Newsroom · Salt Lake County and the Wasatch Front

Is Select Health Medicare + Kroger Going Away in 2027?

The co-branded $0 plan sold in nine Utah counties is not in the CMS 2027 file. What that means depends on one thing: whether Select Health moved you into its Essential plan or sent you a non-renewal letter. Here is how to tell, and what each letter opens.

Medicare On Main Data Desk

Published October 3, 2026 · 9 min read · Reviewed by Brian Penner

Yes, the + Kroger plan is going away. That is the easy half of the answer. The harder half is that two neighbors on the same plan can open two different letters this week, and the letters put them on completely different paths. One was quietly moved into a sister plan and needs to check a deductible. The other was handed back to Original Medicare and needs to make a decision by December 7. Both letters come from the same company about the same plan. So before anything else, this article shows you how to tell which one you got, and then what each one means in your county.

What the + Kroger plan was

Select Health, the Intermountain Health insurance arm, announced a co-branding arrangement with Kroger Health in August 2023, for Medicare Advantage plans "effective January 1, 2024" in select counties of Colorado, Idaho, Nevada and Utah. The release named Kroger's grocery banners in those states — Smith's, King Soopers, City Market and Fred Meyer — and described the plans as offering "customer savings on groceries and prescription medications" (Select Health newsroom). In Utah, that meant a Smith's-flavored HMO alongside the carrier's existing Essential plan.

In the CMS CY2026 landscape file, the Utah version is Select Health Medicare + Kroger (HMO), contract-plan ID H1994-022: $0 monthly premium, $6,325 in-network maximum out-of-pocket, a $200 Part D deductible and a 4.5-star overall rating, sold in 9 counties. Three plan years is a short run; plans entering and leaving each fall is a normal feature of this market, and nothing here is a judgment of Select Health or Kroger. The Colorado twin, H1994-034, is also absent from the 2027 file — the Montrose and Delta post covers that side.

What the 2027 file shows for Select Health in Utah

Source: CMS CY2027 Medicare Advantage / Part D Landscape, compared against the CY2026 file by Contract Plan ID (October 1, 2026). Overall Star Ratings for 2027 are blank in the file until CMS publishes them in October. Premiums shown are the consolidated Part C + D premium; everyone also pays the Part B premium.

Two things in that table matter more than the headline. First, the Essential plan that continues along the Wasatch Front keeps its $0 premium and $5,500 cap, which is actually lower than the + Kroger cap of $6,325 — but its Part D deductible jumps from $200 to $700, the 2027 federal maximum. Someone on three or four brand-name drugs feels that in January. Second, the southern Essential plan's cap rises from $5,700 to $6,750, so a St. George or Cedar City member comparing it to the old + Kroger plan is looking at a higher ceiling, not a lower one.

Crosswalk or non-renewal? Read your letter

Federal regulation defines a crosswalk as "the movement of enrollees from one plan … to another plan … under a contract between the MA organization and CMS," and says crosswalks "are prohibited between different contracts or different plan types (for example, HMO to PPO)" (42 CFR § 422.530). The + Kroger plan and both Essential plans are HMOs under the same H1994 contract, so moving + Kroger members into Essential is the kind of consolidation the rule allows — in the counties where Essential is sold for 2027. The same rule says that where a carrier offers another plan in a place it is leaving, the affected members "must be disenrolled and the MA organization must send a non-renewal notice that includes notification of a special enrollment period … and, for applicable enrollees, Medigap guaranteed issue rights."

The public file cannot tell you which happened to you; it only shows the plan is gone. Your mail can:

• Your Annual Notice of Change (due by September 30) says you will be in Select Health Medicare Essential on January 1, 2027. You were crosswalked. You are not losing coverage, you were not returned to Original Medicare, and you do not get the discontinued-plan Special Enrollment Period or the Medigap guaranteed-issue right described below. What you do get is a new deductible and possibly a new cap to check, plus the ordinary October 15 – December 7 window to pick something else if Essential is not the right fit (Medicare.gov on the ANOC).
• You received a separate notice, dated around October 2, saying your plan will not be offered in 2027. You were not crosswalked. Federal rules require that letter by mail at least 90 days before the plan ends (42 CFR § 422.506), and Medicare.gov describes it as the notice that you need to choose new coverage (Medicare.gov). If you do nothing, you are in Original Medicare on January 1 with no drug plan and no out-of-pocket cap. Keep this letter; it is your proof for the Medigap door.

Morgan County members almost certainly fall in the second group, because Select Health has no 2027 Medicare Advantage plan there at all. Members in the other eight counties could be in either group. If you have both letters and they seem to contradict each other, call the number on your card and ask one question: "Am I enrolled in a Select Health plan for 2027, and which plan ID?"

County by county: what Select Health still sells where you live

Source: CMS CY2026 and CY2027 landscape files, general MA-PD rows (Special Needs Plans and medical-only plans counted separately). Plan names are factual reporting from the public file, not an endorsement.

The counts in the middle column are the real story for a + Kroger member who was not crosswalked. In Salt Lake, Davis, Utah and Weber counties you still have 19 to 22 plans from six carriers to compare, and the Essential plan is one of them if you want to stay with the same network. In Cache, Summit, Washington and Iron the shelf shrank noticeably — Iron from 14 plans to 8 — so the Medigap door below deserves a real look rather than a glance. In Morgan County, three carriers remain (Devoted Health, Humana and UnitedHealthcare), and staying with Select Health is not an option.

Sources: CMS CY2026 and CY2027 landscape files · CMS 2027 state fact sheets · CMS Medicare Monthly Enrollment (Salt Lake County, June 2026: 166,854 people with Medicare, 96,718 in Medicare Advantage or other plans).

If you were NOT crosswalked: your three doors

1. Another Medicare Advantage plan — from Select Health or any of the other carriers in your county — chosen during the October 15 – December 7 Annual Enrollment Period so it starts January 1 (Medicare.gov). Check your doctors and your drug list first, the in-network cap second, the premium last. If Smith's is your pharmacy, check whether it is a preferred pharmacy on the new plan's drug list before you assume the copays carry over; here is how pharmacy tiers work in Utah.
2. Original Medicare plus a Medigap policy plus a stand-alone drug plan. Per Medicare.gov, when your plan leaves Medicare or stops serving 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. Utah has eight stand-alone drug plans for 2027; all eight are listed here. Utah's Medigap birthday rule is a separate thing for people who already own a Medigap policy; it is not what gives you this right.
3. Original Medicare plus a drug plan, no Medigap. Lowest premium, no network, but no annual cap on your 20% share. Reasonable for some; most people in their 70s and 80s should price it before accepting it.

Miss December 7 and a discontinued plan still gives you a Special Enrollment Period from December 8 through February 28 to pick another Advantage plan (42 CFR § 422.62) — but a plan chosen in January starts February 1, leaving January in Original Medicare with no drug coverage. Treat the SEP as a safety net, not a plan.

If you WERE crosswalked into Essential: three checks

1. The drug deductible. $200 in 2026 becomes $700 in 2027 on the Wasatch Front plan. Look at which of your drugs sit on tiers that are subject to the deductible; many plans exempt the lowest generic tiers, and the Evidence of Coverage says which.
2. The cap and the copays. The Wasatch Front Essential cap ($5,500) is lower than the + Kroger cap you had; the southern Essential cap ($6,750) is higher than the $6,325 you had. Specialist, hospital and outpatient copays can differ between the two plans even at the same cap.
3. The extras you actually used. A co-branded grocery benefit does not automatically exist on the plan you were moved into. If a monthly grocery or over-the-counter allowance was part of why you chose + Kroger, confirm what Essential offers for 2027 before January, not after — and remember that unused 2026 allowances do not roll over.

If Essential is not the right fit, you still have the ordinary October 15 – December 7 window to choose any plan in your county, and the January 1 – March 31 Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period for one more switch after that. What you do not have, as a crosswalked member who stayed in Medicare Advantage, is the guaranteed-issue Medigap right — that belongs to people returned to Original Medicare. If Medigap is where you want to end up, say so before December 7 and we will walk through the underwriting path and Utah's own rules with you; this post explains why Utah's birthday rule does not help here.

The calendar from here

What I would do this week

1. Find your letters and sort yourself into a group. ANOC that names Essential for January 1 = crosswalked. Separate notice that the plan will not be offered = non-renewed. Not sure = call the number on your card and ask for your 2027 plan ID.
2. Write down every doctor, every prescription and your pharmacy. Nothing else about plan comparison matters until that list exists.
3. Non-renewed and leaning toward Medigap? The window opens November 1. There is no reason to wait for December, and no reason to let anyone rush you before November either.
4. Crosswalked? Price your 2027 drug costs under a $700 deductible before you decide Essential is fine. It may well be; check first.
5. Ignore the phone calls. A plan ending 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, the CMS CY2026 and CY2027 landscape files compared by Contract Plan ID, CMS's September 28, 2026 Utah fact sheet, CMS's county enrollment data, Select Health's own 2023 announcement of the Kroger co-brand, and the federal rules and Medicare.gov pages on plan crosswalks, non-renewal notices, enrollment periods and Medigap guaranteed-issue rights. We do not know which + Kroger members were crosswalked and which were not; only your letter and your plan do. 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. We take no payment from any carrier to feature a plan.