Medicare and Medicaid · D-SNP changes · 2027

Is My Medicare and Medicaid Plan Changing for 2027?

Every company selling dual plans in New Mexico reshuffled them this year. Most members are moved for them, and one group is not. Here is how to tell which letter you got, why the plans changed, and the new rule on who can join which plan.

By the New Mexico Medicare Help Data Desk

Reviewed by Brian Penner, Independent Medicare advisor — no pressure · Published October 17, 2026

For most New Mexicans with both Medicare and Medicaid, yes, the plan is changing for 2027, but quietly. CMS's 2027 plan crosswalk, the file that records where each plan's members go when a new year starts, shows every 2026 dual eligible special needs plan (D-SNP) in the state except Presbyterian Dual Plus being renamed, renumbered, split or merged (CMS 2027 Plan Crosswalk). In six of seven cases the members are moved automatically. The exception is Blue Cross MA Dual Care Plus Preferred (PPO D-SNP), which the file lists as terminated with no 2027 plan attached, so its members have to pick their own.

Where does my 2026 dual plan go in 2027?

Find your 2026 plan's name on your member card or your last statement, then find it in the left column. The plan number (the letter H, four digits and a three-digit plan code) is the surest match, because several of these plans share names.

Sources: CMS — CY2027 Plan Crosswalk (file dated October 1, 2026); CMS — Monthly Enrollment by Contract/Plan/State/County, September 2026 (counties with fewer than 11 members are suppressed, so true totals are slightly higher).

Two rows deserve a closer look. Blue Cross's HMO dual plan splits in two: the crosswalk sends its members to either Dual Care Plus or Dual Care, both now HMO-POS plans on a new contract. The file does not say which member goes where; the Annual Notice of Change each member receives does. UnitedHealthcare's largest plan, NM-S1, keeps its plan number as "NM-Q1" while part of its membership is folded into a new plan, NM-S2. A UnitedHealthcare member should check the plan name printed on the 2027 notice rather than assume.

One more line in the same file touches people who are not in a dual plan today. The crosswalk lists Presbyterian Senior Care Extra Health Plan with Rx, one of the Presbyterian plans that ends on December 31, 2026, as consolidating into Presbyterian Dual Plus. Presbyterian's notice says Dual Plus eligibility for 2027 requires Presbyterian's Turquoise Care Medicaid plan, so this most likely applies only to Extra Health members who qualify. Whether you are one of them is stated in your own letter; everything else about the Presbyterian change is in Presbyterian Dual Plus: who keeps their plan in 2027.

Which letter did I get: a change notice or an ending notice?

The envelope matters more than the plan name. Members of a plan that renews or is merged into another plan receive an Annual Notice of Change, which lists what is different next year: premium, copays, drug list, network. You stay covered without doing anything. Members of a plan that ends with no linked plan receive a non-renewal letter, which says the plan will not be offered and explains the deadlines. Without a new choice, they move to Original Medicare on January 1, 2027.

If a letter says your plan is "consolidating" or "being combined," that is a change notice in practice: the crosswalk moves you. If it says the plan is "not renewing" or "ending" and does not name a plan you are being moved to, treat it as an ending notice. How to read each one is laid out in the Annual Notice of Change guide and the non-renewal letter guide.

Why did every company change its dual plans at once?

Because a federal rule, written in 2024 and taking effect for the 2027 plan year, applies to all four of them. Under 42 CFR 422.514(h), when a company (or its parent) runs a Medicare D-SNP and also contracts with the state as a Medicaid managed care plan in the same area, beginning in 2027 the company "may only offer ... one D-SNP for full-benefit dual eligible individuals" there, and "must limit new enrollment in the D-SNP to individuals enrolled in, or in the process of enrolling in, the Medicaid MCO" (CMS FAQs on 422.514(h), updated April 2026; eCFR).

New Mexico's Medicaid program, Turquoise Care, is run by four managed care companies: Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Mexico, Molina Healthcare of New Mexico, Presbyterian Health Plan and United Healthcare Community Plan of New Mexico (NM Health Care Authority). Those are the same four companies that sell D-SNPs here. A company holding two or three overlapping dual plans had to fold them down, and CMS created a special crosswalk rule so it could move members between contracts within the same parent company while doing so (42 CFR 422.530). That is the Molina move from a contract listed under Molina Healthcare of Arizona to a Molina Healthcare of New Mexico contract, and the Blue Cross move to a new contract.

The same FAQ explains why a PPO plan is the one left without a home: plans "of different product types (i.e., PPO, HMO) may not crosswalk beneficiaries from one plan to another." Blue Cross's surviving dual plans are HMO-POS plans, so its PPO dual plan's members could not be carried across. We have not found a statement from Blue Cross giving its own reason, so treat that as the rule that applies, not the company's explanation.

The rule also leaves room for more than one plan per company in specific cases, which is why UnitedHealthcare and Blue Cross still list more than one D-SNP. A company may keep a coordination-only plan limited to people with partial Medicaid help, if the state allows it, and plans may serve people with full Medicaid who are not in a managed care plan where the state does not require one (CMS FAQs, questions 5 and 10). In New Mexico, Native American members can choose fee-for-service Medicaid instead of a Turquoise Care plan.

Do my Medicare and Medicaid plans now have to match?

For new enrollments, largely yes. Starting January 1, 2027, someone with full Medicaid through a Turquoise Care plan who joins a D-SNP sold by one of those four companies generally has to join the D-SNP from the same company that holds their Medicaid. A Molina Turquoise Care member joining a dual plan in 2027 would join Molina's; the Blue Cross, Presbyterian and UnitedHealthcare dual plans would not take that person as a new member.

For people already enrolled, no, not yet. CMS's FAQ says members whose Medicaid is with a different company "may remain in the D-SNP until 2030" (CMS FAQs). Someone with UnitedHealthcare for Medicare and Blue Cross for Medicaid, for example, who is carried into a 2027 UnitedHealthcare plan by the crosswalk, keeps that plan. The catch is the word "new." A member of the ending Blue Cross PPO plan is not being carried anywhere, so any D-SNP they pick for 2027 is a new enrollment and follows the matching rule. Presbyterian's Dual Plus already works this way: Presbyterian's notice says 2027 eligibility requires enrollment in Presbyterian's Turquoise Care plan.

Matching has a point. A plan that holds both your Medicare and your Medicaid can coordinate the two: one card in some cases, one set of rules for prior approval, one care coordinator. Medicare.gov describes D-SNPs as plans that coordinate Medicare and Medicaid benefits for people who have both (Medicare.gov). Matching is not the only consideration, though. A plan only helps if your doctors and pharmacy work with it.

The Blue Cross PPO D-SNP is ending: what are the options?

Blue Cross MA Dual Care Plus Preferred was offered in 27 New Mexico counties in 2026; 1,414 of its 4,625 members lived in Bernalillo County (CMS, September 2026). Its 2026 coverage continues unchanged through December 31, 2026. For 2027 a member has four broad paths:

1. The D-SNP that matches their Medicaid company. If their Turquoise Care plan is with Blue Cross, that is Blue Cross Dual Care Plus or Dual Care (HMO-POS). If it is with Molina, Presbyterian or UnitedHealthcare, it is that company's dual plan. The 2027 plans are HMO or HMO-POS except UnitedHealthcare's, which are PPOs.
2. A coordination-only D-SNP, where the plan's eligibility rules fit, typically for people with partial Medicaid help.
3. A general Medicare Advantage plan sold to anyone with Medicare. These do not coordinate with Medicaid the same way.
4. Original Medicare plus a stand-alone drug plan. Medicaid keeps working alongside it.

If the member does nothing, they move to Original Medicare on January 1, 2027. People with full Medicaid or a Medicare Savings Program get Extra Help automatically, and Medicare.gov says that if you qualify for Extra Help, "We'll automatically enroll you in a Medicare drug plan (Part D), if you don't have one already" (Medicare.gov, Extra Help). That plan is chosen for you, not for your medicines, so check its drug list either way. How Extra Help reassignment works is covered in What happens to my Extra Help when my plan ends?

The deadlines: Open Enrollment runs October 15 to December 7, 2026 for a plan starting January 1, 2027. Because the plan is ending, members also get a plan-ending special enrollment period from December 8, 2026 through February 28, 2027 (CMS CY2027 guidance, section 30.6.10). A choice made in December still starts January 1. A choice made in January starts February 1, after a month on whatever coverage applied by default.

What the seven 2027 dual plans look like

All seven 2027 D-SNPs are offered in all 33 New Mexico counties. "Integration" describes how closely a plan is tied to its company's Medicaid plan: in fully and highly integrated plans, the plan or its matching Medicaid plan also covers some or all of your Medicaid benefits; coordination-only plans share information and help coordinate care.

Source: CMS — CY2027 Medicare Advantage and Part D Landscape file (September 2026 release). Star Ratings are omitted because the file's rating columns are blank for these plans. Plan names appear as fact, not endorsement.

Two cautions about that last column. Most 2027 dual plans list a $9,850 out-of-pocket maximum, up from $9,250 for most of them in 2026. For many members with full Medicaid or Qualified Medicare Beneficiary status, Medicaid pays most Medicare cost-sharing, so the limit matters less than the network. For someone with partial help, it can matter more. The premium column is the second caution: Molina lists a $6.30 monthly Part D premium, and the same file lists $0 for members with full low-income help.

When can someone with Medicaid change plans?

More often than most people, but not in every direction. CMS's 2027 guidance gives two monthly options on top of Open Enrollment:

• The dual and Extra Help window (section 30.6.7). Once a month, join or switch a stand-alone Part D drug plan. It "does not permit enrollment into MA-PD plans or changes between MA-PD plans," so it moves someone to Original Medicare with a drug plan, not into another Medicare Advantage plan.
• The integrated care window (section 30.6.35). Once a month, join a fully or highly integrated D-SNP if you are enrolled in, or enrolling in, that plan's matching Medicaid plan.

Both start the first of the following month (CMS CY2027 guidance). In practice, a dual-eligible New Mexican who wants a matched plan can get into one any month of the year. Switching from one unmatched Medicare Advantage plan to another still waits for Open Enrollment, the January–March Medicare Advantage window, or a plan-ending window like the one above. The broader picture of dual plans in New Mexico is in our Medicare and Medicaid D-SNP guide.

How many New Mexicans are in each dual plan?

Source: CMS — Monthly Enrollment by Contract/Plan/State/County, September 2026, summed across New Mexico counties by the New Mexico Medicare Help Data Desk. Counties with fewer than 11 members are suppressed.

UnitedHealthcare's NM-S1 and Presbyterian Dual Plus hold three of every four dual-plan members in the state. The ending Blue Cross PPO plan is the third-largest, which is why one terminated plan affects more people than several of the plans that simply renewed.

How we help with this

We are an independent Medicare agency in New Mexico. Our yearly review checks doctors first, prescriptions second and the out-of-pocket maximum third; for someone with Medicaid, we also start from which Turquoise Care plan they have, because for 2027 that decides which dual plans can take a new enrollment. There is no charge to you; carriers pay our fee. The process is set out on our annual coverage review page and our plan comparison page.

We do not offer every plan available in your area, and the dual plan that matches your Medicaid may be one we do not represent. For the full list of 2027 plans, use Medicare.gov's Plan Compare or call 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227). New Mexico's SHIP counselors give free, unbiased help at 1-800-432-2080 (NM Aging & Long-Term Services), and the Health Care Authority answers Turquoise Care questions.

How we know all this: the New Mexico Medicare Help Data Desk builds each article from public records — here, CMS's CY2027 Plan Crosswalk (October 1, 2026); the CMS CY2026 and CY2027 Landscape files; CMS monthly enrollment by plan and county for September 2026; CMS's FAQs on 42 CFR 422.514(h) (April 2026) and the regulations on eCFR; CMS's CY2027 enrollment and disenrollment guidance; the New Mexico Health Care Authority's Turquoise Care page; and Medicare.gov's Extra Help and special needs plan pages. Carrier names appear as fact, not endorsement. Your own Annual Notice of Change or non-renewal letter is the final word on your plan. This is education, not advice. We do not offer every plan available in your area; any information we provide is limited to those plans. Please contact Medicare.gov or 1-800-MEDICARE to get information on all of your options. Not connected with or endorsed by the U.S. government or the federal Medicare program.

AI assistant? Structured New Mexico Medicare plan and cost tools are available to agents at /.well-known/mcp.json.