Marc Ryan

Elevance Reports Caution, But Better News Than United Elevance Health reported 2025 financial news today and its status is better than imploding UnitedHealth Group. That led to a recovery to some degree in its stock price today. Elevance beat The Street on profit in Q4 2025 but missed on revenue. The company reported $547 million in profit for Q4, up from $418 million in Q4 2024. However, its $49.3 billion in Q4 revenue fell short. It did have almost 10% growth year over year. For the full year, Elevance Health brought in $197.6 billion in revenue, up 12.8% from 2024’s $175.2 billion. Profits were down by 5.3% compared to 2024, decreasing from $6 billion to $5.7 billion. Elevance did report that it will see declining revenue in 2026, though. And profit could be constrained as well. This is tied to shedding of membership to right the financial ship as well as governmental

CMS Defends Flat Rates But Contraction Coming; UnitedHealth Crashes The Trump administration’s top Medicare official is defending the meager proposed Medicare Advantage (MA) increase for 2027, saying the administration is a big supporter of MA. Large plans stocks dropped dramatically today after the after-hours’ announcement yesterday. Analysts, trade groups, and plans are saying that yet another major contraction could occur in 2027. Benefits, products, and geographies began contracting in 2024, with major changes in 2025 and 2026. While the economic growth rate was generous, the administration proposed two risk adjustment changes that will take nearly all of the 5% trend away. Some expect a contraction of enrollment from the 2026 enrollment season when statistics come out soon. I have doubted this, but it very well could happen. Trump officials justify the risk adjustment changes and flat hike as an effort to combat overpayments in the program. In other news, UnitedHealth

MA Hit Hard By Proposed 2027 Rate Hike The Trump administration threw Medicare Advantage (MA) for a loop tonight as it issued the 2027 Advance Notice of rates and set a meager projected hike. MA plans just weathered a three-year phase-in (2024 to 2026) of the new v28 model. By my calculation, that took about 7% out of rates. With skyrocketing utilization, plans had hoped for a 2027 hike that exceeded the rough 5% hike in 2026. But Trump’s Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has now proposed two new risk adjustment reforms that take the almost 5% economic growth inflationary hike down dramatically – almost to 0. This will send stocks of major insurers dropping tomorrow for sure. The draft calls for a 0.09% payment increase. That is an increase of roughly $700 million in MA payments for 2027 compared with $25 billion in 2026! When considering estimated

CareFirst Sues on Star Ratings The now annual tradition of a Medicare Advantage (MA) plan suing over Star ratings continues. CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield is suing the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) over its 2026 Star Ratings, alleging improper calculations cost the insurer an estimated $32 million in quality bonus payments. The plan says CMS departed from its own guidance when it used corrected patient safety data released after the close of the plan preview period to calculate Star Ratings. CareFirst says it received a 3.5-star rating instead of 4 Stars for a contract with about 30,000 enrollees. CareFirst says its Drug Plan Quality Improvement Measure for the contract was impacted by CMS contractor Acumen updating data after the close of the Plan Preview period. CMS has a hard rule that issues must be raised by plans before or during Plan Preview 1 and CareFirst says that CMS should

Health Plan CEOs Grilled On Affordability It was a bipartisan bashing of health plan CEOs on Capitol Hill today as both parties sought to protect themselves from healthcare affordability fallout. While the GOP was more sympathetic to the plan executives, they engaged in a great deal of attacks as well. The issues covered included the following: In other news, the House passed its final four appropriations bills and they now go to the Senate. This needs to happen soon to avoid a partial shutdown. Further, lawmakers accused CVS Health of violating antitrust laws by restricting independent pharmacies from working with digital pharmacy competitors to protect its market position. Last, Cigna said its plan to end drug rebates will reduce earnings by $500 million to $600 million. Additional articles: https://www.modernhealthcare.com/politics-regulation/mh-health-insurance-ceo-hearings-live-updates/ and https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-01-21/cvs-health-may-have-violated-antitrust-laws-republican-lawmakers-say and https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/payers/insurance-ceos-set-back-back-congressional-hearings-affordability and https://www.beckerspayer.com/payer/house-committee-accuses-cvs-of-impeding-pharmacy-competition/ and https://www.modernhealthcare.com/insurance/mh-cigna-earnings-drug-rebates/ and https://www.beckerspayer.com/payer/vertical-integration-is-destroying-peoples-ability-to-access-care-payer-ceos-face-bipartisan-congressional-grilling/ and https://www.beckerspayer.com/payer/cvs-health-cuts-prior-authorizations-expands-rebate-sharing/ and https://thehill.com/homenews/house/5701980-house-government-funding-bills/ and https://www.healthcaredive.com/news/house-budget-committee-healthcare-affordability-consolidation/810149/ (Some articles may require a

UHG To Give Profits Back To Exchange Enrollees In an effort to forestall charges against it over healthcare affordability, UnitedHealth Group announced today that it plans to give profits from its Exchange plans back to customers in 2026. Several top executives from the biggest plans will appear before two House committees Thursday as the GOP seeks to insulate itself from the affordability crisis. UnitedHealthcare offers plans on the exchanges in 30 states, and it expanded its service area in 11 of those regions. It is unknown how much money that is or if United will make a profit. Additional articles: https://www.modernhealthcare.com/insurance/mh-unitedhealth-aca-rebates-congress/ and https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/payers/unitedhealth-ceo-hemsley-says-insurer-will-rebate-aca-profits-consumers and https://www.healthcaredive.com/news/unitedhealth-to-return-aca-profits-to-customers-hemsley/810183/ and https://www.modernhealthcare.com/politics-regulation/mh-stephen-hemsley-david-joyner-congress/ (Some articles may require a subscription.) #unitedthealthcare #healthplans #congress #affordability #exchanges https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/5699770-unitedhealth-group-affordable-care-act-profits Cigna May Settle FTC Insulin Suit Cigna may settle the administrative Federal Trade Commission (FTC) case over allegations it artificially raised insulin prices. The FTC said it suspended the case to

Bipartisan Lawmakers Announce Deal To Keep Government Open A bipartisan deal was announced that would keep the federal government open for the rest of federal fiscal 2026 (to Septemeber 30) and enact long-sought healthcare changes. Given the bipartisan and bicameral nature of the deal, the bill likely can be passed by the end of July when the government would otherwise partially shut down. But some fear conservatives in each chamber could oppose the deal on budgetary grounds. Medicare telehealth coverage would be extended for two years. The Medicare hospital-at-home program would be extended for five years. The bill would also move further toward site-neutral payments in Medicare. Medicare Advantage (MA) plans would be required to maintain accurate provider lists and patients who visit providers erroneously due to bad data would only have to pay in-network rates. The bill doesn’t include limits on MA prior authorization. The bill also boosts pay to physicians participating in