Nearly one million Medicare Advantage members are losing their plans heading into 2027. The more pressing question for those clients is what the replacement options actually deliver.
UnitedHealthcare (UHC) confirmed to Healthcare Brew that approximately 390,000 members are in plans being discontinued. Humana CFO Celeste Mellet said during the company’s second-quarter 2026 earnings call on July 29 that about 600,000 members are in plans the company is exiting. That represents roughly 8% of its 7.2 million MA enrollees.
Both companies’ exits are part of a broader two-year contraction driven by a sustained spike in utilization and medical costs. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) finalized a roughly $13 billion payment increase for 2027 MA plans. That increase has helped stabilize the market on paper but has not reversed the benefit-cutting trend across the industry.
The plan options available to displaced members are leaner than they were. An October 1 analyst note from Leerink Partners, cited by Healthcare Brew, found that major carriers broadly cut dental benefits and raised cost-sharing for 2027. Primary care costs were largely kept flat. $0 premium plans, long a staple of MA, are also thinning out.
“In most regions, for a long period of time, if you wanted to be a competitive Medicare Advantage insurer, you needed a $0 product,” Brooks Conway, a principal at Oliver Wyman actuarial consulting, told Healthcare Brew. “In 2026 and continuing into 2027, you’re either seeing no options for a $0 product or the benefits that are associated with that $0 product becoming leaner.”
Alexis Levy, senior partner at HealthScape Advisors, made the same point from the enrollee side. “A senior may be able to keep their plan, but that doesn’t mean they’re going to have the same level of benefit that they had from the previous year,” Levy told Healthcare Brew.
The benefit picture is also changing structurally, not just in terms of what plans cost. UHC focused its 2027 cuts on preferred provider organization (PPO) plans, continuing a strategy that prioritizes health maintenance organization (HMO) and special needs plans (SNPs). Humana cut selectively, targeting plans rated 3.5 stars or lower rather than trimming uniformly across its portfolio, Mellet said.
The pivot away from PPOs follows the cost logic behind the exits. PPOs allow broader network access and carry higher costs than HMOs, making them harder to price profitably. SNPs carry higher margins and serve enrollees with more complex needs, which allows for tighter care management.
SNP enrollment reflects that strategic shift. According to KFF, SNPs accounted for 83% of total MA enrollment growth between 2025 and 2026, reaching more than 8 million enrollees. Chronic condition special needs plans (C-SNPs) grew 45% over the same period. An earlier report on the Medicare Advantage market noted the SNP surge as a contrast to the broader pullback, with Levy describing C-SNPs as the market’s current growth engine.
The exits are partly a calculated bet on member retention. Humana expects to recapture a significant portion of affected members into other plans it offers. The company retained just over 40% of members from its 2025 exits and anticipates a similar rate this cycle.
UHC’s strategy centers on steering displaced PPO members toward HMOs and SNPs. On the company’s October 13 earnings call, UHC president Bobby Hunter said the cuts reflect a more disciplined approach to how the company manages its plan portfolio.
Members whose plans are ending have a guaranteed-issue right to purchase a Medigap policy without medical underwriting if they return to Original Medicare. That right applies when a plan exits their county. Medigap plans carry monthly premiums but offer broader network access than replacement HMOs.
