Of all the states, Wyoming faces the steepest Medicare Advantage price tag for 2027. The average monthly premium there climbs from $45.91 to $69.23 according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, a rise of $23.32, or 51%, on a lineup that shrinks from 14 plans to 8.
$45.91 to $69.23: the arithmetic of a 51% increase
The figures come from Wyoming’s page in the CMS 2027 landscape fact sheets: the average monthly Medicare Advantage plan premium “changed from $45.91 in 2026 to $69.23 in 2027.” Subtracting gives $23.32 more a month. Dividing $23.32 by $45.91 gives 51%. Over twelve months the average difference comes to about $280, a figure derived here from the sheet and not one CMS prints.
No other state comes close on the dollar change. Idaho has the next-largest increase, up $10.12 from $27.81 to $37.93, and Connecticut rises from $16.89 to $25.31. Wyoming’s jump is more than double either.
Minnesota, South Dakota and Hawaii trail behind
Being priciest is a statement about the level as well as the change. After Wyoming’s $69.23 the highest 2027 state averages are Minnesota at $59.40, South Dakota at $56.04 and Hawaii at $53.04. Minnesota’s is a decline from $69.11 a year earlier, according to Becker’s Hospital Review, and Hawaii’s slips from $53.44, so both are falling toward the pack while Wyoming rises above it. The ranking itself comes from comparing every state row on the CMS sheets.
Sylvia Xu, writing for The Epoch Times on Sept. 29, reported that Wyoming faces “the largest jump, from nearly $46 a month in 2026 to over $69 a month in 2027.” Her account also sets the state against a national average that CMS says is falling to $12 from over $14.
Fourteen plans become eight
The premium rise arrives alongside a smaller lineup. The Wyoming sheet counts 8 Medicare Advantage plans available in 2027 against 14 in 2026, a 43% cut that Xu describes as the steepest plan decline of any state. Six fewer plans in a state with a small population means fewer alternatives for someone whose plan leaves, and less room to move if a premium rises.
The counts are plans available in Wyoming, not plans in each county. A rural county may have had fewer than 14 to begin with and may now have only a couple. Nothing on the sheet says which counties lost which plans, or whether the eight survivors are the cheaper or the costlier ones.
Set against the other states, Wyoming is an outlier on both counts at once. Ohio loses 32 plans while its average premium falls from $12.12 to $9.00, and Florida loses 51 while its average moves only from $1.83 to $2.13. Wyoming pairs the largest premium increase with one of the sharpest reductions in choice, which is why its sheet stands out among the state rows.
An average premium is not one household’s price
The $69.23 is an average across plans. The fact sheet does not define its weighting, and the national $12 figure in CMS’s Sept. 28 announcement is described as enrollment-weighted, so the two are not built the same way. A few plans with high premiums can lift the average without touching what the most popular plan charges.
The sheet also reports that everyone with Medicare in Wyoming still has access to a Medicare Advantage plan with a $0 monthly premium. That leaves two different Wyoming experiences under one average. A member of a $0 plan sees the headline figure as background. A member of one of the pricier plans sees the increase land in the monthly budget, and can only judge that by looking at the exact plan.
When Wyoming’s 2027 choices lock in
Medicare.gov sets the same window every year: sign-up runs Oct. 15 to Dec. 7, the chosen plan has to have the request in hand by that last date, and the new coverage starts Jan. 1. That window is when a member of a plan whose 2027 premium rises can compare it against the other seven Wyoming plans and against Original Medicare with a Part D plan.
The yearly arithmetic is what a tight household would feel. A plan priced at the 2026 average of $45.91 costs about $551 over twelve months in premiums, and one priced at the 2027 average of $69.23 costs about $831, a gap of roughly $280 before any copays or deductibles. Those totals multiply the state averages by twelve and describe no particular plan.
Nothing in the sheets says the average will hold once enrollment settles. CMS’s figures are the plan-year offerings as scheduled for 2027, and the premium a member actually pays is set by the plan the member is in on Jan. 1, which can differ from both the state average and the plan that member holds today.
The Wyoming row on the CMS sheet reads: average monthly premium $45.91 in 2026 and $69.23 in 2027, and 8 plans available against 14, the largest premium increase in the country.
Wyoming’s premium jump, weighed against eight remaining plans
Wyoming’s 2027 fact sheet shows the largest average premium increase in the country and a lineup cut from 14 plans to 8. An average across plans does not show what one member’s own plan will charge, or whether one of the remaining plans costs less once that member’s drugs and doctors are counted.
The 2027 Medicare Open Enrollment Decision Kit includes a cost calculator spreadsheet that compares plans on cost, drugs and doctors, plus the Open Enrollment calendar for the Oct. 15 to Dec. 7 window.
Compare plan costs, drugs and doctors before the Dec. 7 deadline →
An AI assistant helped prepare this article; every figure was compared with the CMS Wyoming fact sheet before publication.
