Medicare Metrics · Star Ratings Report Rating Year 2026
Not affiliated with the U.S. government, the Medicare program, or CMS. Reports are built from public CMS filings and are informational only.

Winners & losers in the 2026 Star Ratings

The stars moved. Here’s who fell — and who climbed.

6.7M

Medicare Advantage members are in a contract whose overall Star Rating fell for 2026 — across 140 contracts.

140  125
contracts that fell vs. climbed, 2026 vs 2025
70% → 68%
members in a 4-star-or-better contract
18
contracts earned 5 stars — double 2025’s nine

The losers’ ledger

The biggest falls, by members affected

Every row compares a contract’s 2026 overall Star Rating against its own 2025 rating. “Members” is June 2026 enrollment in that contract. Half a star sounds small — it moves quality bonus payments, plan rebates, and how the plan is allowed to market.

Contract Rating Members
HumanaH5619 · Humana Inc. 3.5 ★3.0 ★ fell 484,467
SCAN Health PlanH5425 · SCAN Group 4.5 ★4.0 ★ fell 397,260
Cigna HealthCareH4513 · Health Care Service Corporation 4.5 ★4.0 ★ fell 380,183
HumanaH4461 · Humana Inc. 4.5 ★4.0 ★ fell 375,055
UnitedHealthcareH3805 · UnitedHealth Group, Inc. 4.0 ★3.5 ★ fell 285,050
UnitedHealthcareH5322 · UnitedHealth Group, Inc. 4.0 ★3.5 ★ fell 215,789
Aetna MedicareH3959 · CVS Health Corporation 4.5 ★4.0 ★ fell 205,397

The winners’ ledger

The biggest climbs, by members affected

The other side of the churn: 7.0 million members are in a contract whose rating rose. The single biggest mover is UnitedHealthcare’s flagship H2001 — 2.2 million members — back up to 4.5 stars.

Contract Rating Members
UnitedHealthcareH2001 · UnitedHealth Group, Inc. 4.0 ★4.5 ★ climbed 2,189,800
HumanaH1036 · Humana Inc. 4.0 ★4.5 ★ climbed 842,826
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of MinnesotaH5959 · Aware Integrated, Inc. 4.0 ★4.5 ★ climbed 279,070
UnitedHealthcareH0543 · UnitedHealth Group, Inc. 3.5 ★4.0 ★ climbed 252,057
CarePlus Health PlansH1019 · Humana Inc. 4.0 ★4.5 ★ climbed 170,802
UnitedHealthcareH3387 · UnitedHealth Group, Inc. 3.5 ★4.0 ★ climbed 152,346
Anthem Blue Cross and Blue ShieldH3655 · Elevance Health, Inc. 3.5 ★4.0 ★ climbed 145,901

The extremes

The 5-star club, 2026 — largest first

  1. MCS Classicare H5577 · PR5.0 ★ 355k
  2. Medicare y Mucho Mas H4004 · PR5.0 ★ 101k
  3. Medicare y Mucho Mas H4003 · PR5.0 ★ 95k
  4. UnitedHealthcare H32565.0 ★ 56k
  5. Devoted Health H79935.0 ★ 51k
  6. Devoted Health H12905.0 ★ 50k
  7. Independent Health H33625.0 ★ 41k
  8. Leon Health H42865.0 ★ 40k

8 of the 18 five-star contracts, by June 2026 enrollment (~864k members across all 18). Devoted Health holds three of the eighteen. A 5-star contract can accept new members year-round through the 5-star Special Enrollment Period.

Hardest single falls

  1. Aetna Medicare H39284.5 → 3.0 ★
  2. BCBS Minnesota H24614.5 → 3.5 ★
  3. Wellmark Advantage H59004.5 → 3.5 ★
  4. BlueCare Plus TN H32594.5 → 3.5 ★
  5. Zing Health H46243.5 → 2.5 ★

5-star contracts by year

  1. 202020
  2. 202121
  3. 202274
  4. 202357
  5. 202438
  6. 20259
  7. 202618

The 2022 spike is the pandemic-era scoring provisions; 2025 was the post-correction floor. 2026 doubles it back to 18.

Get the full report

Every contract’s star history — for your state and your carriers.

The full Star Ratings report tracks all 769 rated contracts across seven years of releases (2020–2026), with the enrollment behind each move. We’ll send it free — and alert you the day the 2027 ratings drop in October.

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How we built this

Source
CMS Medicare Advantage Star Ratings releases, rating years 2020–2026 — the overall (summary) rating CMS publishes per contract.
Comparison
Rating year 2026 vs. 2025, same contract ID. Contracts without a numeric rating in either year (too new, not enough data) are excluded from movers.
Members
June 2026 enrollment from CMS monthly enrollment files, summed by contract. Star Ratings are contract-level, so every plan under a contract shares its rating.
Scope
769 contracts in the 2026 release; 265 moved vs. 2025 (140 down, 125 up). The enrollment-weighted average barely moved — the churn underneath is the story.