Every year around the second week of October, the phone at our office starts ringing off the hook. Someone in Spring Branch opened a thick envelope from their Medicare Advantage plan, saw a number they did not recognize, and now has eight weeks to figure out what it means. Someone in Pearland just found out their cardiologist at Memorial Hermann is not in next year’s network. Someone in Alief is holding two letters, three glossy brochures, and a TV remote that will not stop playing Medicare commercials. By then, the Annual Enrollment Period is already running, the good appointment slots are gone, and the clock is against you.
It does not have to go that way. Medicare’s Annual Enrollment Period runs October 15 through December 7, 2026, and whatever you choose takes effect January 1, 2027. But the work that makes AEP go smoothly does not happen in October. It happens now — in August and September, before the mail arrives, before the ads start, and before every licensed agent in Harris County is booked solid. This guide is the pre-flight checklist we walk our own Houston clients through in the eight weeks before the window opens.
And this year the preparation matters more than usual. On July 28, 2026, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced that it is ending the Part D Premium Stabilization Demonstration — the program that has been cushioning standalone drug plan premiums since 2025 — at the end of this year. For 2027, CMS said Part D returns to “traditional market conditions.” That is a polite way of saying the cushion comes off. If you have a standalone Part D plan, the letter arriving in your mailbox next month deserves more attention than usual.
- AEP is October 15 – December 7, 2026. Changes take effect January 1, 2027. This is the one window when anyone with Medicare can switch plan types, add or drop drug coverage, or move between Original Medicare and Medicare Advantage.
- Your Annual Notice of Change must reach you by September 30. Plans are required to send it. It is the single most important document in the whole process, and most people throw it away.
- Part D changes meaningfully in 2027. CMS set the 2027 base beneficiary premium at $41.33 (up from $38.99), the national average bid at $296.05, and is ending the premium stabilization demonstration after 2026.
- The out-of-pocket cap rises to $2,400 in 2027, up from $2,100 in 2026 — and the standard Part D deductible rises from $615 to $700.
- Texas had 426 Medicare Advantage plans available in 2026, up from 381 the year before, alongside just 12 standalone drug plans. More choices is not the same as an easier decision.
- Do the work in August and September. Build your drug list, confirm your doctors, read the ANOC, and book your review before the October rush.
What This Guide Covers
- The exact dates, and what AEP actually lets you change
- What changed for 2027: the Part D shake-up
- Your ANOC arrives by September 30 — how to read it
- The Houston and Texas plan landscape
- The August–September checklist, week by week
- Five ways Houston beneficiaries lose money during AEP
- Where an independent Houston agency fits in
- Frequently asked questions
The exact dates, and what AEP actually lets you change
Medicare’s Annual Enrollment Period — you will also hear it called Medicare Open Enrollment or just AEP — runs October 15 through December 7 every year. Anything you choose during that window starts on January 1 of the following year. Miss December 7 and, in most cases, you are locked into your current coverage for another twelve months.
People often confuse AEP with three other windows, and the confusion costs real money. Here is how they separate:
| Window | When | Who it is for | What you can do |
|---|---|---|---|
| Annual Enrollment Period (AEP) | Oct 15 – Dec 7 | Anyone with Medicare | Switch between Original Medicare and Medicare Advantage; change Advantage plans; join, switch, or drop a Part D plan |
| Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment | Jan 1 – Mar 31 | People already in a Medicare Advantage plan on January 1 | One change: switch to a different Advantage plan, or return to Original Medicare and add a drug plan |
| Initial Enrollment Period (IEP) | 7 months around your 65th birthday | People newly eligible | Enroll in Part A, Part B, and choose your first coverage path |
| Special Enrollment Periods (SEPs) | Triggered by a life event | People who move, lose coverage, qualify for Extra Help, or live through a declared disaster | Make a change outside the normal windows |
Two things worth flagging for Houston specifically. First, the January-to-March Advantage window is a real safety net, but it only gives you one move and only if you are in an Advantage plan on January 1 — it is not a do-over for everyone. Second, Harris County beneficiaries have an additional path most of the country does not use nearly as often: a FEMA disaster declaration can open a Special Enrollment Period, which matters during hurricane season. We covered that in detail in our guide to how a FEMA disaster declaration opens a Special Enrollment Period.
What changed for 2027: the Part D shake-up
Most years, the AEP advice is “check your plan, it probably moved a little.” This year is different for anyone with prescription drug coverage, and it is worth understanding why before the letters arrive.
Since 2025, CMS has been running something called the Part D Premium Stabilization Demonstration. When the Inflation Reduction Act redesigned the Part D benefit — capping out-of-pocket spending, eliminating the coverage gap, shifting more liability onto plans — CMS worried that standalone drug plans would respond with sharp premium increases or simply leave markets. The demonstration subsidized part of that risk to keep premiums steadier while the market adjusted.
On July 28, 2026, CMS announced that the experiment is over. In its own words, the agency’s analysis of the 2027 bids “indicates that Part D plan sponsors had sufficient experience under the redesigned Part D benefit to support their assumptions in developing prescription drug plan (PDP) bids,” and it will “discontinue the demonstration at the end of CY 2026 to return the program to operating under traditional market conditions in CY 2027.”
Here is what that produced in the numbers CMS released the same day:
Two of those numbers are good news and two are not, so let us be precise about which is which.
The base beneficiary premium of $41.33 is a national benchmark used in payment formulas — it is not what you will pay. Your actual premium depends on the specific plan you pick. But it moved up, and the direction matters. The national average bid of $296.05 is what plans collectively told CMS it costs to deliver the basic benefit; it rose sharply, which is exactly what you would expect when a subsidy is withdrawn.
The $2,400 out-of-pocket cap is a ceiling on what you personally spend on covered drugs before your plan picks up the rest for the year. It went up from $2,100, which means you will spend a bit more before you hit protection — but the protection itself is enormous, and it did not exist at all before 2025. If you take expensive brand-name medications, that cap is still the most valuable thing in your Part D plan. The $700 deductible is the maximum a plan may charge before coverage begins; many plans charge less, and some charge nothing.
Side by side, here is what moves between this year and next:
| Part D figure | 2026 | 2027 | What it means for you |
|---|---|---|---|
| Annual out-of-pocket threshold | $2,100 | $2,400 | You spend $300 more before your plan covers the rest of the year |
| Standard deductible (maximum) | $615 | $700 | A ceiling, not a requirement — many plans charge less |
| Base beneficiary premium | $38.99 | $41.33 | A national benchmark used in payment formulas, not your actual premium |
| National average monthly bid | — | $296.05 | What plans collectively bid to deliver the basic benefit in 2027 |
| Premium Stabilization Demonstration | In effect | Ended | The cushion on standalone drug plan premiums is being withdrawn |
If you want the deeper background on how the out-of-pocket cap works in practice — including how it interacts with the monthly payment option — our earlier guides on the Part D out-of-pocket cap and the Medicare Prescription Payment Plan cover the mechanics in detail.
Your ANOC arrives by September 30 — how to read it
If you are enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan or a standalone Part D plan, your insurer is required to send you an Annual Notice of Change, or ANOC, and it must generally reach you by September 30. A companion document, the Evidence of Coverage, arrives with it or shortly after.
The ANOC is the only document that tells you, in one place, exactly what your specific plan is doing differently next year. It is also the document most people mistake for junk mail. Every October we sit down with Houston clients who say “nothing changed with my plan,” and then we open the envelope together and find a $40 premium increase, a tier change on a drug they take daily, or a hospital system that quietly left the network.
You do not have to read the whole thing. Read these five sections:
| What to check | Why it matters | Question to ask yourself |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly premium | The most visible change, and the easiest to compare | Is the increase worth what the plan still does for me? |
| Drug formulary tiers | A drug moving from Tier 2 to Tier 3 or 4 can cost hundreds a year with no premium change at all | Is every medication I take still on the list, and at what tier? |
| Provider network | Houston systems move in and out of Advantage networks year to year | Are my primary care doctor, my specialists, and my hospital still in network for 2027? |
| Maximum out-of-pocket | The ceiling on your medical spending in an Advantage plan | Could I absorb the worst-case number if I had a bad year? |
| Extra benefits | Dental, vision, hearing, transportation, and over-the-counter allowances change frequently | Did the benefit I actually use get cut or reduced? |
If your ANOC has not arrived by the first week of October, call your plan. Plans are required to send it, and “I never got it” is not a defense if you miss a change that costs you in January.
The Houston and Texas plan landscape
Texas is one of the most competitive Medicare markets in the country, and Harris County is one of the most competitive corners of Texas. According to CMS’s state-level fact sheet for 2026, 4,857,268 people in Texas are enrolled in Medicare, and they had 426 Medicare Advantage plans available in 2026 — up from 381 in 2025. Every single one of those beneficiaries had access to a Medicare Advantage plan, and to at least one with a $0 monthly premium.
The standalone drug plan picture is very different. Texas had just 12 standalone Medicare prescription drug plans available in 2026. Nationally, the standalone PDP market has been contracting for several years as the Part D redesign reshaped plan economics — which is precisely the pressure the stabilization demonstration was built to cushion, and precisely why its removal is worth watching.
A word of caution about those numbers. Four hundred twenty-six plans statewide does not mean 426 choices for you. Availability is set by county, and the plans marketed in Katy are not identical to the ones marketed in Baytown. It also does not mean more choice is automatically better — past a certain point, more options mostly produce more paralysis. The job during AEP is not to review every plan. It is to find the handful that cover your doctors, your drugs, and your pharmacy, and then compare those on total annual cost.
One more figure worth having in your head: for 2026, the standard Part B premium is $202.90 per month with a $283 annual deductible. Part B is separate from your Advantage or drug plan and you keep paying it either way. If your income is above the threshold, IRMAA surcharges apply on top — our Houston IRMAA guide explains how to appeal one after a life-changing event like retirement.
The August–September checklist, week by week
This is the actual sequence. None of it takes long on its own; the value is in doing it before October rather than during.
Weeks 1–2 of August: build your drug list
Write down every prescription you take, with the exact dosage and the quantity you get per fill. Not “my blood pressure pill” — the name, the milligrams, and whether it is 30 or 90 days. Include the ones you take seasonally and the ones you only take occasionally. This single document does more work than anything else in the process, because drug coverage is where the money is, and a plan comparison built on a vague drug list is worthless.
While you are at it, note which pharmacy you actually use and whether you would be willing to change. Preferred-pharmacy status can move a plan from expensive to reasonable and back again.
Weeks 3–4 of August: confirm your doctors
List your primary care physician, every specialist you saw in the last year, and the hospital system you would want if something went wrong — Memorial Hermann, Houston Methodist, Kelsey-Seybold, HCA, Baylor St. Luke’s, or whichever one your care actually runs through. If you are in a Medicare Advantage plan, network status is the thing most likely to change between years and the thing most likely to hurt if you get it wrong.
First half of September: check your income and assistance status
Two questions. First, has your income changed in a way that affects your Part B premium? Retirement, the sale of a property, or a spouse’s death can all move you across an IRMAA bracket in either direction. Second, might you qualify for help you are not getting? Extra Help — the Part D Low-Income Subsidy — and the Medicare Savings Programs together cover a substantial share of Harris County beneficiaries who never apply. The income limits changed for 2026, and plenty of people who were over the line a few years ago are under it now. We covered both in our guides to Extra Help and the 2026 income limits and the Medicare Savings Programs in Texas.
Late September: read the ANOC the day it arrives
It must reach you by September 30. Open it that day. Take fifteen minutes with the five sections in the table above and write down anything that changed. If nothing changed and your health and medications are stable, you may genuinely be fine staying put — but you want that to be a decision, not a default.
Late September: book your review
Here is the practical reality nobody tells you: the calendar of every licensed Medicare agent in Houston fills from mid-October. The people who get unhurried, thorough appointments are the ones who booked them in September. If you want a real conversation rather than a rushed one, put it on the calendar before the window opens.
Get your 2027 Medicare review on the calendar now
We are an independent, Texas-licensed agency in Houston. We will sit down with your drug list, your doctors, and your ANOC, and walk through what actually changes for you in 2027 — before AEP opens and the phones start ringing.
Talk to a licensed Houston agent 832-400-6538Five ways Houston beneficiaries lose money during AEP
After enough enrollment seasons, the same handful of mistakes show up again and again.
1. Comparing premiums instead of total annual cost. A plan with a $0 premium and a $700 deductible plus high tier-3 copays can easily cost more over twelve months than a plan with a $35 premium and richer drug coverage. The number that matters is what you will pay across the whole year — premium, deductible, copays, and coinsurance together — not the number on the brochure.
2. Assuming the plan that worked last year still fits. Plans change every January and so do you. A new prescription, a new diagnosis, or a specialist referral can make last year’s excellent fit this year’s expensive mismatch.
3. Enrolling from a TV ad. The commercials that run all October are advertising specific plans from specific carriers. They are not a comparison, and the number on the screen usually routes to a call center that only sells a limited menu.
4. Dropping drug coverage because “I don’t take anything right now.” Going without creditable drug coverage builds a late enrollment penalty that follows you permanently, and a new diagnosis does not wait for the next enrollment window. We laid out how the penalty accrues in our guide to the General Enrollment Period and late penalties.
5. Leaving a Medigap policy without understanding you may not get it back. Moving from Medicare Supplement to Medicare Advantage is easy. Moving back can require medical underwriting in Texas, and if your health has changed you may not qualify. Treat that decision as one-directional unless you have confirmed otherwise.
Where an independent Houston agency fits in
You can do all of this yourself. Many people do. But there are three things an independent local agency brings that are difficult to replicate alone.
The first is breadth. An independent agency is appointed with multiple carriers, so the comparison is across the market rather than within one company’s lineup. The second is local network knowledge — knowing which Houston systems and physician groups have historically moved in and out of which Advantage networks is the kind of thing you learn from working the same market year after year. The third is simply time. Running a genuine total-cost comparison across your real drug list, at your real pharmacy, with your real doctors, takes an hour or two of focused work. Most people do not want to spend a fall doing it.
If you are newly approaching 65 rather than reviewing existing coverage, the path is different — start with our overview of how Medicare works and Medicare eligibility, and note that your Initial Enrollment Period, not AEP, is your first window. If you are weighing plan types, our pages on Medicare Advantage and Medicare Supplement lay out the structural differences, and we have offices in both North Houston and South Houston.
Frequently asked questions
When exactly is Medicare’s Annual Enrollment Period for 2027 coverage?
What is the Annual Notice of Change, and when should it arrive?
What is changing with Medicare Part D in 2027?
Does the end of the Part D stabilization demonstration mean my premium will go up?
How many Medicare Advantage plans are available in Texas?
Can I change my Medicare Supplement plan during AEP?
What if I miss the December 7 deadline?
Do I have to do anything if I am happy with my current plan?
Sources
- Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, “Annual Release of Part D National Average Monthly Bid Amount and Other Part C & D Bid Information,” July 28, 2026 — cms.gov
- Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, “Announcement of Calendar Year 2027 Medicare Advantage Capitation Rates and Part C and Part D Payment Policies” — cms.gov
- Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, “Final CY 2026 Part D Redesign Program Instructions” — cms.gov
- Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, “2026 Medicare Parts A & B Premiums and Deductibles” — cms.gov
- Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, “Medicare Open Enrollment in Texas, 2026,” state-by-state fact sheet, September 26, 2025 — cms.gov
- Medicare.gov, “Open Enrollment” — medicare.gov
- Medicare.gov, “Plan Annual Notice of Change (ANOC)” — medicare.gov
- Medicare.gov, “Medicare & You 2026” handbook — medicare.gov
This article is for general educational purposes and reflects federal figures published as of August 2026. Plan availability, premiums, formularies, and provider networks vary by county and by plan and can change. Wise Insurance Agency is an independent, Texas-licensed insurance agency; we are not affiliated with or endorsed by the federal Medicare program.