If you or someone you love is on a Molina Medicare Advantage plan, there’s a letter coming in October that you don’t want to set aside with the rest of the mail. Molina Healthcare has confirmed it is walking away from its traditional Medicare Advantage business entirely, and every member on one of those plans will need to pick new coverage before the end of this year’s Annual Enrollment Period.
This one is easy to miss because it doesn’t come with the drama of a hospital dropping a network or a carrier pulling out of a single state. It’s a company quietly closing an entire product line — which, in practice, is one of the more disruptive changes a Medicare beneficiary can face, because it happens to everyone on the plan at once.
What’s Actually Changing
Molina is discontinuing all of its traditional (non-dual) Medicare Advantage Prescription Drug plans, effective January 1, 2027. The decision was actually first disclosed to investors back in February 2026, but it’s only now translating into action that members will notice: formal non-renewal letters are set to go out in October, and coverage under these plans ends for good on December 31, 2026.
This isn’t a small book of business, either. Molina had approximately 117,000 members in these plans in 2025, with enrollment expected to fall to about 80,000 during 2026, according to 24/7 Wall St — which tells you the shrinking has been underway for a while. This final round simply finishes the job.
Importantly, Molina isn’t leaving Medicare altogether. The company is keeping and even growing its dual-eligible Special Needs Plans — the ones built for people who qualify for both Medicare and Medicaid — and has said it’s pursuing new dual-eligible contracts in several states. So if you know someone on a Molina plan, the first thing worth checking is which kind of plan they actually have, because the answer changes what happens next.
Why This Is Happening
This fits a pattern we’ve been watching all year: national carriers are pulling back from the broad, general-population Medicare Advantage market and putting their resources into dual-eligible plans instead. Dual-eligible members bring more predictable revenue and tighter care-management requirements that reward the kind of coordinated care Medicaid-experienced insurers are built for. For a company like Molina, whose roots are in Medicaid managed care, doubling down on duals and exiting standard MA is a logical business move — even though it leaves tens of thousands of ordinary Medicare Advantage members needing to start over.
Why This Matters for You
The risk here isn’t just “find a new plan.” It’s what happens if you don’t. If a Molina member does nothing, their Medicare Advantage Prescription Drug coverage simply ends on December 31. Without an active choice, that can mean a gap in prescription drug coverage — and potentially a Part D late-enrollment penalty that follows you for as long as you have Medicare, because the clock doesn’t stop just because your old plan disappeared.
The good news: a full plan discontinuation like this comes with real protections. Affected members get a dedicated enrollment window to pick a new Medicare Advantage plan or move to Original Medicare with a standalone Part D drug plan, without being treated as if they’re enrolling late through any fault of their own — as long as they act within the window tied to the notice.
What You Can Do
Don’t wait for the October letter to start thinking about this. Here’s the short version:
- Confirm whether the plan in question is a traditional Molina Medicare Advantage plan or a dual-eligible Special Needs Plan — they’re being treated very differently.
- Once the notice arrives, read it in full. It will spell out the exact deadline and what happens by default if no choice is made.
- Compare replacement options on the same terms that mattered with the old plan: which doctors and hospitals are in-network, what the drug formulary covers, and what the real out-of-pocket costs look like — not just the premium.
- Get this settled during this year’s Annual Enrollment Period, October 15 through December 7, so coverage picks up cleanly on January 1 with no gap.
This kind of change is exactly why we tell clients not to treat Medicare Advantage as a “set it and forget it” decision, even when nothing about their health has changed. The plan itself can change out from under them. If you or a family member has a Molina Medicare Advantage plan — or you’re just not sure what kind of plan you’re on — reach out to Burke Insurance Group for a free, no-pressure review. We’ll help you sort out exactly what’s ending, what your options are, and get you into coverage that actually fits before the December 7 deadline.
We do not offer every plan available in your area. Any information we provide is limited to those plans we do offer in your area. Please contact Medicare.gov or 1-800-MEDICARE to get information on all of your options.
