AARP Rx Preferred hits $208 a month. The drug cap is $2,400 a year.

AARP's top Medicare drug plan tops $200 a month in 33 states for 2027, more a year than the $2,400 drug cap. Rivals start at $5.30. Switch by December 7.

The Editors · Money · 7 min read · Oct 27, 2026

By the numbers

$208median 2027 monthly premium for AARP Medicare Rx Preferred across the 50 states and DC, up from $125.40

$2,400the most any Part D plan can charge you for covered drugs in 2027, deductible included

33 of 51states and DC where Rx Preferred's premium alone tops $2,400 a year

$5.30cheapest stand-alone drug plan premium in 45 states for 2027

December 7last day to switch drug plans for January 1

In 2027, AARP Medicare Rx Preferred, UnitedHealthcare's top stand-alone drug plan, charges more than $200 a month in 33 of the 50 states and DC. That's more than $2,400 a year in premiums alone. And $2,400 is the most any Part D plan can make you pay out of pocket for covered drugs in 2027, deductible included (CMS 2027 landscape file, October 2026).

So in two-thirds of the country, a member who keeps this plan pays more for the card than Medicare lets any plan charge for a full year of covered prescriptions. The median Rx Preferred premium goes from $125.40 a month in 2026 to $208.00 in 2027, by our count of CMS's plan files for both years. The cheapest stand-alone plan in 45 states costs $5.30 (CMS state fact sheets, September 28, 2026).

If you're in an AARP drug plan and do nothing, you stay in it on January 1 at the new price. Open enrollment ends December 7.

Why the AARP plans jumped

Medicare paid to hold stand-alone drug plan premiums down for two years. Its Part D Premium Stabilization Demonstration cut the average plan premium by $26 a month in 2025 and $16 in 2026, at a federal cost of $9.8 billion, and capped how much any plan could raise its premium (KFF, July 29, 2026). The 2026 cap was $50 (CMS, July 28, 2025). The demonstration ends with 2026, so 2027 is the first year in which a plan can reprice without a ceiling.

Most plans didn't move much. CMS puts the average stand-alone premium at $36.00 for 2027, up from $35.09 (CMS, September 28, 2026). Across the plans that run in both years, the median change outside the AARP brand is $9.30 a month, by our count.

The AARP plans are the exception. KFF found Rx Preferred rising $50 or more in every state and DC, by more than $75 in 37 states and more than $100 in four. Rx Saver, the cheaper AARP plan, rises $50 or more in 33 states. More than 2 million enrollees without Extra Help sat in AARP-branded plans in 2026 (KFF, October 2, 2026).

The largest single increase is in Kansas: Rx Preferred goes from $147.00 to $264.50 a month. The Pennsylvania and West Virginia Saver plan more than triples, from $43.50 to $140.60. Both figures match the CMS files.

What the $2,400 cap does to the comparison

The cap changes how you should compare plans. Every Part D plan stops charging you once your out-of-pocket spending on covered drugs hits the yearly limit. For 2027 that limit is $2,400 in every plan in CMS's file, and the deductible counts toward it.

That puts a ceiling on what a richer plan can save you. Rx Preferred's selling point is its $300 deductible against the $700 standard deductible most cheaper plans carry. The most that gap can be worth is $400 a year. Its cost-sharing before the cap may also be lower than a basic plan's, but both plans stop at the same $2,400.

The premium has no ceiling. Here is Kansas, where the gap is widest:

$5.3$15.3$21.8$126.5$131.3$264.5

View as table

Kansas stand-alone drug plans, 2027 monthly premium
label	Kansas stand-alone drug plans, 2027 monthly premium
Wellcare Value Script	$5.3
Blue MedicareRx Value	$15.3
Humana Basic Rx	$21.8
AARP Medicare Rx Saver	$126.5
SilverScript Choice	$131.3
AARP Medicare Rx Preferred	$264.5

Source: CMS CY2027 Part D landscape file, October 2026

Take a Kansas member whose drugs are covered by both Rx Preferred and Wellcare Value Script, and who reaches the cap in either plan. In Rx Preferred the year costs $3,174 in premiums plus $2,400 out of pocket: $5,574. In Value Script it costs $63.60 plus $2,400: $2,463.60. The difference is $3,110.40, and it is all premium. That's our arithmetic on CMS's published premiums.

A member with low drug costs comes out further ahead in the cheaper plan, because the most Rx Preferred can return through its lower deductible is $400.

Where the math breaks

The comparison holds only when your drugs are on the cheaper plan's formulary. A drug a plan doesn't cover doesn't count toward its $2,400 cap, so a cheap plan that leaves out one expensive prescription can cost more than a pricey plan that covers it. Pharmacy networks matter too: a plan's lowest prices often apply only at its preferred pharmacies.

Two groups are mostly outside this story. If you get Extra Help, the low-income subsidy pays some or all of your premium, and every state has at least one plan at $0 for you (BenefitsUSA). If you're in a Medicare Advantage plan, your drug coverage is part of that plan, whose average Part D premium falls to $7 in 2027 (CMS).

Nor is $5.30 universal. The cheapest stand-alone plan costs $13.30 in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Vermont, $10.30 in Hawaii, and $37.30 in New York (CMS state fact sheets). And no stand-alone plan has a $0 premium in 2027 for anyone without Extra Help. About 4 million people paid nothing in 2026 (KFF).

The $90 payment doesn't cover it

The White House announced a one-time $90 payment to about 20.8 million people in Original Medicare Part B, paid from the Medicare Improvement Fund (White House, October 2026). People in Original Medicare are the ones who buy stand-alone drug plans, so most AARP plan members are in that group.

The median Rx Preferred increase is $82.70 a month, or $992 over 2027. The $90 covers about five weeks of it. It arrives once, while the Part B premium itself is projected at $209.50 a month for 2027, up from $202.90 (Checkbook, October 15, 2026). CMS publishes the official Part B figure in November. That premium comes straight out of the 2027 Social Security COLA, which adds $75 a month to the average check.

What to do before December 7

Find your plan's 2027 premium. It's in the Annual Notice of Change your plan mailed by September 30, and on Medicare.gov's Plan Finder.
Enter every drug you take into Plan Finder, with dose and pharmacy. It prices each plan's premium plus your expected cost-sharing for the year, and flags drugs a plan doesn't cover.
Compare the yearly total, premium times 12 plus the out-of-pocket estimate. If you expect to hit the $2,400 cap in any plan, the premium is the only number that differs.
Enroll in the new plan by December 7. Joining a new stand-alone plan drops you from the old one automatically, and coverage starts January 1.

If your drugs are covered, an AARP Rx Preferred member in a state above $200 a month is paying for a plan whose premium alone exceeds the yearly cap on drug costs. Check that before the mailbox decides for you.