What to Do If You Lose Your Medicare Advantage Plan

By Marc Gilman

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Key Takeaways

• Medicare Advantage plan exits hit a 10-year high heading into 2026. Roughly 10% of standard HMO/PPO Medicare Advantage enrollees — about 2.9 million people, or roughly 1 in 10 — were forced to switch coverage for 2026. That’s up sharply from 6.9% in 2025, and about ten times the historical average of roughly 1% a year from 2018 through 2024.

• Rural areas are being hit hardest. Rural residents make up only about 14% of typical Medicare Advantage enrollees, but accounted for roughly 23% of everyone terminated. In Vermont, about 92% of Medicare Advantage enrollees were forced to disenroll for 2026.

• Insurers are leaving because the math stopped working for them. A risk-adjustment model that took effect in 2024 reduced government payments to insurers, while rising beneficiary usage pushed costs up further. As UnitedHealthcare’s president put it, “funding pressures, rising medical costs, rising drug costs, and increased utilization are affecting every part of healthcare” — and that’s despite a 2.48% average government payment rate increase for 2027.

• This isn’t just a 2026 story. UnitedHealth, Humana, and Aetna have all announced further cuts for 2027. UnitedHealth and Humana together affect more than 1 million seniors — about 390,000 UnitedHealth members and roughly 600,000 Humana enrollees — while Aetna is discontinuing roughly 90 plans across 34 states. Humana’s own county footprint will shrink from about 85% of U.S. counties today to just over 80% in 2027, and government projections put 2027 Medicare Advantage enrollment nationally at roughly 34 million — about 6% below current levels.

• Some 2027 exits are happening county by county, not insurer by insurer. Aetna is using “service-area reductions” rather than pulling out of a state entirely — exiting specific counties where CMS’s 2027 county-level payment ceilings fall below its projected medical costs, while keeping plans running in counties that still pencil out. The practical effect for an affected member is the same as any other non-renewal: a new plan has to be chosen.

• Despite the scale of the pullback, most people have somewhere to go. An estimated 99% of beneficiaries losing a plan had at least one alternative Medicare Advantage option available in their area for 2026 — the disruption is real, but it’s rarely a dead end. Medicare Advantage still covers about 34 million people, or 55% of all Medicare beneficiaries, nationally.

• If your plan is leaving, you’ll know by letter — and by law, insurers must notify you no later than September 30 for a change taking effect January 1. That notice (often an Annual Notice of Change, or a dedicated termination letter) explains your coverage end date and lays out your options.

• You get a dedicated enrollment window, running October 15 through the end of February — the standard Annual Enrollment Period (October 15–December 7) plus a non-renewal Special Enrollment Period that typically opens December 8 and runs about two months for anyone who hasn’t yet picked a new plan — to choose a new Medicare Advantage plan, move to Original Medicare with a standalone Part D plan, or look at Medigap.

• In certain termination situations you get guaranteed-issue rights to specific Medigap policies — no medical underwriting required — but that window is time-limited, so it’s worth acting well before it closes rather than waiting until the deadline.

• Avoid a gap in creditable drug coverage longer than 63 days. Going without it that long can trigger a Part D late-enrollment penalty that follows you permanently.

Why Are So Many Medicare Advantage Plans Being Discontinued?

Insurance companies are exiting Medicare Advantage markets for straightforward financial reasons: rising medical costs are squeezing profit margins, federal oversight of how insurers calculate member health risk has tightened, and payment adjustments have become less favorable to carriers. The pressure isn’t distributed evenly — rural markets and areas served by a single dominant health system are seeing disproportionate withdrawals, because those are often the places where a plan’s cost structure was already thinnest.

The scale of the pullback for 2026 is unusual by recent standards. Roughly 10% of enrollees in standard HMO/PPO Medicare Advantage plans — about 2.9 million people, or 1 in 10 — were forced to switch coverage, up from 6.9% in 2025 and roughly tenfold the historical average of about 1% per year between 2018 and 2024. Rural beneficiaries bore a disproportionate share of that: they’re about 14% of typical Medicare Advantage enrollment nationally, but made up roughly 23% of everyone terminated. Vermont was the most extreme case, with about 92% of the state’s Medicare Advantage enrollees forced to find new coverage for 2026.

Some of the pullback traces to a specific policy change: a risk-adjustment model that took effect in 2024 reduced government payments to insurers for Medicare Advantage members, and rising utilization has added further cost pressure on top of that. Individual carrier strategy plays a role too — Humana, for example, is discontinuing plans covering roughly 600,000 people for 2027, explicitly to “prioritize higher-performing plans” by shedding lower-rated coverage (3.5 stars or below under Medicare’s star rating system) in favor of its most profitable offerings. For context on scale, Medicare Advantage covers about 34 million people nationally — 55% of all Medicare beneficiaries — so even a pullback affecting a small percentage of the program touches a large number of people. The good news inside the disruption: an estimated 99% of those losing a plan had at least one alternative Medicare Advantage option available to them for 2026.

It’s Continuing Into 2027

The 2026 pullback wasn’t a one-year event. As of October 2026, several major carriers have already announced further non-renewals and service-area reductions for 2027:

• UnitedHealth is discontinuing coverage for roughly 390,000 members, withdrawing from about 34 counties across a dozen states, and citing “funding pressures, rising medical costs, rising drug costs, and increased utilization” affecting every part of the business — notably, it’s specifically exiting markets where PPO plans made up a larger share of its offerings, while shifting more of its footprint toward lower-cost HMO structures.

• Humana is cutting plans covering roughly 600,000 enrollees, shrinking its county footprint from about 85% of U.S. counties today to just over 80% in 2027.

• Aetna is discontinuing around 90 plans across 34 states — not by exiting entire states, but through “service-area reductions” that drop specific counties where CMS’s 2027 county-level payment ceilings fall below Aetna’s projected medical costs, while the company keeps operating in counties that still pencil out.

Combined, UnitedHealth and Humana’s 2027 cuts alone affect more than 1 million seniors, on top of the roughly 2.6–2.9 million already displaced for 2026 (estimates vary slightly by source and methodology) — putting the two-year total at nearly 3 million seniors forced to switch plans. Federal projections put total 2027 Medicare Advantage enrollment at roughly 34 million, about 6% below current levels. Notably, this is happening despite a 2.48% average increase in federal payment rates for 2027, underscoring that these are strategic profitability decisions by individual carriers — insurers describe them as “targeted withdrawals from regions where it cannot offer a competitive benefit package at a sustainable cost” — as much as they are a response to underfunding.

If you’re on a UnitedHealth, Humana, or Aetna Medicare Advantage plan, it’s worth confirming directly with your carrier — or with us — whether your specific plan and county are affected before assuming nothing has changed for next year.

How Will You Find Out, and When?

If your plan is being discontinued or pulling out of your service area, your insurer is legally required to notify you no later than September 30 for a termination taking effect January 1. That notice comes as a formal letter spelling out your exact coverage end date and the options available to you — it’s not something you have to go looking for, but it is something you need to read carefully and act on rather than file away.

What Are Your Actual Options?

Losing a Medicare Advantage plan isn’t the same as losing Medicare coverage altogether — you have real choices, and a dedicated enrollment window to make them.

1. Enroll in a different Medicare Advantage plan, if another one is available in your service area. This keeps you in the MA structure — often still with drug coverage bundled in — but means re-checking that your doctors, hospitals, and prescriptions are actually covered under the new plan’s network and formulary rather than assuming continuity.

2. Switch to Original Medicare plus a standalone Part D plan. This trades network restrictions for broader provider access (anyone who accepts Medicare), at the cost of giving up any extra benefits — dental, vision, hearing, OTC allowances — that the old Advantage plan may have bundled in.

3. Look into a Medigap (Medicare Supplement) policy. This is where timing matters most. In certain termination situations, you have a guaranteed-issue right to purchase specific Medigap policies without medical underwriting — meaning a pre-existing condition can’t be used to deny you or charge you more. That right is valuable, but the window to use it is time-limited, so it’s worth confirming your specific guaranteed-issue rights and acting on them promptly rather than waiting.

What’s the Enrollment Window?

Beneficiaries affected by a plan termination get a Special Enrollment Period running from October 15 through the end of February to make one of the moves above — longer than the standard Medicare Advantage Open Enrollment window most beneficiaries work with. That extra runway is useful, but it shouldn’t be mistaken for a reason to delay: guaranteed-issue Medigap rights in particular can have a tighter clock than the SEP itself.

What Happens If You Let Drug Coverage Lapse?

One of the easiest mistakes to make in a plan transition is letting prescription drug coverage lapse for too long. If you go 63 days or more without creditable drug coverage — coverage considered at least as good as Medicare’s standard Part D benefit — you can trigger a late-enrollment penalty that’s added to your Part D premium permanently, not just for one year. Whichever path you choose after a plan termination, confirming your new coverage starts before that 63-day clock runs out is one of the most consequential details in the whole process.

What Should You Do If You Get a Termination Letter?

• Read the letter in full and note your exact coverage end date — don’t assume it matches the calendar year by default.

• Check whether you have guaranteed-issue Medigap rights tied to this specific termination, and don’t sit on that window.

• Compare your real options — a replacement MA plan, Original Medicare plus Part D, or Medigap — against your actual doctors, prescriptions, and how much network flexibility matters to you.

• Confirm your new coverage is active before any gap reaches 63 days, to avoid a permanent Part D penalty.

• Don’t wait until February just because the SEP technically allows it. Earlier decisions leave more time to fix a mistake before coverage actually changes.

Where Does Planning Fit In?

A plan termination letter can feel like it’s forcing a rushed decision, but the Special Enrollment Period exists precisely so it doesn’t have to be. The more useful way to think about it is as an unplanned but real opportunity to re-evaluate whether your current type of coverage — Advantage vs. Original Medicare plus Medigap — still fits your health needs and budget, not just to find the closest replacement to what you had.

What To Do Next

If your Medicare Advantage plan is being discontinued, or you just want a second set of eyes on your options before the Special Enrollment Period closes, we’re happy to walk through what fits your situation.

Questions? Call (800) 927-9326 or email

Prefer we reach out to you instead? Complete our Permission to Contact form and a licensed Gilman Agency agent will follow up.

Sources: ElderLawAnswers, “What to Do If You Lose Your Medicare Advantage Plan”; MedicareHelpline.com, “Medicare Advantage Plan Canceled”; Investopedia, “Millions Must Switch Medicare Advantage Plans as Insurers Pull Back—What It Means for You,” citing health care economist Mark Meiselbach and Humana’s 2027 plan-discontinuation announcement; Yahoo Finance, “UnitedHealth, Humana Cutting Medicare Advantage,” citing UnitedHealthcare president Bobby Hunter; The Money Overview, “Aetna Is Closing About 90 Medicare Advantage Plans Across 34 States for 2027” and “UnitedHealth, Humana, and Aetna Are All Trimming Medicare Advantage Plans for 2027 — And Nearly 3 Million Seniors May Have to Switch.”

This article is for general educational purposes and is not a recommendation regarding any specific insurance plan. Enrollment windows, guaranteed-issue rights, and penalty rules described here are general and may vary by state and individual circumstance. This is a solicitation for insurance; not connected with or endorsed by the U.S. government or federal Medicare program. Consult a licensed insurance agent regarding your specific situation before making enrollment decisions.