Newsroom · San Diego County, California

Is Sharp Direct Advantage Ending in 2027? What San Diego Members Should Know

Yes. Sharp Health Plan's four Medicare Advantage plans are not in the 2027 plan file, and the contract carried 19,868 people in September 2026. The hospitals and doctors stay. Here is what the data says, what continues under other names, and the three doors the October letter opens.

Medicare On Main Data Desk

Published October 5, 2026 · 8 min read · Reviewed by Brian Penner

If your Medicare card says Sharp Direct Advantage, your plan is ending and you need to choose 2027 coverage this fall. That is the whole of the bad news. The rest of this post is the part that matters more: who you are, what you are entitled to, what continues under a different name, and how to decide in the right order. Everything here comes from the federal plan files and enrollment reports, not from a mailer.

What the CMS file shows

Every Medicare Advantage plan sold in every county is listed in a spreadsheet CMS publishes each fall. Comparing the 2026 edition with the 2027 edition, released September 28, by plan number:

Source: CMS CY2026 and CY2027 landscape files, San Diego County, compared by Contract Plan ID on October 5, 2026. All four were rated 3.5 stars for 2026; 2027 ratings are not yet published.

Sharp Health Plan's Medicare contract, H5386, has no row of any kind in the 2027 file — no renamed plan, no Special Needs Plan, no crosswalk into a successor. CMS's September 2026 enrollment report counts 19,868 people on the contract (CMS monthly enrollment by contract). Trade reporting on the 2027 filings puts Sharp among 11 insurers leaving the individual Medicare Advantage market, most of them hospital-system plans like this one, and notes Sharp will continue a group retiree plan for CalPERS (Modern Healthcare via Word & Brown; Becker's). We could not find a public statement from Sharp Health Plan itself as of this writing; the CMS-required letter to members is the official word.

Carrier names here are factual reporting, not criticism. Hospital-owned plans across the country made the same decision for 2027, and the member's rights are identical whichever company is leaving.

Sharp the hospital is not Sharp the plan

This is the point that gets lost in the week the letter arrives. Sharp HealthCare — Sharp Memorial, Sharp Grossmont, Sharp Chula Vista, Sharp Mary Birch, Sharp Rees-Stealy Medical Group and Sharp Community Medical Group — is a provider system. Sharp Health Plan is its insurance subsidiary. The insurance plan is ending; the providers are not, and they contract with other insurers.

The clearest evidence is in the same 2027 file. UnitedHealthcare of California — a contract with 250,495 members statewide — continues its Sharp-branded plans in San Diego County and adds to them:

Source: CMS CY2027 landscape file, San Diego County. The three general plans carry a $355 Part D deductible. Listing a plan is not a recommendation; whether it fits depends on your medical group, your prescriptions and your health.

Two cautions. The in-network cap on those plans is $4,450, against $2,900 on the Sharp Direct Advantage plans — a real difference in a bad year that a $0 premium does not show. And "Sharp network" is not one thing: Sharp Rees-Stealy and Sharp Community Medical Group contract with plans separately, so confirm your own doctor's group against the plan's directory and against Sharp's own list of accepted Medicare plans before you enroll, not after.

What the rest of San Diego County looks like for 2027

Sources: CMS landscape files (MA-PD rows, SNP indicator No) · CMS 2027 state fact sheets (average California MA premium $13.77 → $14.12; 10 stand-alone drug plans).

Sharp is not the only letter landing in San Diego mailboxes this week. By our count of the files, 21 plans sold in the county in 2026 are not offered anywhere for 2027 — including several from Aetna, Humana, SCAN and Alignment, and every plan from Central Health and Molina — and one Alignment PPO left the county. Eight new plans arrive, among them two Blue Shield of California HMOs with caps under $500 and a SCAN plan partnered with Costco. A neighbor on a different plan may be holding a letter too, and the replacement that fits them may not be the one that fits you. The full county list is the subject of tomorrow's post.

The letter, and what it does not mean

Federal rules require a plan that is not renewing to notify each member by mail at least 90 calendar days before the plan ends (42 CFR § 422.506); for a December 31 end that puts the notice at October 2, and Medicare.gov describes the same letter (when a plan is no longer available in your area). It is a separate envelope from the Annual Notice of Change, which every plan sent by September 30.

The letter does not mean you are losing Medicare — Parts A and B are untouched. It does not mean your doctors are leaving. And it does not mean you need to call anyone to cancel: the plan ends on its own on December 31. Keep it, though. It is the document that proves your Medigap right.

Your three doors

1. Another Medicare Advantage plan from the 14 organizations still in San Diego County, chosen during October 15 – December 7 so it starts January 1 (Medicare.gov). Compare in this order: your medical group and doctors, your prescriptions, the in-network cap, then the premium. For a Sharp patient the first check decides most of it.
2. Original Medicare plus a Medigap policy plus a stand-alone drug plan. The exit opens the door: per Medicare.gov, when your plan leaves 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 only if you were Medicare-eligible before 2020. No network: any provider that accepts Medicare, including every Sharp facility. California has 10 stand-alone drug plans for 2027.
3. Original Medicare plus a drug plan, no Medigap. Lowest premium, no network, no annual cap on your 20% share. Price it against your health before accepting it.

If you miss December 7, a discontinued plan also 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, and January would be spent in Original Medicare with no drug coverage. A safety net, not a plan.

The calendar from here

What I would do this week

1. Find both letters — the Annual Notice of Change and the non-renewal notice — and put the second one where you can find it in February.
2. Write down which Sharp medical group you belong to (Rees-Stealy or Community), every doctor you see, every prescription, and your pharmacy. Nothing else can be compared until that list exists.
3. Decide the door before the plan. Advantage versus Medigap is the bigger decision. If you lean Medigap, the window opens November 1; there is no reason to wait for December.
4. Ignore the phone calls. A plan ending is a magnet for marketing. Nobody can enroll you in a 2027 plan before October 15, and no legitimate agent needs your Medicare number to "check" anything.
5. Enroll between October 15 and December 7. Earlier is fine — CMS says the last enrollment request wins, so you can change your mind inside the window.

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 2026 monthly enrollment-by-contract report, CMS's September 28, 2026 California fact sheet, Modern Healthcare's and Becker's reporting on the 2027 exits, Sharp HealthCare's own accepted-plans page, and the federal rules and Medicare.gov pages on non-renewal notices, enrollment periods and Medigap guaranteed-issue rights. Mentioning a carrier or a health system is factual reporting, not endorsement or criticism. This is education, not advice; confirm plans, costs and eligibility with a licensed agent or Medicare.gov. We take no payment from any carrier to feature a plan.