CHRISTUS Health Plan exiting Medicare Advantage in 2027

TEXARKANA, Texas – CHRISTUS Health Plan will stop offering Medicare Advantage plans in 2027, leaving thousands of seniors in East Texas, including Bowie, Cass and Red River counties, to find new coverage before the end of the year.

The Irving-based insurer, owned by the same Catholic health system that runs CHRISTUS St. Michael in Texarkana, is one of 11 carriers leaving the individual Medicare Advantage market next year, according to plan data released by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on Sept. 30 and first reported by Becker's Payer Issues. CHRISTUS sold Medicare Advantage plans in 36 Texas counties and eight New Mexico counties in 2026, the largest Texas footprint of any insurer on the exit list.

Modern Healthcare reported the plan has nearly 9,000 Medicare Advantage members across the two states.

The affected plans are CHRISTUS Health Medicare Complete, Medicare Plus and Medicare Guardian, all HMO products sold under Medicare contract H1189. Their Northeast Texas service area covered Bowie, Cass, Red River, Camp, Franklin, Gregg, Harrison, Hopkins, Marion, Morris, Panola, Smith, Titus, Upshur and Wood counties, along with Anderson, Cherokee, Henderson, Rusk and Van Zandt. The plans were also sold in the Corpus Christi and Beaumont areas and around Santa Fe and Albuquerque.

CHRISTUS Health Plan had not posted any notice of the change on its website as of Thursday. Its Medicare Advantage page still advertises 2026 benefits and invites shoppers to compare plans for annual enrollment.

Part of a wider pullback

CHRISTUS is not alone. Seven of the 11 carriers quitting individual Medicare Advantage for 2027 are owned in whole or in part by hospital systems, including Houston-based Memorial Hermann Health Plan, which sold plans in six Texas counties and is also shutting down its commercial insurance business. Providence Health Plan in the Pacific Northwest is winding down entirely. Three Blue Cross Blue Shield plans in Iowa, North Dakota and Mississippi are leaving as well.

That compares to seven carriers that quit the program for 2026. Hospital-owned plans have struggled to compete with national insurers on scale, and a survey of 35 health plan leaders by HealthScape Advisors found nearly 70 percent expect their 2027 benefit packages to be less generous than this year's.

The big national carriers are shrinking too. Humana has told investors its 2027 exits will affect about 600,000 members nationwide, and UnitedHealthcare, Aetna and Centene are all leaving counties. Even so, CMS says about eight in 10 Medicare Advantage enrollees will be able to keep their current plan at the same or a lower premium next year.

What CHRISTUS members need to do

Members of a plan that is not renewing should receive a nonrenewal letter from the insurer dated Oct. 2. Federal rules require that letter to spell out when coverage ends, what the options are and what happens if the member does nothing. Keep it. It is proof of eligibility for the special protections below.

Anyone who does not choose a new plan will be moved to Original Medicare on Jan. 1, with no prescription drug coverage unless they sign up for a standalone Part D plan.

There are two ways to replace the coverage:

1. Pick a different Medicare Advantage plan. Medicare's annual enrollment period runs Oct. 15 through Dec. 7. Members whose plan is ending also get a special enrollment period from Dec. 8 through Feb. 28, 2027, as a second chance. Before enrolling, confirm that CHRISTUS St. Michael, Wadley Regional and the member's doctors and pharmacy are in the new plan's network, because networks changed on several plans this year.

2. Return to Original Medicare and buy a Medigap supplement. This is the option many longtime Medicare Advantage members do not know they have. Normally a Medigap insurer can turn down an applicant or charge more for health conditions. When a Medicare Advantage plan leaves Medicare, federal law gives members a guaranteed-issue right to buy certain Medigap policies with no health questions asked. The window opens 60 days before coverage ends and closes 63 days after, so it runs through early March 2027. The right only applies to members who go back to Original Medicare, not to those who switch to another Medicare Advantage plan.

Free, unbiased help is available through the Texas Health Information, Counseling and Advocacy Program at 1-800-252-9240, the Area Agency on Aging of the Ark-Tex Council of Governments in Texarkana, or 1-800-MEDICARE. Members with questions about their current CHRISTUS coverage can call the plan at 1-844-282-3026.

What is not changing

The exit covers only Medicare Advantage. CHRISTUS Health Plan's marketplace plans for individuals and families, which also cover Bowie, Cass and Red River counties, are not on the CMS exit list, and the company is still advertising a Nov. 9 through Dec. 8 open season for its US Family Health Plan for military families. CHRISTUS St. Michael's hospitals and clinics are not affected; the change is to the insurance arm, not the hospitals.

Distributed by Newsbank, inc.