UnitedHealthcare and Humana are ending Medicare Advantage plans that together affect nearly 1 million people, marking one of the clearest signs yet that payers are still pulling back from the program in 2027. UnitedHealth Group said about 390,000 members will be hit by plan closures, while Humana CFO Celeste Mellet said in July that about 600,000 people are in a Humana MA plan that is ending next year.
The timing matters because the 2027 plan year is already drawing attention from older Americans trying to compare options now. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has described MA 2027 plan options as stable with lower average premiums, but the details tell a different story for many enrollees: experts say insurers are raising cost-sharing, moving people into narrower networks and trimming supplemental benefits after several years of higher utilization and medical costs.
That shift shows up in the numbers. An Oct. 1 analysis of the Medicare Plan Finder by Leerink Partners found that many major carriers cut dental benefits and increased cost-sharing requirements in MA for 2027. The report said many carriers kept primary care costs the same, but the overall direction was toward tighter coverage. Clover Health, UnitedHealthcare, Humana and Centene were flagged as showing the biggest prioritization of margin over growth, while Humana was the only payer in the report that did not decrease dental allowances.
The pullback is also changing what a cheap plan looks like. Brooks Conway said that for years a $0 product was often essential for a competitive Medicare Advantage insurer, but in 2026 and continuing into 2027, plans with $0 premiums have dropped or become leaner. There are no longer $0 premiums offered to 4 million standalone Part D drug plan enrollees who got them last year, although people who qualify for low-income subsidies may still get them.
Alexis Levy put the practical effect plainly: a senior may keep the same plan name and still lose the benefit package that made it attractive in the first place. That is the tension in 2027, and it is why the biggest number in this story is not the premium but the member count. UnitedHealth Group reported 7.6 million members at the end of Q3, and Humana said the 600,000 affected people amount to about 8% of its nearly 7.2 million MA members. The specific plans being closed were not identified, but the direction is clear: the companies are shrinking, not expanding, what they are willing to offer next year.
