Newsroom · Central and southern Utah

Is Select Health Leaving Sanpete and Sevier County in 2027?

Select Health has told Utah providers that its Medicare Advantage plans will no longer be sold in Sanpete, Sevier, Piute, Wayne and Morgan counties from January 1, 2027. Member letters went out the first week of October. Here is what the carrier said, what the CMS file shows is left in each county, and what the letter opens for the 2,418 people it reached.

Medicare On Main Data Desk

Published October 8, 2026 · 9 min read · Reviewed by Brian Penner

If you live in Richfield, Manti, Ephraim, Loa or Morgan and you are on Select Health Medicare, the answer is yes, and the letter in your mailbox is real. This is a different situation from the one we wrote about last week, when Select Health's + Kroger plan disappeared and some members were quietly moved into the Essential plan. In these five counties there is nothing to be moved into. The plan is leaving the county, the county is losing its only Select Health option, and every member there has a decision to make before December 7. The rest of this article is the carrier's own words, the CMS file county by county, and the calendar. Carrier names are factual reporting; nothing here is a judgment of Select Health or a recommendation of anyone else.

What Select Health said

The announcement is on Select Health's provider site, in a news item titled "2027 Medicare Advantage Service Area Changes" (selecthealth.org). It is written for doctors and clinics, which is why it is plainer than a marketing page. The key sentences, quoted:

• "Beginning January 1, 2027, Select Health will make Medicare Advantage service area changes in several Utah counties. Notices will be mailed to impacted members the first week of October with information about coverage options for 2027."
• "Select Health Medicare plans will no longer be sold in the following Utah counties effective January 1, 2027: Piute, Morgan, Richfield, Sanpete, Sevier, Wayne." Richfield is a city, the seat of Sevier County; the list names it twice over, once as the town and once as its county.
• "These changes apply to plan availability, not provider participation. Providers and facilities serving Medicare Advantage members may continue caring for Select Health Medicare patients. Select Health is not terminating Medicare Advantage provider contracts in these counties, nor are we exiting the Medicare Advantage market."
• Plans "that will remain in Utah for members include": "Northern region Essential plans," "D-SNP plans," "Veterans Plan [MA only]," and "Southern region Essential plan," with the footnote "Not all plans are available in every county."
• Members with questions are pointed to "their licensed insurance agent, if they have one," or Select Health Member Services at 800-538-5038.

Read the provider sentence carefully, because it answers a question many members will ask the wrong way. A Richfield clinic that takes Select Health today can keep seeing Select Health patients, but that does not help a Richfield resident, because the plan will not be sold to anyone who lives in Sevier County. Provider participation and plan availability are different things, and only the second one matters to your January 1.

What the CMS file shows

The CY2027 landscape file (data as of September 22, 2026) says the same thing in plan IDs. The plan sold in Sanpete, Sevier, Piute and Wayne in 2026 was Select Health Medicare Essential (HMO), H1994-017, the carrier's "southern region" plan, at $0 with a $5,700 in-network cap and a $300 drug deductible. For 2027 that plan is listed in Iron and Washington counties only, at $0 with a $6,750 cap and a $700 drug deductible. Morgan County was served by the northern Essential plan (H1994-001) and by + Kroger (H1994-022); the first drops Morgan for 2027, the second is gone everywhere. The Dual Special Needs Plan was never sold in these five counties, and the Veterans plan is a Wasatch Front plan. Net: Select Health has no 2027 Medicare Advantage row of any kind in Morgan, Piute, Sanpete, Sevier or Wayne.

Sources: CMS CY2027 Medicare Advantage / Part D Landscape compared against the CY2026 file by Contract Plan ID on October 8, 2026 (general MA-PD rows; Special Needs Plans and medical-only plans counted separately); CMS Monthly Enrollment by Contract/Plan/State/County, September 2026, contract H1994 by county. Overall Star Ratings for 2027 are blank in the file until CMS publishes them in October.

Sanpete and Sevier: five UnitedHealthcare plans

Sanpete and Sevier had six general Medicare Advantage drug plans in 2026 from two carriers, Select Health and UnitedHealthcare. For 2027 they have five, all UnitedHealthcare, and the same five in both counties. From the file, with 2027 figures:

Source: CMS CY2027 landscape file, Sanpete and Sevier County rows. Premium is the consolidated Part C + D premium; everyone also pays the Part B premium. A sixth UnitedHealthcare plan, AARP Medicare Advantage Patriot No Rx UT-MA01 (HMO-POS), is medical-only with a $7,150 cap. Listing a plan is not a recommendation; we do not offer every plan available in your area.

Two things to notice. The lowest caps on the shelf, $4,900, are lower than the $5,700 you had on Essential, but they come with HMO-POS network rules and, on one of them, a $49 premium. And every drug deductible here is $685 or $215 against the $300 you had in 2026; Medicare.gov puts the 2027 federal limit at $700, and most 2027 plans in rural Utah sit near it. Whether your pharmacy in Richfield, Ephraim or Mt. Pleasant is a preferred pharmacy on the plan you pick is not in the file; here is how to check. Whether your doctors and the hospital you use are in a given plan's 2027 network is a directory question, not a file question, and it is the first thing to check, not the last.

Piute: three Humana plans

Source: CMS CY2027 landscape file, Piute County rows. Three Humana USAA Honor Giveback (PPO) plans are also sold in Piute; they are medical-only, with caps of $5,100 to $9,150. Factual reporting, not a recommendation.

All three are PPOs, which matters in a county the size of Piute: a PPO lets you see out-of-network providers at a higher cost, which is often how a Junction or Circleville resident reaches a specialist in Richfield or Cedar City. Confirm that in the plan's Evidence of Coverage, not from the plan type alone.

Wayne: no general Advantage plan for 2027

This is the county where the change bites hardest. Wayne County had exactly one general Medicare Advantage drug plan in 2026, Select Health Medicare Essential, with 158 members in September. For 2027 the file shows none. What remains are four Dual Special Needs Plans, which only people who have both Medicare and Medicaid can join:

Source: CMS CY2027 landscape file, Wayne County rows. There is no medical-only or chronic-condition plan in Wayne for 2027 either. Whether a given plan has a network in Loa or Bicknell is a directory question.

For a Wayne County member who does not have Medicaid, the honest statement is that Medicare Advantage is not on the 2027 shelf where you live. That turns the Medigap door below from an option into the main road: Original Medicare, a Medigap policy bought in the guaranteed-issue window, and one of Utah's eight stand-alone drug plans (listed here). Original Medicare has no network, which in a county with one clinic and long drives is not a small thing. Our Wayne County reference page carries the file rows.

Morgan: twelve plans from three carriers, and a lot of turnover

Morgan is the opposite picture: a Wasatch-adjacent county with a big shelf that shrank. Eighteen general Medicare Advantage drug plans from seven carriers in 2026 become twelve from three (UnitedHealthcare 5, Humana 4, Devoted Health 3). Select Health's 229 Morgan members were split between Essential (154) and + Kroger (75), and both plans are gone from the county. Also gone from Morgan for 2027, per the file:

• Select Health Medicare Essential (HMO) H1994-001 and Select Health Medicare + Kroger (HMO) H1994-022
• HealthSpring Premier (HMO-POS) H0439-024 and HealthSpring True Choice (PPO) H7849-029
• Regence MedAdvantage + Rx Classic (PPO) H4605-002 and Enhanced (PPO) H4605-004
• Humana Value Choice H5216-456 (PPO) — re-issued for 2027 as H5216-471 at $0 with a $5,000 cap, a new plan number
• Aetna Medicare Enhanced (PPO) H5521-656; also the medical-only Aetna Medicare Eagle (PPO) and Regence Valiance (PPO)

Two plans arrived: Devoted Choice Giveback Extras 014 UT (PPO) at $0 with an $8,000 cap, and Humana Value Choice (PPO) H5216-471 at $0 with a $5,000 cap. The Humana one deserves a careful read if you were on the old Value Choice: a new plan number is a non-renewal by default, not a crosswalk, and this post explains how to tell from your letter. The HealthSpring exit is covered in our Cigna/HealthSpring post, and the full Morgan list is on the Morgan County reference page.

Why there is no crosswalk this time

When the + Kroger plan ended, Select Health could move members into its Essential plan under the same contract in counties where Essential was still sold, and some members got an Annual Notice of Change saying exactly that. A crosswalk needs a destination plan in your county. In Sanpete, Sevier, Piute, Wayne and Morgan there is none, so every Select Health member there gets the other letter: the notice that the plan is leaving the area, which federal rules require by mail at least 90 days before the plan ends (42 CFR § 422.506) and which Medicare.gov describes as the notice that you need to choose new coverage (Medicare.gov). Keep it. It is your proof for the Medigap window, and it should list the enrollment periods below. If you have not received it by mid-October, call Select Health at 800-538-5038 and ask for a copy.

Your three doors

1. Another Medicare Advantage plan sold in your county, chosen during the October 15 – December 7 Annual Enrollment Period so it starts January 1 (Medicare.gov). Doctors and hospital first, drug list and pharmacy second, cap third, premium last. In Sanpete and Sevier that is a UnitedHealthcare decision; in Piute a Humana decision; in Morgan a comparison among three carriers; in Wayne this door is closed unless you have Medicaid.
2. Original Medicare plus a Medigap policy plus a stand-alone drug plan. Per Medicare.gov, when your plan leaves Medicare or stops giving care in your area and you return to Original Medicare, you may buy Medigap Plan A, B, D, G, K or L with no health questions, applying as early as 60 days before and no later than 63 days after your coverage ends — November 1, 2026 through March 4, 2027. Plans C and F are limited to people who were Medicare-eligible before 2020. No network, so the Richfield hospital, the Cedar City specialist and the Provo surgeon are all on the same footing. Utah's birthday rule is a separate right for people who already hold a Medigap policy; it is not what opens this window.
3. Original Medicare plus a drug plan, no Medigap. Lowest premium, no network, but no annual cap on your 20% share. Price it before you accept it.

Miss December 7 and a plan that left your area still gives you a Special Enrollment Period from December 8 through February 28 (42 CFR § 422.62), but a plan chosen in January starts February 1 and one chosen in February starts March 1, each a month in Original Medicare with no drug plan and no cap. The three clocks are laid out here. Treat the SEP as a net, not a plan.

The calendar from here

What I would do this week

1. Find the letter and read the county line. If you live in one of the five counties, it is a service-area notice, not an Annual Notice of Change, and nothing happens automatically.
2. Write down every doctor, the hospital you would actually drive to, every prescription and your pharmacy. That list is the comparison; the tables above are only the frame.
3. Wayne County, or anyone leaning toward Medigap: the window opens November 1. Quotes can be gathered now; nobody needs to be rushed before November and nobody should wait for March.
4. Sanpete, Sevier, Piute, Morgan: check the 2027 directory of any plan you are considering for your clinic and hospital by name before October 15, so the enrollment window is spent choosing, not searching.
5. Ignore the phone calls. A plan leaving a county is a magnet for marketing. No legitimate agent needs your Medicare number to "verify" anything, and nobody can enroll you in a 2027 plan before October 15. Medicare does not call you at home.

How we know all this: the Medicare On Main Data Desk frames every article with public data — here, Select Health's own provider news item on its 2027 service-area changes, the CMS CY2026 and CY2027 landscape files compared by Contract Plan ID on October 8, 2026, CMS's September 2026 county enrollment file, and the federal rules and Medicare.gov pages on non-renewal notices, enrollment periods and Medigap guaranteed-issue rights. We have not seen the member letter itself; its exact wording is Select Health's. Mentioning a carrier is factual reporting, not endorsement or criticism; plan availability is a fact of the market and "the plan is leaving the county" is a description, not a judgment. This is education, not advice; confirm your plan, costs and eligibility with a licensed agent or Medicare.gov. We take no payment from any carrier to feature a plan.