The most important Medicare letter of the year is in your mailbox now: skip it before Sept. 30 and you could pay more for your 2027 drugs without knowing why

What's happening

Once a year, people on Medicare get to change plans. That window, called Open Enrollment, runs from October 15 to December 7, 2026 this year. Whatever you pick starts January 1, 2027.

Before the window opens, your plan has to tell you what is changing. According to Medicare, plans send a printed Annual Notice of Change — the ANOC — by September 30. It lists every change to benefits, costs, the drug list and the provider network that takes effect in January.

In Orange County, most Vietnamese Americans over 65 have one of two setups. Either a Medicare Advantage plan (often an HMO with drug coverage built in), or Original Medicare plus a separate Part D drug plan. Both groups get an ANOC. The second group has the most reason to read it closely this year — see below.

What the ANOC is, and the four lines to read

The letter often runs dozens of pages of tables. You do not have to read all of it. Look for four lines:

Line 1 — Monthly premium. The 2026 and 2027 columns sit side by side. Look at 2027.

Line 2 — Drug deductible. What you pay before the plan starts paying. Many plans set it at $0. The standard plan for 2027 is $700.

Line 3 — Whether your drugs are still on the list. The list is called the formulary. A drug moved to a higher tier means a higher copay. A drug dropped from the formulary means you file for an exception or change plans.

Line 4 — Whether your doctors and pharmacy are still in the network. If an HMO changes its network, your family doctor may no longer take the plan.

A made-up example: Mrs. A takes three medications at a $15 copay each. Her ANOC shows one moving to tier 3, copay $47. If she never opens the letter, she learns this at the pharmacy counter in January. If she reads it, she has six weeks to compare other plans.

The 2027 numbers we know — and the ones we don't

Three figures the government has already published:

- Standard Part D deductible: $700, up from $615 in 2026. Source: CMS's 2027 rate announcement, April 6, 2026.
- Out-of-pocket drug cap: $2,400, up from $2,100. That is the most you pay in a year for covered drugs; after that, the plan pays the rest of the year. Source: the same CMS announcement.
- Part B premium: an estimated $209.50 a month, up from $202.90; the Part B deductible is estimated at $292, up from $283. Source: the Medicare Trustees Report of June 9, 2026. The official figure usually comes in the fall — last year it was mid-November.

Not yet known: what each plan in Orange County will charge. CMS says it will release the full 2027 plan landscape in mid-to-late September. Prices usually appear on medicare.gov in early October. We will update this story when they do.

Why stand-alone drug-plan premiums could jump this year

This is the part that differs from other years.

In 2025 and 2026, the government ran a temporary program called the Premium Stabilization Demonstration. It paid stand-alone Part D plans extra so that monthly premiums would not spike after the drug-pricing law's new benefit took effect.

On July 28, 2026, CMS announced it is ending the program for 2027. The agency said plans now have enough experience with the redesigned benefit, and it wants to return the market to "traditional market conditions."

In the same notice, CMS put the national average bid for 2027 drug plans at $296.05, roughly 24 percent higher than 2026, and the national base premium at $41.33 a month. CMS also noted that under the drug-pricing law, annual increases in that base premium are capped at 6 percent through 2029 — but that cap applies to the national base figure, not to any individual plan's premium.

In plain terms: the stabilization payments went only to stand-alone drug plans, according to CMS. So the people most directly affected by its end are those who buy a separate Part D plan. Medicare Advantage members with built-in drug coverage were not in that program, but they still need to read their own ANOC.

Three steps between now and Dec. 7

Step 1 — Before Sept. 30: find the ANOC and read the four lines. No letter? Call the number on your plan card. Medicare also requires plans to send the Evidence of Coverage booklet by October 15, but that one is longer and less urgent.

Step 2 — From early October: compare at medicare.gov/plan-compare. Enter your ZIP code, your drugs and doses. The tool estimates each plan's total yearly cost for your exact medications. An adult child can do it for you in about 20 minutes.

Step 3 — Oct. 15 to Dec. 7: decide. To keep your current plan, do nothing. To switch, enroll in the new plan; the old one ends automatically on December 31. If you switch, wait for the new card before your January appointments.

Miss the window? Medicare Advantage members get one more chance, January 1 to March 31, but only to move between Advantage plans or back to Original Medicare. People on Original Medicare with a stand-alone drug plan wait until next fall.

Free help, in Vietnamese

Free Medicare counseling that does not sell insurance is called HICAP. In Orange County it is run by the Council on Aging – Southern California. HICAP's own page says it does not sell, endorse or recommend any insurance products. Vietnamese-speaking counselors are available.

HICAP Orange County — phones Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.:
(714) 560-⁠0424
(800) 434-⁠0222 (toll-free)

In person, by appointment. According to HICAP's site, counseling locations near Bolsa include:
Westminster Senior Center, 8200 Westminster Blvd., Westminster
Fountain Valley Center at Founders Village, 17967 Bushard St., Fountain Valley
Southwest Senior Center, 2201 W. McFadden Ave., Santa Ana
Call the numbers above to book and to ask about this season's schedule.

Medicare's national line, 24 hours, with interpreters:
1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-⁠4227)

Lower-income beneficiaries can ask HICAP about Extra Help, the federal program that lowers Part D premiums and copays. Its income and asset limits change every year.

The bigger picture

2027 is the first year Part D runs entirely under the new law, with no government cushion. A $2,400 cap on drug costs is still a major improvement over the years with no cap at all. But who pays what in monthly premiums — and which plans remain in Orange County — will only be clear when CMS posts the landscape later this month. Until then, the job in your hands is to find one letter in a stack of junk mail.

Translation assisted by AI and reviewed by an editor.