicare "similar to a Medicare Supplement (Medigap) Plan G." It pays the Part A deductible and the Part B 20% after you meet the Part B deductible, it has no network, and it is not rated by Medicare. Because it is a group plan rather than a standardized Medigap policy, its benefits are whatever the PERA contract says each year, and that is why the Part B excess charge question is worth asking before you enroll.
Does the Moda Medicare Companion plan include prescription drug coverage?
Yes. Everyone on the Moda plan is also enrolled in a Humana stand-alone Part D plan with a $300 deductible, the $2,400 2027 out-of-pocket cap, and $15 / $45 / $60 retail copays for a 30-day supply. An individual Plan G never includes drugs; you buy a separate Part D plan. That difference is a large part of why the Moda premium looks higher than a Plan G quote.
What is the difference between Plan G and the PERACare Moda plan?
On the medical side the two line up closely: both leave you the Part B deductible and pay almost everything else Original Medicare does not. The differences are the drug plan (Moda includes one, Plan G does not), the price mechanism (one group rate for every age versus an individual rate that rises with age), the Part B excess charge (covered by Plan G, not mentioned in the Moda booklet), the way you qualify (no health questions at PERACare Open Enrollment versus Colorado underwriting outside a protected window), and who controls the plan's future (PERA's annual contract versus a policy that is yours for life).
Can I switch from PERACare to an individual Medigap plan?
You can leave PERACare at any time, and PERA's booklet says you can re-enroll at a future Open Enrollment with your subsidy intact. Getting an individual Plan G is the harder direction in Colorado, because outside your first six months on Part B an insurer can ask health questions and decline you. The exception is a guaranteed-issue right, and Medicare's rules give you one, for Plans A, B, D and G, within 63 days of a retiree group plan ending. Leaving the plan voluntarily does not trigger that right.
Do I have to do anything if I am on PERACare's UnitedHealthcare plan?
Only if you want something other than Humana. PERA will move 2026 UnitedHealthcare enrollees into the corresponding Humana Medicare Advantage plan on January 1 "unless you make another choice during open enrollment." Choosing the Moda plan requires a 2027 enrollment form between October 19 and November 19. Choosing an individual plan instead means enrolling on Medicare's own calendar, October 15 to December 7, and telling PERA to cancel by the 15th of the month.
Sources
- Colorado PERA — PERACare 2027 Health Benefits Program, Medicare Coverage (booklet, posted October 1, 2026) — 2027 premiums (Humana $370 / $184, Kaiser $182, Moda $443 / $886), the $115 subsidy chart, every Moda benefit line, the Part A and B requirement, the no-underwriting language, the re-enrollment rule and the "do not enroll in any other Medicare plan" rule.
- Colorado PERA — PERACare Open Enrollment 2027 — October 19 – November 19, 2026; January 1 effective date; UnitedHealthcare enrollees move to Humana unless they choose otherwise.
- Colorado PERA — PERACare Changes for 2027 (newsletter) — the September announcement this post follows up.
- Colorado PERA — PERACare Carriers (2027 directories and formularies) — where the 2027 Humana and Moda directories and formularies live.
- Moda Health — PERACare Medicare Companion plan microsite — Moda's own description of the plan.
- Medicare.gov — Compare Medigap plan benefits — the standardized Plan G column.
- Medicare.gov — Choosing a Medigap Policy, CMS Product No. 02110 (March 2026) — Plan G benefits; the 63-day guaranteed-issue right when a retiree group plan ends.
- Medicare.gov — Medicare costs (2026 Part A and Part B figures) — Part B premium $202.90, Part B deductible $283, Part A deductible $1,736.
- Medicare.gov — Costs for Medicare drug coverage — 2027 Part D deductible cap $700; out-of-pocket cap $2,400.
- CMS — CY2027 Medicare Advantage and Part D Landscape file (September 2026 release) — Colorado's 8 stand-alone Part D plans ($5.30–$260.20); Mesa County's 10 Advantage drug plans.
- CMS Medicare Monthly Enrollment (data.cms.gov) — Mesa County, CO, June 2026 — 41,709 beneficiaries, 22,554 in Original Medicare.
- CDC PLACES: Local Data for Better Health, County 2023 — Mesa County high blood pressure, obesity and diabetes prevalence.
