One carrier at a time. For each we count its plans in the CMS file — how many it sells, where, how many cost nothing, how much they cap your spending and how they score on stars — and set that against its enrollment, its network changes and anything on the public record. We show the method, and we say where a figure is our own calculation rather than a published statistic.
Cigna’s Medicare business is now HCSC’s HealthSpring. For 2027 it sells in 478 counties instead of 948, its cost protection has slipped to roughly market average, and fewer than one in twenty of its plans is rated four stars.
509 Blue-branded Medicare Advantage plans are sold for 2027 by nineteen separate companies. That is why nobody can tell you whether Blue Cross is any good — and what to look at instead.
For 2026 nearly three quarters of Aetna’s plans were rated four stars. For 2027 it is fewer than half. It also still parks more than a third of its plans at the legal out-of-pocket maximum. We counted all 654.
For the second year running, every rated Kaiser Medicare Advantage plan scores four stars or better. The catch is that it sells in 118 counties out of 3,131, barely half its plans are free, and it no longer sells a single PPO.
For 2026 only a third of Humana’s plans reached four stars. For 2027 it is 93.6%, the best of any national insurer. We counted all 861 of its 2027 plans — and the eight hospital systems that left are still gone.
The biggest Medicare Advantage insurer in the country just lost three points of market share. We counted all 852 of its 2027 plans: still the widest reach, but its star-rating lead is gone and Humana now beats it on price and ratings.
