UnitedHealthcare and Humana are carrying out a Medicare Advantage discontinuation by UnitedHealthcare and Humana that will affect nearly 1 million people in 2027. The changes reach about 390,000 UnitedHealth Group members and about 600,000 people in a Humana MA plan.
Humana CFO Celeste Mellet said during a July earnings call that about 600,000 people are in a Humana MA plan that is ending in 2027. That figure amounts to about 8% of Humana’s nearly 7.2 million MA members.
UnitedHealth Group and Humana
UnitedHealth Group spokesperson Eric Hausman said about 390,000 members will be affected by the plan closures. UnitedHealth Group reported having 7.6 million members at the end of Q3, which shows the company is trimming coverage for a sizable slice of its Medicare Advantage business even as the broader membership base remains large.
CMS has described MA 2027 plan options as stable with lower average premiums. That sits alongside a different picture from insurers and analysts: an Oct. 1 analysis of the Medicare Plan Finder by Leerink Partners found that many major carriers cut dental benefits and raised enrollees’ cost-sharing requirements in MA for 2027.
Leerink Partners Analysis
The same analysis said Clover Health, UnitedHealthcare, Humana, and Centene are seeing the biggest prioritization of margin over growth. It also said Humana was the only payer among those four that did not decrease dental allowances.
Brooks Conway, a principal at Oliver Wyman actuarial consulting, said, “In most regions, for a long period of time, if you wanted to be a competitive Medicare Advantage insurer, you needed a $0 product,” and added, “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.”
2027 Coverage Choices
The practical step for affected members is to review 2027 plan options through Medicare Plan Finder and compare benefits, premiums, and out-of-pocket exposure before choosing a replacement. Alexis Levy, a senior partner at HealthScape Advisors, said, “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, and in many cases, they may not,” which matches the pattern of narrower benefits and higher cost-sharing now showing up across MA.
The open issue for members is which exact Humana and UnitedHealthcare plans will disappear and which alternatives they will be offered. The numbers already show the scale: nearly 1 million people are being pushed to reassess coverage before 2027 begins.
