For more than two years, Becker’s has reported on the intensifying trend of Medicare Advantage reimbursement fights between hospitals and insurers that has contributed to a dizzying and ever-changing environment for older adults to navigate each enrollment period.
Now, that environment is experiencing more upheaval as the nation’s largest insurers pull back from Medicare Advantage markets to protect profit margins amid new federal cost-containment measures and rising medical expenses.
This retrenchment is not entirely new, with some regional and mid-sized health plans scaling back their MA offerings for 2025 coverage. But with the biggest players now also making cuts, the ripples are getting bigger, and a wave of market exits and membership losses are reshaping the program for 2026.
Insurers that have recently pulled back on Medicare Advantage:
- Elevance Health is axing some MA plans that may struggle with long-term economic viability, affecting 150,000 people.
- Humana expects a drop of 500,000 members this year while exiting “unprofitable” plans and counties.
- UnitedHealthcare decided to discontinue some MA plans, affecting more than 600,000 members.
- Aetna said in 2024 it was prepared to lose up to 10% of its MA members this year.
- In March, Cigna sold its MA business to Health Care Service Corp. for $3.3 billion.
- UCare will exit the MA market in 2026. The insurer posted an operating loss of $504 million in 2024 amid rising costs in its MA and Medicaid businesses.
- Samaritan Health Plans, part of Corvallis, Ore.-based Samaritan Health Services, will leave the MA market next year.
- Urbana, Ill.-based Carle Health will close its insurance business at the end of 2025, which includes Health Alliance and FirstCarolinaCare’s MA plans.
As national players retreat, some nonprofit and provider-owned MA plans are moving to make up ground that’s been lost in recent years. BCBS Wyoming, SCAN Health Plan, and WVU Medicine’s Peak Health have announced plans to launch or expand within the program for 2026, for instance.
Overall MA growth continues, though at a slower pace. Between 2024 and 2025, total enrollment in MA plans rose by 4%, down from 7% the year before. In 2025, 34 million Medicare beneficiaries (54% of the total Medicare-eligible population) are enrolled in MA plans, up from 33 million (53%) in 2024. In 2022 and 2023, MA grew by 8% and 7%, respectively.
Financial challenges fueling payers’ MA cutbacks may intensify the usual friction with hospitals across different insurance markets. In the second quarter of 2025, there were a total of 29 payer-provider contracting disputes reported in traditional media outlets around the country, five of which were left unresolved, according to data from FTI Consulting. Among those, 51% (15 out of 29) of disputes involved MA plans. Three disputes exclusively involved MA plans, all of which were left unresolved by the end of Q2.
