What happens in an MA bid, and when is it due?
The bid is where your market thesis becomes a priced product: benefits, member premium and rebate allocation, county by county, submitted in HPMS. The deadline is the first Monday in June and it is statutory — CY2027 bids were due June 1, 2026; CY2028 bids are due June 7, 2027.
It does not move.
What this stage actually is
Between the Rate Announcement in early April and the bid in early June you have roughly eight weeks to rebuild your pricing model on final CMS assumptions, design the benefit package, and get an actuary to certify it. This is the densest stage in the cycle.
What you must do
- Rebuild the model on the Rate Announcement, not the Advance Notice. For CY2027 this mattered enormously: CMS proposed an average payment change of +0.09% in the Advance Notice and finalised +2.48%, on an effective growth rate of 5.33%. Anyone who priced off February’s number was off by more than two points.
- Build the Bid Pricing Tool and Plan Benefit Package for every plan and segment, in HPMS.
- MAPD only: build the Part D bid and submit the formulary for review.
- Set benefit design, member premium and rebate allocation against the county benchmark and the local competitive set — county by county, not against a national average.
- Certify actuarial soundness and submit through HPMS before the deadline.
Key dates
| What | When | Date status |
|---|---|---|
| Advance Notice | Jan 2026 → ~Jan–Feb 2027 | published → projected |
| Rate Announcement | Apr 6, 2026 → Apr 5, 2027 | statutory — first Monday in April |
| Bid due | Jun 1, 2026 → Jun 7, 2027 | statutory — first Monday in June |
| CMS bid review | Jun–Aug | pattern |
About the dates on this page. CY2027 dates are published CMS facts. CY2028 dates marked statutory are fixed by regulation. Dates marked projected are the pattern from the CY2026 and CY2027 cycles — CMS has not published them yet, and we relabel them the day it does. How we label data and dates →
CMS forms, systems and references
- Part C bid forms and technical instructions (BPT, PBP)
- Contract Year Part D bidding instructions
- Part C Bid Review Memorandum
- Medicare Managed Care Manual, Chapter 11
Common mistakes
- Pricing off the Advance Notice. CY2027 swung 2.4 points between proposed and final.
- Buying share with year-one benefits you must claw back in year two. The benefit takeaway that follows is the most reliable predictor of disenrollment and CAHPS damage — and it lands exactly when your first star rating is being measured.
- Forgetting you have no stars. A new contract has no rating, so no quality-bonus rebate. Your rebate percentage is structurally below an established competitor’s. Price for that.
- Treating the PBP as paperwork. It is the product spec that the EOC, marketing, Plan Finder and claims configuration all inherit.
Tips for success
- Benchmark the incumbent’s Part B giveback, dental/vision/hearing, OTC allowance and MOOP in each target county, not in aggregate.
- Model Part D under the redesigned benefit — the out-of-pocket cap and manufacturer discount structure changed the economics materially versus pre-IRA models.
- Reserve a two-week buffer before the first Monday in June. First-time sponsors consistently underestimate HPMS submission mechanics.
The data you need for this stage
- Spend & benefit design — Part D parameters, OOP-cap effects, benefit-value trends
- Plan benchmarking — the competitive benefit and star set in your counties
- Policy impact — what the CY2028 rate notice changes relative to CY2027
So what / Now what
The bid is the only moment in the year when you set price and benefit. Everything after it is execution against a number you can no longer change.
- Benchmark your target counties now — the eight weeks between the Rate Announcement and the bid are not enough time to also do research.
- Start with benefit and Part D benchmarks, then check the local star set in Plan benchmarking.
- Build the model so the Rate Announcement assumptions can be swapped in on day one, not rebuilt from scratch.
Provenance — sources and date status
- Source files
- Medicare Managed Care Manual, Chapter 11; CY2027 MA and Part D Final Rule; CY2027 Rate Announcement; CY2027 Part D Bidding Instructions
- Vintage
- CY2027 cycle published; CY2028 cycle not yet posted by CMS
- Last updated
- July 24, 2026
- Refresh cadence
- At each CMS cycle milestone (application posting, Advance Notice, Rate Announcement, final rule)
- Method
- CY2027 dates are transcribed from CMS materials. CY2028 dates are either statutory (bid = first Monday in June; Rate Announcement = first Monday in April; ANOC receipt = Sep 30; marketing start = Oct 1; AEP = Oct 15–Dec 7) or projected from the CY2026 and CY2027 cycle pattern.
- Known limitations
- Projected dates are not CMS commitments and must be confirmed against the CMS application page and HPMS memos when the CY2028 cycle opens. Network adequacy standards and application procedures change between cycles — verify current-cycle instructions rather than reusing prior-year guidance.
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