My Medicare Advantage plan is ending. I live in Lakewood. Now what?

Lakewood's city website says something you won't see on many city pages: a SHIBA volunteer meets people at Lakewood City Hall on the first and third Wednesday of each month, by appointment, through the Senior Activity Center (253-983-7786). That's useful if your Medicare Advantage plan just told you it's ending on December 31. There's a wrinkle, though, and it's the first question below.

Can I actually get a SHIBA appointment at City Hall?

Maybe. The city's Senior Activity Center page still advertises the Wednesday SHIBA appointments. But when we checked the state's own "Find a local SHIBA office" page on October 26, 2026, the Pierce County listing (Sound Outreach, the county sponsor) said: "Currently not accepting appointments. For assistance, call Medicare at 1-800-633-4227." Every local SHIBA listing in the state showed that line. So call the Senior Activity Center before you walk over with your paperwork, and have a backup: SHIBA's statewide line, 800-562-6900, staffed 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on weekdays, or 1-800-MEDICARE, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, except some federal holidays.

How many people in Lakewood are dealing with this?

Medicare counts aren't published by city. The closest figures:

City Medicare enrollment is not published; county figures are shown for context.

Put plainly: Lakewood has more than ten thousand older residents, and across the county a bit over half of people with Medicare are in Medicare Advantage and other health plans. CMS doesn't say how many of them are in plans that are leaving.

What happens if I just let it go?

This is the question I'd spend the most time on, because "nothing" is a real choice with real effects.

Coverage under your current plan runs to the last day of 2026. Pick nothing, and on New Year's Day Medicare files you under Original Medicare. That isn't the same as being uninsured: Parts A and B carry on, and you can use any doctor or hospital that takes Medicare.

What you lose is everything the plan added. Most Medicare Advantage plans include Part D, and in Pierce County 86,770 people get their drug coverage that way. On January 1 that coverage is just gone. No one signs you up for a stand-alone drug plan unless you get Extra Help, in which case CMS reassigns you. Everyone else pays full pharmacy prices until a new Part D plan starts, and if the gap reaches 63 days, Medicare can add a late penalty to your premium for as long as you have drug coverage.

If I land in Original Medicare, can I fix it in January?

Yes, but on a deadline people misread. Members of a non-renewed plan get a special enrollment period that opens December 8, 2026 and closes at the end of February 2027. A January pick takes effect February 1; a February pick, March 1.

Here's the trap. There's a separate first-quarter window, January through March, that people hear about and assume covers them. It doesn't, if Medicare defaulted you. CMS limits that window to people who are members of a Medicare Advantage plan on January 1. Default to Original Medicare and your door to a new Medicare Advantage plan shuts with February. (Someone who signs up with a new Medicare Advantage plan effective January 1 does keep that one extra switch through March 31.)

Do I lose my chance at a Medigap policy if I wait?

Not if you act inside the window. Washington's RCW 48.66.055 turns a plan exit into a guaranteed issue event for anyone moving to Original Medicare, so Medigap companies can't screen you on health. OIC's practical advice is a November 1 or later application; filed before year-end, the policy can begin January 1. The window shuts March 4, 2027. Hang on to the notice and the envelope it came in. The plan letters available to you depend on when you first got Medicare; the Washington plan-discontinued guide lists them.

Is St. Clare Hospital in the new plans?

That's exactly the kind of question to answer before you pick. St. Clare Hospital on Bridgeport Way SW is Lakewood's hospital on the state Department of Health list. If you look at another Medicare Advantage plan, look up St. Clare and each of your doctors in that plan's 2027 network, by name. Under Original Medicare, a hospital that accepts Medicare will take you without a network question.

CMS also lists Madigan on Joint Base Lewis-McChord, but it's a Department of Defense hospital, so it doesn't belong in a civilian network comparison. Getting onto the base for anything, including Pierce Transit's JBLM Runner service, requires an approved Department of Defense ID.

How do I get to a new doctor without driving?

Pierce Transit's bus fare is $1 a ride for anyone 65 or older or holding a Medicare card, once you have a Regional Reduced Fare Permit. If a disability keeps you off the regular bus, apply for SHUTTLE, Pierce Transit's paratransit service; eligibility follows ADA rules, not age. Pierce Transit also offers free travel training for older riders who want to learn the routes.

For everything from rides to caregiver help, Pierce County Aging and Disability Resources answers at 253-798-4600. More county detail is on the Pierce County page.

Medicare's federal rules and Washington law govern everything above, and the dates printed in your own plan letter are the ones that count; check with 1-800-MEDICARE, SHIBA or a licensed agent if anything here doesn't line up with your notice.

Related pages: Washington statewide guide · Pierce County · Bonney Lake · DuPont · Edgewood · Fife · Gig Harbor · Puyallup · Sumner · Tacoma · University Place

Quick answers for Lakewood

Sources

1. City of Lakewood: Senior Activity Center
2. WA OIC: Find a local SHIBA office
3. WA OIC: Is your Medicare Advantage plan changing or leaving?
4. CMS CY2027 Enrollment and Disenrollment Guidance
5. CMS Medicare Monthly Enrollment, July 2026
6. U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2020-2024, table B09020
7. WA OFM April 1, 2026 population
8. CMS Hospital General Information
9. Pierce Transit: Runner
10. Pierce Transit: Fares
11. Pierce Transit: SHUTTLE paratransit
12. Medicare.gov: Part D costs and late penalty