Medicare Advantage

Jenks Medicare Advantage 2027: 55 plans, 14 gone and 7 new

People in Jenks can choose from 55 Medicare Advantage plans for 2027, against 62 this year. 14 of this year’s plans are gone, 7 are new to Tulsa County, and 20 that continue have changed their premium, deductible, plan type or name, 5 of them under a new name.

JENKS, Okla. — With the fall Medicare enrollment window opening October 15, new Medicare Star Ratings from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) are back in the spotlight. If you live in Jenks and you've been hearing about "stars" on TV ads or in the mail, here's a plain-English guide to what those ratings actually measure — and what they don't.

What Star Ratings Are

Star Ratings are a scoring system CMS uses to measure the quality of Medicare Advantage (Part C) and Medicare Part D prescription drug plans. Plans are rated on a scale from 1 to 5 stars, with 5 being the highest. The goal is to give people a consistent, government-produced yardstick — not a marketing claim from a carrier.

CMS updates the ratings once a year and publishes them each fall, ahead of the Annual Enrollment Period (AEP), which runs October 15 through December 7. The current year's stars appear on the official plan finder at medicare.gov when you compare options for your ZIP code.

What the Stars Actually Measure

Star Ratings aren't a popularity contest, and they're not based on premiums or benefits. CMS looks at dozens of specific quality measures grouped into broad categories. For Medicare Advantage plans, those include:

• Staying healthy — whether members get recommended screenings, tests, and vaccines.
• Managing chronic conditions — how well the plan helps people with long-term illnesses like diabetes or heart disease.
• Member experience — survey responses on how easy it is to get care and information.
• Member complaints and changes in performance — how often members leave, complain, or have problems getting service.
• Customer service — how the plan handles appeals, calls, and access to needed care.

For Part D drug plans, CMS looks at things like drug pricing accuracy, medication safety, and customer service.

How and When They're Published

CMS releases the new Star Ratings publicly in October, just before AEP begins. Ratings reflect data collected over the previous plan year, so the stars you see this fall are based on how plans performed during the prior year of operation.

Once posted, the ratings show up:

• On Medicare.gov's plan comparison tool,
• In the official Medicare & You handbook references, and
• In materials plans are required to share when advertising.

A plan's rating can go up or down from year to year, which is one reason CMS encourages beneficiaries to review their coverage every fall — even if nothing on your end has changed.

What Star Ratings Do Not Tell You

This is where a lot of Jenks readers get tripped up. A star rating is a quality signal — it is not a personalized recommendation.

Stars don't tell you:

• Whether your doctors or the hospitals you use are in a plan's network.
• Whether your medications are on a plan's drug list.
• What a plan will cost you based on your income, health, and prescriptions.

A higher-rated plan isn't automatically the right fit for your situation, and a newer plan without a rating isn't automatically a poor choice. Stars are one input among several.

Availability in the Jenks Area

Jenks is in Tulsa County, where Medicare beneficiaries generally have a wide range of Medicare Advantage and Part D plans to choose from during AEP. Plan availability is set at the county level by CMS, not by city, so a neighbor across the river in another county could see a different lineup. The exact number of plans available in Tulsa County changes each year, and the current list is published on medicare.gov once the enrollment window opens.

Other Program Numbers Worth Knowing

While you're reviewing coverage this fall, a few program-wide figures are worth keeping in mind:

• Part D out-of-pocket cap: $2,100 in 2026 and $2,400 in 2027. Once your out-of-pocket spending on covered drugs hits that amount, you pay nothing for covered prescriptions for the rest of the year.
• Part D maximum deductible: $615 in 2026 and $700 in 2027.
• The old coverage gap ("donut hole") is gone as of 2025 — Part D now has three phases instead of four.
• The Medicare Prescription Payment Plan lets you spread your drug costs across the calendar year in monthly payments instead of paying at the pharmacy counter. It's optional and free to join.
• IRMAA — the income-related surcharge on Part B and Part D — begins above $109,000 for a single filer in 2026.

Key Dates to Circle

• October 15 – December 7: Annual Enrollment Period. You can join, switch, or drop a Medicare Advantage or Part D plan.
• January 1 – March 31: Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period. If you're already in a Medicare Advantage plan, you get one chance to switch to another MA plan or return to Original Medicare.

Quick FAQ

Do Star Ratings ever change mid-year? Not in most cases. CMS publishes updated ratings once a year in the fall. They stay in place through the next rating cycle.

If a plan has fewer stars than the year before, does that mean something went wrong? Not necessarily. Ratings can shift because of new measures, updated benchmarks, or normal year-to-year variation. It's a reason to look closer, not a reason to panic.

What if a plan doesn't have a Star Rating at all? New plans or plans without enough data may show as "not rated." That doesn't mean the plan is bad — it just means CMS doesn't have enough performance data yet.

Where can I see the ratings for plans in my area? The official source is medicare.gov. Enter your ZIP code, and stars will appear next to each plan available in Tulsa County.

Where to Get Trusted Help

For personalized answers, use official resources:

• Medicare.gov — the plan finder and Star Ratings are updated here each fall.
• 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227) — available 24/7.
• Oklahoma SHIP (Senior Health Insurance Counseling Program) — free, unbiased local counseling for Medicare questions. You can reach SHIP through the Oklahoma Insurance Department.

Star Ratings won't decide your coverage for you, but they can be a useful part of the picture as you head into the enrollment window for 2027 coverage.