UnitedHealthcare

Healthcare Dive reported that cuts to UnitedHealthcare's dental benefits affected almost 70 percent of its members, citing Leerink analyst Whit Mayo. UnitedHealth Group said all members would have access to $0 primary-care and preventive-care services.

Healthcare Dive reported that UnitedHealthcare was removing about 690 Medicare Advantage plans for 2027. It reported that Humana was removing about 2,400 plans.

With insurers having told investors which 2027 plans will end on December 31, members learn by letter in early October, leaving a window before open enrollment closes on December 7. Those whose plan is terminated get a guaranteed-issue right to buy Medigap if they return to Original Medicare, a protection lost if they simply pick another MA plan.

UnitedHealthcare said it would eliminate 30 percent of prior-authorization requirements beginning October 1, 2026. The reduction includes commercial, Medicare Advantage, Medicaid, and Affordable Care Act plans.

The Villages Health System agreed to a $541.5 million settlement resolving self-disclosed False Claims Act allegations concerning Medicare Advantage diagnosis codes. The U.S. Department of Justice alleged that unsupported codes increased Medicare Advantage payments; the settlement did not determine liability.

A preliminary broker filing indicated that UnitedHealthcare was considering leaving 34 Medicare Advantage counties in 12 states for 2027. The filing was not final.

Second-quarter results showed seniors served through Medicare Advantage had contracted by 965,000 in the first half of 2026, and UnitedHealthcare CEO Tim Noel told analysts the 2027 bids relied on benefit adjustments and selective exits to protect margins. Trade reports later put the 2027 county exits in the dozens across a dozen states.

KFF's annual enrollment update put 2026 MA penetration at 55 percent with UnitedHealthcare and Humana still holding almost half the market, but found enrollment growth slowing sharply, employer and union group plans down by about 31,000, and UnitedHealthcare down nearly 647,000 between March 2025 and March 2026 while Humana gained 1.3 million.

A Healthcare Dive analysis of CMS enrollment files showed 35.5 million people in Medicare Advantage in February 2026 versus 34.4 million a year earlier, growth of about 3 percent against a historical pace of up to 10 percent. UnitedHealthcare fell to just under 9.4 million from 10.3 million before open enrollment; Elevance, Centene and CVS lost 14, 4 and 3 percent of members; Humana was the big gainer.

On its fourth-quarter call UnitedHealthcare CEO Tim Noel said membership losses would exceed the company's plan because an intensely competitive enrollment season drove more plan-shopping than expected; the 2026 approach favoured margin over volume. UnitedHealth's full-year guidance implied MA membership of 7.2 to 7.3 million, down from about 8.4 million.

CMS posted the 2026 star ratings on the Plan Finder on October 9, 2025. About 207 MA-PD contracts, 40 percent, earned four or more stars, and the enrollment-weighted average rating edged up to 3.98 from 3.95. The ratings set the 2027 quality bonus payments that feed into the 2027 rate announcement.

As the 2026 plan files went public, UnitedHealthcare confirmed it would leave Medicare Advantage entirely in 16 markets, affecting about 180,000 members, and offer plans in one fewer state and 109 fewer counties. Humana cut 194 counties and three states, and Aetna about 90 plans across 100 counties; Elevance added counties but left the standalone Part D market.

Reporting second-quarter results under returning CEO Stephen Hemsley, UnitedHealth said outpatient medical costs were running well above expectations and that its insurance arm would leave plans covering over 600,000 people for 2026, mostly PPOs, and might also shrink its Affordable Care Act footprint. UnitedHealthcare CEO Tim Noel said the company would prioritise margin over membership.

After months of press reports, UnitedHealth Group disclosed in an 8-K that it had approached the Department of Justice and was complying with formal criminal and civil requests about its participation in Medicare, while insisting its practices were among the most accurate in the industry. The probe centred on risk-adjustment coding in Medicare Advantage; the company also launched a third-party review of its policies.

At an HHS roundtable, Aetna, Humana, UnitedHealthcare, Elevance, Centene, Cigna, Kaiser Permanente, the Blues and AHIP committed to six voluntary reforms across Medicare Advantage, Medicaid managed care and commercial plans: fewer services subject to prior authorization in 2026, real-time electronic approvals and honouring other insurers' decisions by 2027. A year later, KFF Health News found insurers hedging on the promises.