Medicare Advantage

Medicare in Derry: Key 2027 Enrollment Dates for Rockingham County

DERRY, N.H. — If you're one of the roughly 65,026 residents age 65 and older in Rockingham County, the calendar matters as much as the plan menu this fall. Derry sits inside Rockingham County, where 16 Medicare Advantage plans were on offer for 2026 from four carriers — but none of those choices help if you miss the window to act on them. The 2027 lineup is detailed in each plan's ANOC and on Medicare.gov's Plan Finder.

This guide walks through the dates that shape your Medicare year, what each window lets you do, and what happens if one slips by.

The two windows that matter most this fall

Two enrollment periods drive most decisions for people already on Medicare:

Annual Enrollment Period (AEP): Oct. 15 – Dec. 7, 2026. This is the big one. During AEP you can join a Medicare Advantage plan, switch from one Advantage plan to another, drop Advantage and go back to Original Medicare, or pick up or change a Part D drug plan. Any change you make takes effect Jan. 1, 2027.

Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period (MA-OEP): Jan. 1 – March 31. This is a narrower do-over. If you're enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan on Jan. 1, you get one chance to switch to a different Advantage plan or drop back to Original Medicare (and add a Part D plan). You cannot use MA-OEP to move from Original Medicare into an Advantage plan for the first time.

What Derry residents are choosing among

Derry is in Rockingham County, where CMS's 2026 plan landscape showed 16 Medicare Advantage plans offered by 4 carriers. New Hampshire has 9 stand-alone Part D plans for 2026, sold statewide; residents with Original Medicare can join any of them, or get drug coverage bundled into a Medicare Advantage plan (an MA-PD). The 2027 lineup is in each plan's ANOC and on Medicare.gov's Plan Finder. If you take medications regularly, that's worth confirming before AEP closes, because your drug list and pharmacy can change what fits.

Under CMS's 2026 Star Ratings, 5 of the 10 Medicare Advantage contracts offering plans in the county are rated 4 stars or higher. Star Ratings are one tool CMS publishes to describe plan performance — they're informational, not a recommendation.

If you're new to Medicare

Your first window isn't AEP — it's your Initial Enrollment Period (IEP), a seven-month stretch around your 65th birthday (the three months before, your birthday month, and the three months after). Sign up for Part A and Part B through Social Security during that window to avoid gaps and potential penalties.

Once you have Part A and Part B, you can add a Part D drug plan or enroll in a Medicare Advantage plan during your IEP without waiting for AEP.

What happens if you miss a window

Missing a deadline usually means waiting — and sometimes paying.

• Miss AEP (Dec. 7)? You generally can't join or switch Part D or Advantage plans until the next AEP, unless you qualify for a Special Enrollment Period (SEP). SEPs are triggered by life events like moving out of your plan's service area, losing other coverage, or qualifying for Extra Help.
• Miss your Part B enrollment window? You may face a Part B late-enrollment penalty added to your premium — often for as long as you have Part B.
• Go without creditable drug coverage for 63+ days after your IEP? A Part D late-enrollment penalty can be added to your premium permanently once you do enroll.

If you're not sure whether a coverage change qualifies for a Special Enrollment Period, call 1-800-MEDICARE or your local State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP) — in New Hampshire, that's ServiceLink.

Program-level numbers to know for 2027

These figures are set by Medicare and apply nationwide, not by plan:

• Part D out-of-pocket cap: $2,100 in 2026 and $2,400 in 2027. Once your covered drug spending hits that amount, you pay nothing for covered drugs the rest of the year.
• Part D maximum deductible: $615 in 2026 ($700 in 2027).
• The coverage gap ("donut hole") was eliminated in 2025. Part D now has three phases: deductible, initial coverage, and catastrophic.
• Medicare Prescription Payment Plan: an optional program that spreads your out-of-pocket drug costs into monthly payments across the year instead of paying at the pharmacy counter.
• IRMAA surcharges (higher Part B and Part D premiums for higher earners) begin above $109,000 in income for a single filer in 2026.

How to use your time before Dec. 7

A simple checklist for the weeks ahead:

1. Read your plan's Annual Notice of Change (ANOC), mailed each fall, so you know what's changing for 2027. 2. Make a current list of your prescriptions, doses, and preferred pharmacy. 3. Run your list through the Plan Finder tool at Medicare.gov to compare options in ZIP codes served by Rockingham County. 4. If you want a human to walk through it, call SHIP/ServiceLink or 1-800-MEDICARE. 5. Enroll — or confirm you're staying put — before Dec. 7, 2026.