Medicare Advantage plans may trim extra benefits in 2027

Medicare Advantage members may keep the core coverage they signed up for, but the extras that make private plans feel generous are heading for a squeeze. That could mean fewer dental cleanings, narrower vision help, dropped transportation rides, weaker meal support after hospital stays, and less access to gym memberships or fitness programs that many older adults have come to count on.

The pressure point is a new payment update finalized by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services on April 6. CMS said the 2027 Medicare Advantage and Part D rate announcement will raise payments to Medicare Advantage plans by 2.48 percent, or more than $13 billion. When estimated risk-score trends are included, the agency said the increase reaches 4.98 percent. That is far above the 0.09 percent increase CMS had originally proposed, but it still may not be enough to preserve the richest benefit packages as insurers face medical-cost trends and margin pressure.

Medicare Advantage has become the dominant private alternative to traditional Medicare, with KFF estimating that 54 percent of eligible beneficiaries were enrolled in the program in 2025. KFF also estimated that Medicare Advantage payments ran 20 percent higher per person than comparable spending in traditional Medicare that year, equal to $84 billion in extra federal spending. The plans have used supplemental benefits to compete for members, and about half of the 70 million people on Medicare are in these managed-care plans partly because of those add-ons.

Those extras have already been losing ground. KFF found that nearly all Medicare Advantage plans still offered vision, dental and hearing benefits in 2025, but the share offering over-the-counter benefits fell to 73 percent from 85 percent the year before. Remote access technologies dropped to 53 percent from 74 percent, meal benefits slipped to 65 percent from 72 percent, and transportation benefits fell to 30 percent from 36 percent. Nearly one-third of plans also offered a reduction in the Medicare Part B premium, up from 19 percent in 2024.

Insurers are now signaling that the next round of adjustments will be more about restraint than expansion. Humana said it would need to cut benefits to reach profit targets and preserve a 2028 sustainable margin goal of at least 3 percent. UnitedHealthcare’s Bobby Hunter said earlier in April that funding for its Medicare Advantage business was still below what the company expected for 2027. CVS Health said through an Aetna spokesperson, “Aetna continues to offer quality insurance coverage in a manner that is sustainable for our clients and our business.” For beneficiaries, the next enrollment season will require a sharper comparison of monthly premiums, out-of-pocket costs and the real dollar value of the extras that now look less certain.