New Medicare Advantage Star Ratings Broadly Stabilize, With Some MCO Winners and Losers

In advance of the Medicare open enrollment period that starts on Oct. 15, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, or CMS, released its star ratings that measure the performance of the Medicare Advantage, or MA, plans offered by private insurers. At first glance, we do not anticipate changing our fair value estimates for any managed-care organization, or MCO, based on this new data. However, even as overall MA star ratings largely stabilized after a big drop last year, there were some clear winners and losers in this year's scoring that could affect market sentiment for MCO shares.