If your Medicare Advantage plan is leaving Contra Costa County….
Anthem Medicare Advantage PPO, all Central Health plans, and Imperial Traditional, Imperial Giveback, and Imperial Duals plans are leaving. If you have one of these plans in 2025 and you do nothing, you will have only Medicare Parts A and B with NO drug coverage in 2026 and may have high copays for physicians and hospitals.
However, you have extra time to act even after the Dec. 7 open enrollment deadline. You can choose a new Advantage plan or Original Medicare with a separate drug plan and a Medigap plan anytime until Dec. 31 to be effective Jan. 1. You also have time in early 2026, but your new coverage won’t be effective until the month after you enroll.
Want a different Advantage plan? See the 2026 MAPD plans here.
Want more information about your Rights, Options, and Deadlines to change to a Medigap plan? And Learn more about Medigap plans?
Want to Learn to use Plan Finder to compare Advantage plan prices with your drug costs?
If your Advantage plan is leaving the county, you have a special right to get any Medigap without health screening, so be sure to tell the Medigap company that when you apply.
If you have a Central Health Medicare Advantage plan and want to keep John Muir doctors…. we have prepared a document of Your Options for John Muir doctors
If you want to stay with John Muir Physicians you will need a different plan. In 2026 the only Medicare Advantage plan including John Muir doctors will be the Humana Choice PPO. However only select John Muir doctors WILL be in network with this plan (those housed in John Muir facilities). However, other freestanding John Muir doctors may not be. And to see them you may have to go out of network and pay higher co-insurance. Always double check that your providers are included in the network of the plan you choose. Either contact the plan or use the “See Directory” link on pages 3-4 of our chart. You can also use the provider directory link on Medicare’s Plan Finder tool.
You can compare plan prices, including your drug costs, using Medicare’s Plan Finder tool.
If you want to switch paths to Original Medicare with a Medigap and stand-alone drug plan instead, you also have a special right to do that without medical underwriting. If you choose this option you can go to all your same doctors. There is no network with Original Medicare/Medigap. As long as the doctor takes Medicare they will take all Medigap plans. There are various levels of Medigap plans with premiums ranging from $35 to $166 per month for a 65 year old. Prices increase as you get older.
If you want to know if your current stand-alone drug plan is the best for you next year…
You can try using the medicare.gov plan finder tool yourself, using our Plan Finder Instructions, or you can call Medicare at 1-800-MEDICARE (800-633-4227) and they can do it for you. They’re open 24/7, so call late at night for the fastest service. You can use the same tool to check that your drugs are still covered by your Advantage plan and what they will cost next year. HICAP can also help you with this.