Adams County: when your Medicare Advantage plan ends and money is already tight

Adams County's Medicare picture

Source: CMS Medicare Monthly Enrollment, July 2026. Adams County had 22,000 residents on April 1, 2026 and 2,684 aged 65 or older in 2025, about 12.5% (WA OFM).

Adams is a young county. Only about one resident in eight is 65 or older, so the Medicare population is small, under 3,000 people. But look at who is in it. Nearly one in five Adams County beneficiaries has both Medicare and Apple Health, well above the statewide rate of about one in seven. And close to 11% are on Medicare before 65 because of a disability, again above the state figure.

That shapes how I'd approach a plan-ending letter here. For a good share of the 1,040 people in private plans, the question isn't only "which plan?" It's "what help am I already getting, and what happens to it?"

If you have Medicare and Apple Health

Dual-eligible readers get every option everyone else gets, plus a few extra doors.

• The plan-ending special enrollment period applies to you. It runs December 8, 2026 through February 28, 2027.
• Drug coverage won't simply vanish. Extra Help members whose private plan is closing get moved by CMS into a stand-alone drug plan, unless they've already lined up 2027 drug coverage on their own. That placement can be changed.
• You can change drug plans monthly. Medicaid or Extra Help lets you move to a different stand-alone Part D plan in any calendar month, effective the 1st of the next.
• Integrated plans. People with full Medicaid benefits (345 in the county) may also move into an integrated dual plan, the type HCA has renamed Apple Health Medicare Connect, in any month one is available locally. HCA says enrollment is open to all dual-eligible clients, including people whose Apple Health only pays Medicare cost-sharing.
• Medigap may not be worth buying. If you have QMB, Apple Health already pays your Medicare premiums, deductibles and copays. A Medigap premium might buy you very little. Ask SHIBA before you pay for one.

If money is tight but you aren't getting help yet

Plenty of people qualify and never apply. Two programs are worth checking before December:

Medicare Savings Programs are Apple Health benefits that pay Medicare premiums, and at the QMB level deductibles and copays as well. The Health Care Authority says there's no asset test. Apply at washingtonconnection.org, on a paper application, or through a DSHS office. Getting into one of these programs also makes you eligible for Extra Help automatically.

Extra Help cuts what you pay for Part D, and its members are exempt from the late penalty for drug coverage. If it doesn't come to you automatically, Social Security takes the application. If you qualify but aren't in a drug plan yet, Medicare's LI NET program can provide temporary drug coverage.

Othello and Ritzville: two ends of one county

Adams County stretches across nearly 1,925 square miles of wheat and irrigated farmland, and its two hospitals sit at opposite ends. Othello Community Hospital, a critical access hospital, serves Othello, the county's largest city at 9,560 people. East Adams Rural Healthcare, also a critical access hospital, is in Ritzville, the county seat, population 1,790.

Before choosing any 2027 Medicare Advantage plan, check that the hospital nearest you is in its network, and do the same for any specialist you see outside the county. Medicare Advantage plans may limit care to a network, and distance has nothing to do with who's in it. Original Medicare skips the network question, since any provider who accepts Medicare can bill it.

The dates

1. Through December 31, 2026: your current plan keeps paying. Choose by this day and new coverage starts January 1 with nothing uncovered.
2. November 1: the day OIC says Medigap applications under guaranteed issue can go in.
3. December 8, 2026 to February 28, 2027: special enrollment period for people whose plan is ending. January picks begin February 1; February picks begin March 1.
4. January 1, 2027: if you chose nothing, you're in Original Medicare without a drug plan, unless CMS assigned you one through Extra Help.
5. March 4, 2027: last day of the Washington Medigap guaranteed issue window.

Without Extra Help, a gap of 63 days or more in drug coverage can trigger a Part D late penalty that sticks for as long as you have Part D. The full schedule and the Medigap plan lists are on our statewide guide for Washington.

Medigap, briefly

If you move to Original Medicare and don't have Apple Health paying your cost-sharing, Washington law (RCW 48.66.055) opens a window in which an insurer has to sell you certain Medigap plans with no medical underwriting, and can't price them up over your health. File in November or December for coverage that kicks in January 1, and keep your plan's letter and envelope as proof. Picking a new Medicare Advantage plan means you never use the right.

For the 323 people on Medicare under 65: OIC calls your choices narrower, and CMS's roster of states that make insurers cover under-65 Medigap buyers leaves Washington off. Call SHIBA first.

Where to get help from Adams County

• SHIBA statewide line: 800-562-6900, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday to Friday. Adams County's local SHIBA sponsor is Action Health Partners in East Wenatchee (888-452-0731), but OIC's page on October 26, 2026 showed this for the office: "Currently not accepting appointments. For assistance, call Medicare at 1-800-633-4227."
• 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227; TTY 1-877-486-2048), any time except some federal holidays.
• Aging & Adult Care of Central Washington is the Area Agency on Aging. The Community Living Connections office listed for Adams County is in Moses Lake, at 1336 South Pioneer Way (509-766-2568, toll-free 800-572-4459).
• Othello Senior Center, 755 N 7th Ave, Othello, listed by the City of Othello among its community facilities.

All of this rests on federal Medicare rules and Washington law, while the letter from your plan pins down your dates; if something doesn't add up, 1-800-MEDICARE, SHIBA or a licensed agent can sort it out with you first.

Related pages: Washington statewide guide

Adams County questions

Sources

1. CMS Medicare Monthly Enrollment, July 2026
2. CMS CY2027 MA and Part D Enrollment and Disenrollment Guidance
3. Medicare.gov: Special Enrollment Periods
4. Medicare.gov: Part D costs, Extra Help and LI NET
5. HCA: Medicare Savings Program
6. HCA: Apple Health Medicare Connect
7. Washington OIC: Is your Medicare Advantage plan changing or leaving?
8. Washington OIC: Find a local SHIBA office
9. RCW 48.66.055 (Medigap guaranteed issue)
10. WA OFM population estimates
11. WA DOH hospital financial data (HOFIDAR)
12. City of Othello: community facilities