Medicare Advantage plan availability is shifting for the 2027 plan year, and the changes cut deeper than the national numbers suggest.
The exits are part of broader Medicare Advantage premiums and plan changes for 2027.
CMS projects roughly 5,532 MA plans nationally in 2027 — down only 21 from 2026 — and says more than 99% of beneficiaries will have access to at least one plan. That headline sounds reassuring. It is also misleading if you run a medical practice.
A KFF analysis of CMS plan files estimates 3.1 million people in Medicare Advantage drug plans will have their current plans terminated at the end of 2026. National plan counts staying flat does not mean your patients’ plans stay active in their counties.
For practices, January 2027 means patients arriving with different payers, different networks, different authorization requirements — and sometimes no MA plan at all.
TLDR
Eighteen named Medicare Advantage plan organizations are reported to end or withdraw offerings for 2027. This does not mean all MA coverage will end in these markets; some parent companies will continue other plans.
| Plan organization | Reported 2026 market |
| BCBS of Texas | Texas |
| BCBS of Oklahoma | Oklahoma |
| BCBS of Montana | Montana |
| Wellmark BCBS | Iowa and South Dakota |
| Patrius Health | Mississippi |
| NextBlue of North Dakota | North Dakota |
| CHRISTUS Health Plan | Texas and New Mexico |
| Memorial Hermann Health Plan | Texas |
| Providence Health Plan | Oregon, Washington, and Orange County, California |
| Aspirus Health Plan | Wisconsin |
| Saint Alphonsus Health Plan | Idaho |
| Mass Advantage | Worcester County, Massachusetts |
| Sharp Health Plan | San Diego County, California |
| Braven Health | New Jersey |
| ConnectiCare | Connecticut |
| CarePartners of Connecticut | Connecticut |
| iCircle | New York |
| WellSense Health Plan | New Hampshire |
These are the organizations’ reported 2026 service areas, not necessarily counties losing all Medicare Advantage options.
How many Medicare Advantage members are affected?
The numbers depend on what you count and who counted it. Here’s what the two most reliable sources report.
KFF’s October 27 analysis of CMS plan files estimates that about 2.8 million people are in general-enrollment MA-PD plans scheduled to end, plus roughly 300,000 in Special Needs Plans — totaling 3.1 million MA members in terminated plans.
KFF also identifies 1.2 million members in stand-alone Part D plans that are ending, bringing the broader total to 4.3 million across both private Medicare coverage types.
The Part D figure is a separate issue from MA plan exits; don’t combine them into a single Medicare Advantage count.
For practices, the critical takeaway is not that 3.1 million people will lose Medicare. Most will either select a new MA plan, get moved into a consolidated plan by their insurer, or return to Original Medicare. The disruption is operational, landing in your front desk’s lap right after the holidays:
- New plan IDs that don’t match your system
- Different networks with different provider panels
- Changed authorization rules
- Updated claims-routing details
2027 MA CHANGES BY THE NUMBERS
What the KFF and CMS data actually show
3.1M
MA members in terminated plans
2.8M general-enrollment MA-PD + ~300K SNP
193
Counties with no MA-PD option
Up from 123 counties in 2026 (general-enrollment)
18
Plan organizations exiting MA
Some parent companies continue other MA offerings
Sources: KFF analysis (Oct 27, 2026) of CMS plan files; KFF county analysis (Nov 5, 2026); Becker’s Payer Issues. CMS projects 99%+ beneficiaries retain access to at least one MA plan nationally.
Not all changes are the same — five important categories
Before scanning the exit list, understand what “leaving” actually means in each case. The word covers five different situations, and confusing them creates either unnecessary panic or dangerous complacency.
Plan termination or nonrenewal
A specific plan product ends for 2027, and enrolled members must choose new coverage or default to Original Medicare
County or service-area exit
A plan remains available elsewhere but drops specific counties from its footprint
Plan-organization exit
A named insurer or brand stops offering certain MA products, though the parent company may continue other plans
Plan consolidation
Members get moved to another plan from the same insurer, generally staying in MA unless they actively leave
Product withdrawal
An insurer stops standard MA-PD plans but continues Special Needs Plans or other restricted offerings (Molina’s situation, for example)
KFF’s termination estimate includes county-level plans with at least 11 members in June 2026 that are unavailable for 2027. It excludes:
- Cost plans
- Employer-group plans
- PACE Plan consolidations are counted separately because affected members generally remain enrolled in MA.
Which plan organizations are exiting for 2027?
Becker’s Payer Issues reported 18 payer organizations exiting MA offerings for 2027.
The list below reflects their 2026 service areas — not areas where all Medicare Advantage coverage will disappear.
Verify individual plan and county details against the latest CMS landscape file and insurer notices before making patient-level decisions.
Blue Cross Blue Shield exits
The heaviest geographic concentration of exits falls across BCBS-affiliated plans. Six separate Blue organizations are ending MA products across eight states — though the parent company HCSC continues HealthSpring MA offerings in some Texas and Oklahoma counties.
| Plan organization | 2026 service area | Important exception |
| BCBS of Texas | 227 Texas counties | HCSC continues HealthSpring MA plans in some TX counties |
| BCBS of Oklahoma | 58 Oklahoma counties | Current MA HMO members transitioning to HealthSpring for 2027 |
| BCBS of Montana | 39 Montana counties | No continued MA offering reported |
| Wellmark BCBS | 98 Iowa + 43 South Dakota counties | Confirm exact brand and CMS parent-company labeling |
| Patrius Health (BCBS Mississippi) | 26 Mississippi counties | Patrius is the BCBS MS Medicare Advantage offering |
| NextBlue of North Dakota | All 53 North Dakota counties | BCBSND continues Medicare Supplement and MedicareBlue Rx Part D |
If your practice operates in Texas, Oklahoma, or Montana and has a significant MA patient panel through Blue-branded plans, the transition matters operationally even where HealthSpring continues — because the following will change:
- Plan name and plan ID
- Network composition
- Authorization requirements
Health-system and regional plan exits
Several health-system-affiliated plans are also ending MA coverage, reflecting a broader trend of hospital systems retreating from the insurance business.
| Plan organization | 2026 service area | Context |
| CHRISTUS Health Plan | 36 TX + 8 NM counties | Health-system plan exit |
| Memorial Hermann | 6 Texas counties | MA plan ends after Dec 31, 2026; members must select new coverage |
| Providence Health Plan | 6 OR + 6 WA + Orange County, CA | Part of a broader exit from several insurance lines |
| Aspirus Health Plan | 21 Wisconsin counties | Named plan-organization exit |
| Saint Alphonsus Health Plan | 10 Idaho counties | Named plan-organization exit |
| Mass Advantage | Worcester County, MA | Plan shutting down entirely |
| Sharp Health Plan | San Diego County, CA | Continues employer-group MA plans only |
Northeast and specialty plan exits
If we look at Northeast and specialty organizations:
| Plan organization | 2026 service area | Context |
| Braven Health | All 21 New Jersey counties | Joint-venture plan organization; don’t assume all Horizon BCBS coverage ends |
| ConnectiCare | All 8 Connecticut counties | Owned by Molina; distinguish from Molina’s continued SNP offerings |
| CarePartners of Connecticut | 7 Connecticut counties | Separate joint-venture plan organization |
| iCircle | 14 New York counties | D-SNP offering; affects plan-eligible members specifically |
| WellSense Health Plan | All 10 New Hampshire counties | Named plan-organization exit |
One important caveat belongs here. Clear Spring Health left the MA market on June 1, 2026, so it should not be described as a new January 1, 2027 exit — even though it appears on some lists alongside the 2027 departures.
Large carriers are cutting county footprints too
The 18 named plan-organization exits tell only part of the story. The largest MA carriers are also trimming their county-level availability — sometimes by hundreds of counties.
KFF’s November 5 analysis of CMS landscape files reports MA-PD county exits and entries for the largest parent organizations.
| Parent organization | Counties exited | Counties entered | Net change |
| Health Care Service Corporation (HCSC) | 498 | 0 | -498 (includes Blue-branded exits) |
| Centene | 359 | 15 | -344 |
| UnitedHealth Group | 228 | 9 | -219 |
| CVS Health | 186 | 63 | -123 |
| Elevance Health | 66 | 10 | -56 |
| Humana | 62 | 4 | -58 |
These figures describe county availability for MA-PD plans specifically. KFF excludes the following from this comparison:
- PACE
- SNPs
- Cost plans
- Employer-group plans
- MA-only plans (without drug coverage)
For MA-only plans, a county exit reduces plan choice in that county — it does not automatically mean every member in the county must leave their carrier. Some carriers enter new counties while leaving others.
KFF also finds that 193 counties in 16 states have no general-enrollment MA-PD plan available for 2027, up from 123 counties in 2026.
About 638,000 Medicare beneficiaries live in those 193 counties.
Six of those counties have an MA option without drug coverage — in the remaining 187, KFF found no general-enrollment MA plan of any kind. (Some counties may still have restricted SNP or cost-plan options.)
Humana and UnitedHealthcare: The two biggest member-impact stories
These two carriers generate the most search interest for a reason: their exits affect the most people.
Humana’s 600,000-member reduction
Humana reported during its Q2 2026 earnings that its 2027 MA plan exits will affect approximately 600,000 members. The company described the pullback as an effort to improve profitability and focus on plans with stronger returns. Humana said most affected members would be offered an alternative plan.
KFF’s analysis identified roughly 530,000 Humana members in terminated individual MA-PD plans — about 19% of the 2.8 million affected general-enrollment members in its dataset.
The two figures differ because Humana’s estimate covers all affected members while KFF’s counts individual MA-PD terminations from June 2026 enrollment data, excluding employer-group plans.
For practices with heavy Humana panels, the question is not whether patients are affected — it’s which replacement plan they end up in, and whether your practice is in that plan’s network.
UnitedHealthcare’s plan closures
CBS News reported that UnitedHealthcare is ending a Medicare Advantage plan affecting roughly 390,000 members.
UHC said affected members would have access to another UnitedHealthcare MA plan. KFF counted about 367,000 UnitedHealth Group members in terminated individual MA-PD plans.
A plan ending does not necessarily mean the member leaves UnitedHealthcare. But a replacement UHC plan can still carry:
- A new member ID
- A different benefit structure
- A changed network
For practices, a patient staying with the same carrier but switching plans creates almost as much operational work as a patient changing carriers entirely.
The eligibility check, network verification, and auth review all need to happen either way.
What this means for your patient panel
The practical impact on a medical practice depends on how many patients are in affected plans and which type of change applies. Not every patient in the numbers above will show up at your front desk with a problem — but enough will that January could get complicated if you haven’t prepared.
The areas most likely to require attention in early 2027 include the following:
Outdated Eligibility Records
Eligibility records from 2026 may reference a plan that is no longer available in the patient’s county.
New ID Cards and Claims Routing
Patients switching plans or carriers may receive new ID cards, member numbers, and claims-routing details.
Provider Network Changes
Network participation may change. Verify whether your practice, individual locations, and providers remain in-network under the new plan.
Reset Referral and Authorization Rules
Referral and prior-authorization requirements may change under a new plan, even when the carrier name stays the same.
Changes to Patient Costs and Drug Coverage
New cost-sharing and prescription coverage rules can affect treatment decisions, patient balances, and collections.
Original Medicare Claims Routing
Patients who default to Original Medicare will need claims submitted through the appropriate Medicare Administrative Contractor (MAC), rather than their former Medicare Advantage plan.
KFF notes that even members in continuing plans may face changes to:
- Covered benefits
- Provider networks
- Out-of-pocket costs
- Drug formularies The plan name staying the same does not guarantee the benefits did.
The bottom line for practices: a 2026 payer name does not prove the same plan, network, or benefits will be active in 2027. Verify before you bill.
PRACTICE ACTION ITEMS
What to verify before January 1, 2027
Identify which patients are in plans that are ending, consolidating, or leaving your county
Contact patients with January appointments to confirm their 2027 coverage and new plan details
Run eligibility for the exact date of service — not just the date the patient calls your office
Check network participation, authorization requirements, and referral rules with the new plan
Route Original Medicare patients through the MAC — not the former MA plan
January doesn’t care whether your front desk is ready
The 2027 Medicare Advantage changes are not a drill.
Millions of members are in plans that end December 31, and the first week of January will separate practices that prepared from practices that are scrambling.
The difference between a clean claim and a denial can be as simple as whether someone verified the patient’s 2027 plan ID before the visit.
MedHeave runs insurance verification 24 hours before every appointment — calling payers directly, not just running electronic checks. When plan details change, we catch it before the patient walks in, not after the claim bounces.
- Verification for every visit, confirming plan type, member ID, copay, coinsurance, and deductible
- Payer-specific billing workflows that adapt when a patient’s carrier or plan changes
- Authorization and referral management with proactive renewal tracking
- Denial response within 72 hours, including transition-related coverage denials
Frequently asked questions
Here are some commonly asked questions on this topic:
No. Medicare Advantage as a program is not ending. CMS projects 5,532 MA plans nationally for 2027 and says more than 99% of beneficiaries will have access to at least one plan. What is happening is that specific plans and insurers are leaving specific counties and markets. The disruption is local, not systemic — but it is significant for practices in affected areas.
Humana is not leaving Medicare Advantage entirely. It is exiting specific plans that cover approximately 600,000 members as part of a profitability strategy. Humana says most affected members will have access to an alternative Humana plan. KFF counted roughly 530,000 Humana members in terminated individual MA-PD plans. Both figures are legitimate but use different scopes.
Members whose Medicare Advantage (MA) plans are discontinued should select new coverage during Annual Enrollment (through December 7, 2026) or the non-renewal Special Enrollment Period (December 8, 2026-February 28, 2027). Otherwise, they generally transition to Original Medicare on January 1, retaining medical coverage but potentially experiencing changes to their plan type, provider network, covered benefits, and claims pathway.
Practices should identify patients enrolled in affected plans, matching each to its specific plan name, ID, and county rather than relying on carrier names alone. They should contact patients with January appointments to confirm 2027 coverage, verify eligibility for each date of service, and check network participation and authorization requirements under the active 2027 plan.
