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Star Ratings Stable For SY 2026 Despite the government shutdown, the Star Year 2026 Ratings data tables are out. The three-year downturn in Star ratings appears to have ended, but SY 2026 was relatively flat to SY 2025. The average Star rating moved from 3.65 in SY 2025 to 3.66 in SY 2026. Of the 481 MA contracts rated in both SY 2025 and SY 2026, about 29% (140) of contracts saw ratings drop a half a Star or more, 26% (125) of contracts saw ratings increase a half a Star or more, and about 45% (216) stayed the same. The number of contracts at 4 and greater is about the same at just over 200. I suspect enrollment in these plans is about the same too, which was about 64% in 2025. But about a quarter of contracts at 4 or greater are different. As in the past there

More Brand Drug Makers Scramble To Make Deals With Trump Big brand drug makers are scrambling to make deals with President Trump after Pfizer scored White House praise for making drug price concessions. Some of the other firms are upset with Pfizer as it increases pressure on them to cut deals as well. The White House says agreements could be announced as soon as this week, but the timing could slip. I have a blog coming tomorrow on drug price reform so far this year and why the brand drug makers are hoodwinking Trump and his advisors with these deals. See it at the blog tab tomorrow. In other news, a federal appeals court unanimously rejected a Novo Nordisk challenge to Medicare’s drug price negotiation program for 2025 negotiations. The ruling will allow the government to lump together products with the same ingredients for the purpose of choosing drugs for

Medicare Part D Program For 2026 Analyzed Healthcare policy group KFF does its usual fabulous job analyzing Medicare Part D. In its new briefer, KFF sends a bit of a cautionary tale. While choice continues to exist in standalone Part D (PDP), the program continues to face financial headwinds and contract. KFF finds: A series of misguided cost-sharing reductions made by Democrats in the Inflation Reduction Act has created a difficult financial environment for Part D, causing plan exits and eroded benefits. The total number of stand-alone drug plans available in 2026 will fall for the third year in a row, as plan sponsors scale back their PDP offerings. But plans did their best to keep premiums low to avoid even greater concerns. Consumers likely will see higher costs within the benefit design. The big question is what will happen if and when the special premium stabilization program expires. Additional

Government Shutdown Continues: Trump and Oz Signal Openness On ACA Credits Democrats again voted down a GOP government funding bill on a fifth attempt. The same three Democratic caucus members supported the measure, but it fell short of the 60 votes needed to pass in the Senate. Democrats are seeking to tag the government closure as a healthcare shutdown, arguing business cannot resume unless expiring Exchange premium enhancements are extended and other healthcare cuts are rescinded. Polls seem to show that Republicans are being blamed more for the shutdown than the Democrats, but the split is razor thin at 52-49. A healthcare policy group KFF poll also finds that more than three-quarters of Americans want the tax credit enhancements to continue. And about 3 in 4 people said they will blame Trump or the GOP if they end. Republicans and Democrats both appear to be unrelenting in their position, but

SNP Benefits Continue Growth As more becomes known about Medicare Advantage (MA) 2026 benefits, one trend continues. Special Needs Plan (SNP) investments remain strong. Despite notable MA contraction overall again, SNP benefit packages kept growing for 2026. SNP benefit offerings will grow overall by 33%. Regular MA plans will see a contraction of 9%, with Institutional or I-SNPs dropping 6%. Dual Eligible or D-SNPs will grow by 15% and Chronic Care or C-SNP packages by 42%. D-SNPs still dominate overall numbers in terms of benefit packages and enrollment. Investments in C-SNPs are occurring as a hedge. C-SNPs carry increased regulatory requirements, but not to the extent of D-SNPs, which are undergoing major integration between the Medicare and Medicaid programs. The growth also is occurring because the ability to have too many SNP “look-alikes” was reined in through a recent rule. There are a few plans behind this major growth in

Humana Reports No Progress On Dismal Star Ratings A shocker announcement today. Humana, the second largest Medicare Advantage (MA) health plan, told regulators and investors that its Star ratings remained largely steady and did not recover from a catastrophic low. What’s more, based on how enrollment looks to pan out in 2026, its percentage of members in 4 Star or greater plans will drop from 25% in 2025 to 20% in 2026. Historically, Humana has been a high performer. In 2024, it had 94% of members in 4 Star or greater plans. The collapse of Star ratings for Humana in 2025 and now 2026 has cost billions in annual revenue. A good share of the drop in 2025 resulted from a lower Star rating in a nationwide contract with millions of enrollees. Humana was said to be addressing the concentration of enrollees in that one contract but apparently the time

Glimpse At MA Plan Contraction for 2026 The Medicare Plan Finder for Medicare plans went live today and gave us a glimpse of the plan contractions in Medicare Advantage (MA) for 2026. The recent release of the so-called landscape files did so as well. The number of plans nationwide remained about stable at 5,600 products, but this is a net of expansions and contractions. Major health plans contracted in a number of areas and especially contracted the Preferred Provider Organization (PPO) product. An ATI Advisory analysis says individual MA plans will decrease 9% compared with 2025. Individual excludes Special Needs Plans (SNPs) and employer group MA. Individual Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs) and SNPs grew.  Chronic Care SNPs are up 42% from 2025. United county penetration is down 4% nationally, while Humana is down about 6.8% and Aetna down 4.4%. Both Elevance Health and Centene are expanding coverage, up 2.7% and

Trump Delivering On Drug Price Reductions? President Donald Trump came out swinging a few months ago by promising drug price reductions for Americans. And while his policymaking can be seen as messy, in this case it seems to be paying dividends. After recently announcing 100% tariffs on brand drugs, at least one big maker has come to the table with some concessions. Pfizer agreed to provide all of its prescription drugs in the Medicaid program at Trump’s desired most-favored-nation (MFN) drug pricing (where the U.S. would get the lowest price given in any developed country). Pfizer also agreed to offer many of its drugs at a significant discount direct to consumer. Savings will be as high as 85% and be about 50% on average. The administration indicates other deals are in the works. The White House also announced it was rolling out a direct-to-consumer website with medications at discounted prices.

2026 Medicare Advantage Fallout Despite the announcement of a stable Medicare Advantage (MA) environment in 2026 by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) last week, more predictions that 2026 could be a rocky road for both plans and enrollees. Modern Healthcare has a good article on the possible impacts. It says UnitedHealthcare, Humana, Aetna and Elevance Health have all canceled products. Many are announcing elimination of broker commissions for some products and trimmed benefits and networks. There also have been plan pullouts. Deft Research says a record 9.8 million, or 28%, could switch plans, compared with 23% in 2025. This is not those forced to switch due to plan terminations. Some plans, though, are expanding. And investments will continue to be made in Special Needs Plans (SNPs). Humana says it will maintain supplemental benefit investments. At the same time, at least 29 health systems are dropping MA plans

Federal Judge Strikes Risk Adjustment Audit Rule A federal court has vacated the 2023 Medicare Advantage (MA) Risk Adjustment Rule finalized during the Biden years. The court nullified the entire rule not just portions of it. I will write more on this in a blog in coming days. Humana challenged the rule in September 2023 on several grounds:  The court found that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) did not follow the procedural requirements of the Administrative Procedures Act. There were inadequate notice requirements. CMS did not justify its decisions via the comment period, either. Because of the potential harm to plans, the court vacated the rule entirely. The harm really would have been pronounced via retroactive application. Books are closed for prior periods for MA plans. Plans never even had a chance to reserve dollars for potential recoupments as the new rule was published years later. Indeed,