Medicare Advantage

Medicare plan counts across Killeen and nearby Bell County

KILLEEN, Texas — If you're turning 65 soon or rethinking your Medicare coverage, one of the first questions is a simple one: what's actually available where I live? Killeen sits in Bell County, and Medicare plan availability is set at the county level. That means every neighbor from downtown Killeen out toward Harker Heights and Copperas Cove is working from the same menu of local options.

Killeen at a glance: what's around you on the Medicare map

Here's a plain-English look at that menu — no rankings, no sales pitch, just the lay of the land.

The Bell County picture

According to the CMS Medicare Advantage and Part D Landscape files for the area:

• 44 Medicare Advantage plans are available to people with Medicare in Bell County.
• 7 carriers offer Medicare Advantage plans that include prescription drug coverage (MA-PD) here.
• Texas has 12 stand-alone Part D plans for 2026, sold statewide, and anyone in Bell County on Original Medicare can join one of them. If you're staying on Original Medicare and need drug coverage, it's worth checking the current list directly on Medicare.gov for your ZIP code.
• 0 contracts serving the area currently carry an overall Star Rating of 4 stars or higher in this snapshot. Star Ratings measure quality and customer experience; they can shift year to year.

For context, roughly 46,147 people age 65 and older live in Bell County, so it's a sizable Medicare community that includes a large military-retiree population connected to Fort Cavazos.

How Killeen fits into the wider metro

Bell County is the anchor of the Killeen–Temple metro, and nearby counties (like Coryell and Lampasas) each run their own plan menus. A plan available a short drive up Highway 190 may not be offered in Killeen, and vice versa. This is why two friends who live 20 minutes apart can be shopping from very different lists.

The takeaway: when you compare options, always enter your own ZIP code on Medicare.gov. County lines — not city limits — draw the map.

What's changing at the program level in 2027

Whatever plan you end up with, some rules apply everywhere in the country. A few worth knowing for 2027:

• Part D out-of-pocket cap: $2,100 in 2026 and $2,400 in 2027. Once your covered drug spending hits that amount in a calendar year, you pay nothing more for covered drugs the rest of the year.
• Part D deductible maximum: $615 in 2026 and $700 in 2027. Plans can charge less, but not more.
• The coverage gap ("donut hole") is gone as of 2025. Part D now has three phases instead of four.
• Medicare Prescription Payment Plan. This optional program lets you spread your drug costs across the year in monthly installments instead of paying big amounts at the pharmacy counter.
• IRMAA (the income-related surcharge on Part B and Part D) starts above $109,000 in income for a single filer in 2026.

None of these are plan features — they're built into Medicare itself.

Key dates to circle

• Annual Enrollment Period: Oct. 15 – Dec. 7. This is when anyone with Medicare can join, switch, or drop a Medicare Advantage or Part D plan for the following year.
• Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment: Jan. 1 – March 31. If you're already in a Medicare Advantage plan, you get one chance during this window to switch to a different MA plan or return to Original Medicare.

Missing these windows usually means waiting a year, so mark the calendar.

How to read the local numbers without getting overwhelmed

Forty-four Medicare Advantage plans in one county sounds like a lot — and it is. A few tips for cutting it down to size:

1. Start with your doctors and hospitals. Not every plan contracts with every provider around Killeen and Harker Heights. 2. Bring your prescription list. Drug coverage varies plan to plan, and it's usually the biggest cost driver. 3. Think about how you travel. If you spend part of the year outside Texas, ask how the plan handles out-of-area care. 4. Look past the front page. Star Ratings and marketing materials are a starting point, not a decision.