UnitedHealthcare and Humana, the two largest Medicare Advantage insurers by enrollment, are ending plans that affect a cumulative nearly 1 million people for 2027.

UnitedHealth Group spokesperson Eric Hausman confirmed that about 390,000 of its members will be impacted by plan closures, while Humana CFO Celeste Mellet said on a July earnings call that roughly 600,000 people are in a Humana plan ending next year — about 8% of the company's nearly 7.2 million Medicare Advantage members.

Both companies told Healthcare Brew, reported by Fortune, that the cuts target low-margin plans rather than being spread evenly across the business.

The pullback marks a sharp break from years of aggressive growth.

For a long time, Oliver Wyman principal Brooks Conway told Healthcare Brew, insurers needed a $0-premium product to be competitive in most regions — but in 2026 and into 2027, enrollees are seeing either no $0 options or leaner benefits attached to them.

The change extends to standalone Part D drug plans, where a KFF analysis cited by Fortune finds roughly 4 million enrollees who paid $0 premiums last year no longer have that option, though low-income subsidy recipients may still qualify for $0 premiums.

An October 1 Leerink Partners analysis of the Medicare Plan Finder, described by Fortune, found major carriers cutting dental benefits and raising enrollees' cost-sharing for 2027, typically while keeping primary care costs the same.

Fortune reports that among Clover Health, UnitedHealthcare, Humana, and Centene — the four payers prioritizing margin over growth — Humana was the only one that didn't decrease dental allowances, and Clover raised maximum out-of-pocket costs by $1,144 for all sampled members, the largest increase of any payer sampled.

HealthScape Advisors senior partner Alexis Levy told Healthcare Brew that a senior who keeps a plan may not get the same level of benefits as the previous year.

The cuts follow a spike in utilization and medical costs over the past couple of years that caught insurers off guard; UnitedHealth Group's stock tumbled in 2025 after high Medicare Advantage costs, and the company has since shrunk its membership to 7.6 million at the end of Q3, according to Fortune.

Experts told Healthcare Brew that payers are shifting enrollees into narrower-network HMOs and special needs plans, which allow tighter utilization control and higher margins, while chronic special needs plans remain the market's growth engine, as Levy put it.

When a plan ends, Conway explained, the goal is either to lose the customers or move them to pared-down, more profitable plans — with Humana hoping to recapture a significant portion of its 600,000 affected members.