Major insurers are retrenching their Medicare Advantage strategies as federal cost‑containment measures and rising medical expenses squeeze profitability. Amid the growing financial pressures the industry has faced for nearly two years, the largest MA carriers are cutting supplemental benefits, exiting unprofitable markets and dropping entire product lines ahead of the upcoming annual enrollment period.
“We have made the difficult decision to exit plans that currently serve over 600,000 members, primarily in less managed products such as PPO offerings,” UnitedHealthcare CEO Tim Knoll told investors in July. “We have taken similar approaches for Medicare supplement, Group MA, and standalone Part D pricing for next year. We will be watching the market closely as the 2026 Medicare offerings become public so we can better assess our market positioning and respond quickly.”
Humana, the second-largest MA insurer, expects to lose up to 500,000 members by the end of 2025 as it continues to exit plans and geographic markets that do not have a clear path to profitability. That projection is an improvement over earlier 2024 guidance of a 550,000-member decline, as Humana has already recaptured 40% of those beneficiaries into other offerings it says are now priced for long-term sustainability.
“We were transparent almost two years ago in discussing utilization trends we are seeing and the impact of V28, and we have made adjustments each year since then,” George Renaudin, president of Humana’s insurance segment, told investors in July. “We’re the only plans to reduce benefits in any way in 2024, and we reduced more benefits that were more significant than just about all of our competitors in 2025.”
Similarly, CVS Health signaled a “margins over membership” pivot last year for its MA offerings through Aetna. Executives warned investors that the insurer could lose up to 10% of its MA members in 2025 as the company exits unprofitable counties.
In its second quarter earnings call with investors, CVS leaders said the company is focused on restoring margins to its 3% to 5% target range, with plans to reprice half of its MA products in 2026 to reflect higher medical utilization.
“While we are pleased with the improvements we are seeing at Aetna, we continue to see pressure in our healthcare delivery business driven by higher medical benefit ratios at Oak Street,” CVS President and CEO David Joyner said. “As we look ahead, we will maintain this intense focus, continuing to diligently execute against our margin recovery plan.”
Meanwhile, Cigna exited the MA business altogether in 2024, selling its MA portfolio to Health Care Service Corp.
Despite the pullbacks, MA enrollment is still growing, though at a slower pace. Between 2024 and 2025, total enrollment in MA plans rose by 4%, down from 7% growth 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.
