Dive Brief:

Average Medicare Advantage star ratings for 2026 are essentially flat after a few consecutive years of declines — a good sign for the industry, which had braced itself for lower quality scores.

Still, there was variation in major insurers’ results. The percentage of members in plans rated 4 stars or above, an important cutoff for payers, stayed stable for UnitedHealthcare, dropped for Humana and Aetna, and improved for Elevance and Centene — the five largest publicly traded payers in the privatized Medicare program.

Perhaps the biggest loser is Clover Health. The insurer’s largest contract covering almost all of its MA members dropped below 4 stars — a slip that could cost Clover tens of millions of dollars in earnings, analysts estimate.

Dive Insight:

The CMS quietly rele

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