Nearly 9,000 people in Texas and New Mexico have to find new Medicare coverage for 2027. CHRISTUS Health Plan is ending its Medicare Advantage coverage on Dec. 31, 2026, and the company’s own Medicare page says it plainly: “CHRISTUS Health Medicare Advantage coverage ends December 31, 2026.”
The member count comes from trade-press reporting, not from CHRISTUS. InsuranceNewsNet, in a story carried from Becker’s on Oct. 2, puts the number at nearly 9,000 members across 36 Texas counties and 8 New Mexico counties, all in HMO plans under Medicare contract H1189.
Anyone in one of those HMO plans has a short list of jobs. The plan will not exist on Jan. 1, so a replacement has to be chosen, and Medicare’s yearly Open Enrollment runs from Oct. 15 to Dec. 7. People who want new coverage to start on Jan. 1 need the new plan to receive their request by Dec. 7. That leaves about eight weeks to settle on three things: which prescriptions the new plan covers, whether the family doctor and the nearest hospital are in its network, and what the year will cost in total.
Weighing a replacement plan comes down to drugs, doctors and cost side by side. The 2027 Medicare Open Enrollment Decision Kit includes a cost calculator spreadsheet that compares plans on cost, drugs and doctors, along with a prescription-by-plan comparison.
Compare replacements for a CHRISTUS Medicare Advantage plan →
What CHRISTUS has told members so far
The CHRISTUS page does not give a reason for the exit. It does give members a number to call, 1-844-282-3026, for questions about coverage, and a nurse line at 1-844-581-3174 that runs around the clock. The page also carries a line meant to reassure patients: “CHRISTUS Health is still here for your care.” That points to a split between the insurance plan, which is ending, and the CHRISTUS hospitals and clinics, which are not.
That split matters for the choice ahead. A new plan is a separate company’s product, and whether it pays for care at CHRISTUS facilities depends on that plan’s network, not on the hospital’s good intentions.
A hospital-owned plan is not the only one leaving
CHRISTUS is part of a wider pullback. The InsuranceNewsNet report says seven of the 11 carriers quitting individual Medicare Advantage for 2027 are owned in whole or in part by hospital systems. Members of those plans face the same calendar, but each exit has its own end date and its own notice.
Three roads after Dec. 31
Medicare describes the options for people whose Advantage plan ends. The first is a different Medicare Advantage plan from another insurer, which bundles hospital and doctor coverage and usually drug coverage. The second is Original Medicare with a separate drug plan. The third is Original Medicare alone.
Medicare’s special enrollment page says what happens to someone who does nothing: “You’ll be enrolled in Original Medicare if you don’t join another Medicare Advantage Plan before your current plan ends.” The same page warns that people who give up drug coverage “may have to pay a Part D late enrollment penalty” if they join a drug plan later.
So landing in Original Medicare by default has a cost of its own. Someone who takes several daily prescriptions and drifts into Original Medicare without a drug plan can end up paying more, and for longer, than someone who picked a plan on purpose.
If Dec. 7 passes
Missing the Open Enrollment deadline does not leave members without any option. The same Medicare page says that when a plan is not renewed, people can choose new coverage between Dec. 8 and the last day of February of the following year. In 2027 that is Feb. 28. Coverage chosen in that period does not begin on Jan. 1, though, so the safest path to unbroken coverage is to act before Dec. 7.
Comparing replacement plans before Dec. 7
The no-cost tool is Medicare’s Plan Finder, where a person can search for plans in a home ZIP code. Before opening it, gather the list of every prescription with its dose, the names of all doctors and specialists, and the pharmacy used most. The goal is to compare total yearly cost for each plan, not just the monthly premium.
Then call each doctor’s office and ask whether it accepts the specific plan being considered for 2027. Plan lists on the web are not always current, and a network that includes a hospital system does not always include every clinic in it. CHRISTUS members can also call the plan’s own line, 1-844-282-3026, for help with the transition.
Medicare’s rule sets the schedule: Open Enrollment runs “October 15-December 7,” with coverage starting January 1 as long as the plan receives the request by Dec. 7. Any plan notice that shows a different date should be raised with the plan.
For the calls to doctors’ offices and the weeks of the Open Enrollment calendar, The 2027 Medicare Open Enrollment Decision Kit adds a provider call script and the Open Enrollment calendar inside its 42-page decision kit.
Get the call script and calendar for the CHRISTUS plan switch →
This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
