Medicare Plan Finder Tool 2027: How to Compare Plans Step by Step

Viewing is not enrolling

October 1 is when you can look. You cannot actually change plans until the Medicare open enrollment period opens on October 15. Use those two weeks to do your homework so you are not deciding under time pressure in late November.

Step 1

Choose Medicare Advantage, not drug plans

The tool asks early on what type of coverage you want. Selecting Medicare Advantage shows plans that bundle hospital, medical and usually drug coverage together. Selecting drug plans shows standalone Part D policies that sit alongside Original Medicare instead. These are two different paths and the tool does not mix them.

Step 2

Enter every drug, then your pharmacy

This is the step people skip and the step that does the most work. Without your drug list the tool cannot estimate drug costs, so every plan looks roughly equivalent and you end up comparing premiums alone. Add the pharmacy afterward, and check both retail and mail order if you have the option.

Step 3

Sort by total yearly cost

The default sort tends to put the lowest premium first, which is exactly the wrong order. Switch to estimated total yearly cost, which adds premiums, deductibles and your drug costs together. This is where zero premium plans often drop several places down the list.

Step 4

Filter to 4 stars and up, then shortlist three

Treat the Medicare Advantage star ratings as a filter rather than a tiebreaker. Then stop at three plans. Comparing eight plans on a dozen attributes produces paralysis, not a decision, and the difference between your third and eighth choice is almost always smaller than the difference between enrolling and not.

Step 5

Verify your doctors by phone before enrolling

Call each doctor’s office directly, name the exact plan, and ask two things: do you take this plan for the coming year, and are you accepting patients under it. Do not rely on the online directory. This call is the whole reason the previous four steps were worth doing.

The three changes worth checking every year

Whether your prescriptions moved to a higher tier or left the formulary altogether. Whether your doctors and your hospital are still in network for the coming year. And whether the maximum out of pocket amount went up, since that is the number that protects you in a bad year.

Whether your doctor is genuinely in network

Provider directories have a long and well documented history of listing doctors who no longer take the plan, or who are not accepting new patients under it. The tool reports what the carrier filed. The doctor’s office reports what is true.

How difficult the plan is to actually use

Prior authorization requirements, referral rules and how quickly a plan decides appeals do not appear in any plan listing. They shape your experience of a plan far more than the premium does, and they vary enormously between carriers offering superficially similar coverage.

What the extra benefits are worth

Two plans may both list dental, vision and hearing, and the annual allowance, the network and your share of the cost may differ by an order of magnitude. Not all plans offer all benefits, and amounts vary by county, so the listing tells you a benefit exists rather than what it is worth to you.

Whether the plan is leaving your area

Carriers withdraw plans from counties between years, and several have done so heading into 2027. The tool shows what is offered for the coming year, not how stable that offering is. Our guide to Medicare Advantage plan changes for 2027 covers which carriers are pulling back and where.

The tool builds the shortlist. It does not make the decision.

Used well, the Plan Finder takes forty plans down to three in about twenty minutes. That is exactly what it is good for. The last mile, confirming your doctors, understanding the authorization rules and weighing what the extra benefits are really worth, is work the tool cannot do and should not be expected to.

You get one do-over

If you enroll in a Medicare Advantage plan and it turns out to be wrong, the Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment Period runs January 1 to March 31. During that window you may switch to a different Advantage plan once, or drop back to Original Medicare. It is a genuine safety net, though switching back to Original Medicare can raise separate questions about supplemental coverage that are worth understanding before you rely on it.

➤ When can I see 2027 plans in the Medicare Plan Finder?

2027 plan information becomes viewable on October 1, 2026. Before that date the tool shows 2026 plans with 2026 pricing. You can look starting October 1, but you cannot enroll or switch plans until open enrollment opens on October 15.

➤ Is the Medicare Plan Finder free to use?

Yes. The Plan Finder is the official tool operated by the federal government on Medicare.gov and it is free. You do not need an account to use it, though signing in with your Medicare number lets it pull your current plan and prescription list automatically.

➤ Why do the costs in the Plan Finder differ from what I actually pay?

The estimates assume you take exactly the drugs you entered, at the doses you entered, filled at the pharmacy you selected, for the whole year. Change any of those and your real cost changes. The estimates also cover covered services only, so care the plan denies or considers out of network does not appear in them.

➤ Can I trust the provider directory in the Plan Finder?

Treat it as a starting point rather than a confirmation. Network directories are known to contain doctors who have left the network or are not accepting new patients under a given plan. Always call the doctor’s office directly, name the specific plan, and confirm before you enroll.

➤ Should I sort by premium or by total cost?

Total yearly cost, every time. Premium alone ignores deductibles, copays and what your prescriptions cost under each plan’s formulary. A plan with no monthly premium can easily cost you more across a year than one charging a premium, depending on which tier your drugs fall into.