Humana Medicare Advantage Changes: 2025–2027 Timeline
If you have a Humana Medicare Advantage plan, there's a good chance you've felt some version of this whiplash over the last two years: a letter in the mail, a plan that quietly disappeared, a benefit that used to be there and now isn't.
You're not imagining it, and you're not alone.
Quick Answer: Since 2025, Humana has announced multiple rounds of Medicare Advantage plan reductions, market exits, and membership declines as it works toward long-term profitability.
That included roughly 500,000 affected members heading into 2026, and now roughly 600,000 more heading into 2027.
For you, that means: watch your mail closely each fall, and know that a plan ending isn't the same as losing Medicare coverage. You'll have options, and in some cases a Guaranteed Issue Right into a Medicare Supplement plan.
Our goal with this page is to keep you informed, not to steer you toward one type of coverage. Medicare Advantage is still a good fit for a lot of people. It just isn't a "set it and forget it" decision anymore, and this page exists to help you track what's actually changed and what to do about it.
Does This Affect You?
This page is most relevant if you:
- Currently have a Humana Medicare Advantage plan
- Received an Annual Notice of Change (ANOC) you weren't expecting
- Received a Non-Renewal Notice
- Heard your county may lose Humana plan options for 2027
- Are weighing Medicare Advantage against a Medicare Supplement plan
The Timeline: 2025, 2026, and 2027
Instead of writing a new article every time Humana announces another round of cuts, we're keeping this one page updated as the story develops. Here's what's happened so far, and what's coming.
2025: The Warning
Before any cuts actually took effect, Humana and CVS executives told Wall Street they'd take "substantial pricing actions" to shore up their Medicare Advantage margins.
Humana's CFO said the company expected membership declines as it exited certain unprofitable counties.
At the time, this was a forecast — a signal that reimbursement pressure was building, not yet a list of specific plan cancellations.
2026: 500,000 Members Affected
The forecast became reality. Humana confirmed it would shed roughly 500,000 Medicare Advantage members by exiting unprofitable plans and counties.
It recaptured about 40% of them into other offerings it still runs nearby — "recapture" just means a member moved into a different Humana plan rather than leaving the company altogether.
Humana wasn't alone — UnitedHealthcare cut plans covering over 600,000 members, and Aetna dropped roughly 90 plans.
Humana's footprint shrank by three states and 194 counties heading into 2026.
2027: 600,000 More Affected
On its Q2 2026 earnings call, Humana said it plans to exit additional plans for 2027, affecting roughly 600,000 members — about 8% of its 7.2 million Medicare Advantage members.
The company again expects to recapture about 40% of those members, or roughly 240,000 people, into other plans it keeps.
This came despite Humana adding more than a million new members in 2026 by keeping richer benefits than competitors.
The company has told investors it is working toward long-term profitability targets while reshaping its Medicare Advantage business.
Primary source material: Humana's own Investor Relations news releases, or see Healthcare Dive's coverage of the announcement.
We'll keep adding to this timeline as Humana's 2027 Annual Notice of Change letters go out and more specifics become public.
Why Some Members Are Affected — and Others Aren't
A question we hear a lot: "Humana affected 500,000 members — why wasn't I one of them?"
Humana doesn't eliminate every Medicare Advantage plan nationwide. Most changes happen at the county and plan level, not company-wide.
Whether you're affected depends on where you live, which specific plan you're enrolled in, and how Humana decides to reshape its offerings in your particular market.
Many members see little or no change at all in a given year, while others receive a Non-Renewal Notice and have to actively choose new coverage.
Both outcomes are normal, and neither one reflects anything about your specific situation — it's a market-by-market business decision on Humana's end.
Either way, you won't lose Medicare coverage itself, and you'll have enrollment protections to fall back on.
Why This Keeps Happening
It's easy to assume these changes are simply cost-cutting, but the reality is more complicated.
Several industry-wide forces are putting pressure on Medicare Advantage insurers — not just Humana. See our broader look at why Medicare Advantage plans change every year for the bigger picture.
- Rising medical utilization. Seniors have been using more care — including more expensive care — coming out of the pandemic, and that drives up insurers' costs.
- The V28 risk-adjustment model. CMS phased in a new way of calculating how much insurers get paid based on a member's health risk score, and it reduced payments for a lot of plans compared to the old model.
- Star ratings and quality bonuses. Plans are scored from 1 to 5 stars, and that score affects how much extra bonus money CMS pays the insurer. Humana's star ratings have slipped in recent years, which has meaningfully reduced its bonus payments.
- Medical loss ratio requirements. Insurers are required to spend a minimum share of premium dollars on actual medical care, which limits how much they can offset rising costs simply by raising premiums.
- CMS reimbursement rates. Even a favorable annual rate update doesn't always keep pace with what it actually costs insurers to deliver the same benefits, according to industry groups. You can review the government's own rate-setting process at the CMS Advance Notice and Rate Announcement hub, and general plan-year guidance directly at Medicare.gov's official Plan Finder.
Over the past two Annual Enrollment Periods, we've noticed a few patterns show up again and again with Humana members specifically.
Pattern 1: the doctor who quietly left the network. A couple last fall didn't realize their cardiologist's hospital group had dropped out of their PPO network until they tried to schedule a January appointment.
We found a comparable plan during their Special Enrollment window, but it would have gone more smoothly if they'd called the week the ANOC arrived instead of after a canceled appointment.
Pattern 2: the OTC card that shrank. Several clients didn't notice their over-the-counter allowance had been cut until they tried to order their usual supplies and the balance came up short.
Pattern 3: the prescription that moved tiers. A client's maintenance medication jumped from a low copay tier to a much higher one between plan years, which only showed up once we sat down and compared the new formulary line by line against the old one.
What Doesn't Usually Change
With all this focus on cuts, it's worth balancing the picture. A few things tend to stay stable even in a volatile year:
- Your Original Medicare Part A and Part B benefits are federal and don't change because an insurer is restructuring its Advantage plans.
- Core medical benefits — deductibles and out-of-pocket maximums — tend to move more slowly than supplemental extras, since insurers know those are the numbers seniors compare most closely.
- Your guaranteed-issue rights if a plan is discontinued are protected by federal rule, not by the insurer's goodwill.
- Enrollment periods stay the same every year — the Annual Enrollment Period still runs October 15 through December 7, regardless of how many plans a given company is cutting.
What You Should Do
Whether or not you're directly affected by a 2027 exit, this is the season to pay closer attention to your mail than usual. Two letters matter most:
| Letter | What It Means | What To Do |
|---|---|---|
| ANOC (Annual Notice of Change) | Your plan continues, but something is changing — premium, copays, drug coverage, or network | Compare the new terms against your actual doctors and prescriptions before AEP |
| Non-Renewal Notice | Your plan will not continue next year | Contact us or shop new coverage right away — don't wait for AEP to start looking |
The official CMS explainer on these letters is available at medicare.gov's upcoming plan changes page.
Why a Plan Termination Can Create an Unexpected Opportunity
Receiving a Non-Renewal Notice is frustrating. But for some beneficiaries, it can also open a door that many people never get access to.
Outside of your initial Medigap Open Enrollment Period, most people who want to switch from Medicare Advantage to a Medicare Supplement plan have to go through medical underwriting.
Outside of a few exceptions, you generally can't just enroll in Medigap anytime you'd like.
Depending on your health, that can mean being declined, or charged a higher premium in states that permit it.
However, if your Medicare Advantage plan is discontinued through no fault of your own, federal Guaranteed Issue protections may let you enroll in certain Medicare Supplement plans without answering health questions and without being turned down for a pre-existing condition.
For beneficiaries who've developed a serious health condition since they first enrolled in Medicare Advantage, this can be one of the few chances to get into Medigap coverage without underwriting standing in the way.
It's a potentially valuable opportunity that many people don't realize they have. Not everyone qualifies, though — it depends on the exact reason your coverage ended and the rules in your state.
Confirm your specific situation and enrollment deadline before deciding anything, and take a look at these common Medigap shopping mistakes before you enroll.
If you decide to stay in Medicare Advantage instead, our look at which plans gained and lost ground and our broader piece on why people leave Medicare Advantage plans are both worth a read before you re-enroll.
Bottom Line
Humana has announced two consecutive years of significant Medicare Advantage plan reductions and market exits as it reshapes its business around long-term profitability goals.
That's not a reason to panic, but it is a reason to stop treating your plan as something you pick once and ignore.
If you get a Non-Renewal Notice this fall, don't wait — and don't assume your only option is another Medicare Advantage plan.
If you're not sure where to start, a licensed agent can help you compare what's actually available in your county.
Ask whether you qualify for a Guaranteed Issue Right into a Medicare Supplement plan.
For beneficiaries with health conditions who couldn't otherwise pass medical underwriting, this may be a valuable opportunity to enroll in Medigap without health questions — one that many people don't realize they have.
If you get an ANOC and your plan is simply changing, take fifteen minutes to check it against your actual doctors and prescriptions before assuming nothing important shifted.
We'll keep updating this page every earnings season, so bookmark it rather than searching for a new "Humana [year]" article next year — this is the one place we'll keep the full story current.
FAQs
- Does Humana cutting plans mean I'm losing my coverage?
- Why does Humana keep saying it will "recapture" members?
- Is Humana the only insurer making these kinds of cuts?
- Should I switch to a Medicare Supplement plan?
