Medicare by region · Miami-Dade, Broward & Palm Beach
Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Boca Raton and West Palm Beach — the most Advantage-heavy Medicare market in America, the deepest menu, and the counties UnitedHealthcare and AvMed pulled back from for 2026.
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Medicare in the region
South Florida has more people on Medicare Advantage than most entire states, and its care is spread across a dozen systems that each contract on their own terms: Baptist Health, Jackson, UHealth and Mount Sinai in Miami-Dade; Memorial, Broward Health, Cleveland Clinic and Holy Cross in Broward; Baptist’s Boca Raton Regional and the Tenet and HCA hospitals in Palm Beach. A $0-premium plan that includes your cardiologist at Baptist may exclude your oncologist at UHealth.
Monroe County and the Keys are their own market with a single hospital system and thin menus, and a lot of South Floridians split the year with the Northeast, which is where a Medigap policy’s any-provider access earns its premium.
What changed for 2026: AvMed, a South Florida institution, left the Medicare market entirely, and UnitedHealthcare cut plans in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach. Many South Floridians shopped for the first time in years. The menu is still the deepest in the state — Florida Blue, Humana, CarePlus, Aetna, HealthSpring, Devoted, Simply, HealthSun and others — and every plan rides on a different set of the region’s many hospital systems.
Counties: Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, Monroe.
Each contracts differently with each plan; we check your doctors first.
Turning 65? Your Initial Enrollment Period is the 7 months around your birthday. Already on Medicare? The Annual Election Period is Oct 15–Dec 7, and Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment runs Jan 1–Mar 31. Moving to Florida, losing a plan, or a hurricane disaster declaration each open a Special Enrollment Period.
Your options
All-in-one Part C plans, often $0 premium, that use a county network — the dominant choice in Florida, and the one that changed most for 2026.
How Advantage worksMedigap pairs with Original Medicare and works with any provider nationwide — Mayo Jacksonville, Moffitt, Cleveland Clinic, or your doctor back in Ohio.
How Medigap worksStandalone drug coverage chosen around your medications and pharmacy. 2026 out-of-pocket cap: $2,100.
How Part D worksAdvantage plans built for a chronic condition, for nursing-facility care, or for people with both Medicare and Florida Medicaid.
About SNPsQuestions from South Florida
The deepest Medicare Advantage menu in Florida, including many Dual Special Needs Plans, plus every Medigap carrier in the state and the full Part D lineup. Availability is set by county and changes each plan year; for 2026 AvMed left and UnitedHealthcare reduced its plans here.
Each system contracts with some Medicare Advantage plans and not others, and the lists change every October. With Original Medicare and a Medigap policy there is no network to check. We confirm your doctors before you enroll.
Nothing. Independent agents are paid by the carriers when you enroll, so comparing plans and reviewing your coverage each year is free to you.
Ready when you are
A short, friendly conversation — no pressure, no cost.
Written by Darin Weidauer — Gerontologist (USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology), MBA, Registered Social Security Analyst, 22-year U.S. Air Force veteran and founder of ECOS Medicare Solutions — and reviewed by Ronilin Weidauer, licensed insurance agent in Florida (NPN 19427652, FL License #W690636).Last reviewed September 4, 2026. Plan availability, benefits and costs change every plan year — verify current details at Medicare.gov, 1-800-MEDICARE, or Florida SHINE at 1-800-963-5337.