Medicare Advantage plans are easy to compare badly and hard to compare well. Most plan brochures lead with the number that looks best — often a $0 premium — and it’s tempting to stop there. But two plans with the same $0 premium can lead to very different bills depending on your doctors, your medications, and how much care you actually use in a year. If you’re getting ready for AEP 2026, which opens October 15 and runs through December 7, a real side-by-side comparison takes more than glancing at a premium. Here’s a straightforward way to do it.
Start With Your Doctors and Your Medications
Before you look at a single plan detail, build two lists: every doctor and specialist you see regularly, and every prescription medication you take, including dosage. This is the single most important step in the entire comparison, because it filters out plans that don’t actually work for you before you waste time comparing their costs.
Check each plan’s provider directory to confirm your doctors are in-network for Plan Year 2027, not just this year — networks change annually, and a provider listed last year isn’t guaranteed to still be there. Then check each plan’s drug formulary for your specific medications. A plan can look great on paper and still fail if it drops your cardiologist from its network or moves your regular prescription to a high-cost tier. If you’re not sure where to start gathering this information, our AEP 2026 prep checklist walks through building these lists in more detail.
Compare the Real Costs, Not Just the Premium
Once you’ve narrowed your list to plans that cover your doctors and drugs, it’s time to compare actual costs. The monthly premium is only the starting point. Look at four numbers for each plan:
- Premium. What you pay monthly regardless of how much care you use.
- Deductible. What you pay out of pocket before the plan starts sharing costs, if the plan has one.
- Copays and coinsurance. What you pay for doctor visits, specialist visits, and prescriptions once coverage kicks in.
- Maximum out-of-pocket (MOOP). The most you’d pay in a year for covered services before the plan pays 100%. This is the number that protects you in a bad health year, and it varies significantly by plan.
It’s worth remembering that some costs are set by the federal government and don’t change plan to plan. The standard Medicare Part B premium for 2026 is $202.90 per month, with a $283 annual Part B deductible — those apply no matter which Medicare Advantage plan you choose, since Part B is still Part B. What varies between plans is everything layered on top: the plan’s own premium, copays, and MOOP. For prescription costs, every plan is also bound by the same $2,100 Part D annual out-of-pocket cap for covered drugs in 2026, so once you or the plan has spent that much on your covered prescriptions in a calendar year, you pay nothing more for them through December 31. For a fuller breakdown of which 2026 costs are federal versus plan-specific, see our Medicare costs guide.
Check Star Ratings and Network Depth
CMS rates every Medicare Advantage and Part D plan on a 1-to-5 star scale based on quality measures like member satisfaction, customer service, and chronic condition management. It’s not a cost measure, but it’s a useful gut check once you’ve narrowed plans down by network and cost — between two plans that both cover your doctors and drugs at similar prices, the one with a higher star rating has a track record of better member experience. We cover how to read and use these ratings in more depth in our Medicare Advantage star ratings guide.
Network depth matters beyond just your current doctors, too. If you travel often, or split time between states, check whether the plan is an HMO, which generally requires you to stay in-network except for emergencies, or a PPO, which usually allows out-of-network care at a higher cost. This distinction rarely shows up in a plan’s headline marketing but can matter a lot depending on your lifestyle.
Weigh Extra Benefits Without Letting Them Lead
Many Medicare Advantage plans include extra benefits like dental, vision, hearing, or a fitness membership. These can be genuinely useful, but they shouldn’t be the deciding factor if a plan fails on network or drug coverage. Compare the scope of these benefits carefully, too — a “dental benefit” can range from a modest annual allowance to a much more comprehensive package, and the marketing language often doesn’t make that difference obvious. If two plans are otherwise equal after you’ve compared doctors, drugs, costs, and star ratings, extra benefits are a reasonable tiebreaker. They shouldn’t be the starting point.
Read the ANOC Before You Assume Anything Stayed the Same
If you’re already in a Medicare Advantage plan and comparing it against alternatives, don’t skip your current plan’s Annual Notice of Change (ANOC) letter, which plans are required to mail by September 30. It tells you exactly what’s changing about your own plan for Plan Year 2027, so you’re comparing your plan’s actual 2027 terms against other options, not last year’s terms out of habit. Our guide on how to read your ANOC walks through what to look for section by section.
Comparing Medicare Advantage plans thoroughly takes an hour or two, not a lifetime, and it’s time well spent given that the choice you make during AEP 2026 sticks for all of Plan Year 2027 in most cases. Medicare.gov’s Plan Finder tool lets you compare plans available in your area side by side using the same categories covered here. If your situation feels complicated — multiple medications, several specialists, or plans that seem too close to call — it’s reasonable to get a second opinion before December 7. For a broader look at how Medicare Advantage compares to Original Medicare with a Medigap policy, our coverage guide covers that decision in full.
Have questions? Kayla Price is a licensed insurance agent serving NC, SC, GA, FL, VA, MD, MI, KS, TX, and OH. Call (866) 648-1578 or visit priceservicesgroup.com.