Morningstar

Health Insurers' Shares Fall After Government Proposes Flat Medicare Advantage Rate

Provided by Dow Jones Jan 26, 2026, 11:09:00 PM

By Katherine Hamilton

Shares of health-insurance companies fell following news that the government is proposing roughly flat rates for Medicare Advantage insurers next year.

Humana's stock fell 13% to $220.00 and UnitedHealth Group's shares slid 9% to $318.93 in after-hours trading Monday. Shares of CVS Health were down 10% to $75.40, while Elevance Health declined 5.4% to $356.00 and Astrana Health shed 12.75% to $23.75.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on Monday proposed bumping payments to Medicare Advantage plans by .09% on average in 2027.

Analysts were expecting the agency to propose a 4% to 6% increase. The rate rose 5.06% this year.

Medicare Advantage is a core business for insurers and federal payment policies have a huge impact on their finances.

Write to Katherine Hamilton at katherine.hamilton@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 26, 2026 18:09 ET (23:09 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

The articles, information, and content displayed on this webpage may include materials prepared and provided by third parties. Such third-party content is offered for informational purposes only and is not endorsed, reviewed, or verified by Morningstar.

Morningstar makes no representations or warranties regarding the accuracy, completeness, timeliness, or reliability of any third-party content displayed on this site. The views and opinions expressed in third-party content are those of the respective authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of Morningstar, its affiliates, or employees.

Morningstar is not responsible for any errors, omissions, or delays in this content, nor for any actions taken in reliance thereon. Users are advised to exercise their own judgment and seek independent financial advice before making any decisions based on such content. The third-party providers of this content are not affiliated with Morningstar, and their inclusion on this site does not imply any form of partnership, agency, or endorsement.

Popular

4 Stocks to Buy Before They Rise Further

Plus, the member of the triple-digit club reporting earnings this week.

David Sekera, CFA and Susan Dziubinski Sep 28, 2026

2 Undervalued Stocks to Buy Before They Rebound

These wide-moat stocks look attractive after their recent pullbacks.

Susan Dziubinski Sep 29, 2026

The 10 Best Dividend Stocks

These are the top dividend-paying stocks to buy today.

Susan Dziubinski Sep 29, 2026

12 Best Blue-Chip Stocks to Buy for the Long Term

The stocks of these high-quality companies look cheap today.

Tori Brovet Sep 25, 2026

The Best Equity ETFs

These exchange-traded funds that invest in stocks earn Morningstar’s top rating.

Tori Brovet May 27, 2026

Sponsor Center

Transparency is our policy. Learn how it impacts everything we do

Transparency is how we protect the integrity of our work and keep empowering investors to achieve their goals and dreams. And we have unwavering standards for how we keep that integrity intact, from our research and data to our policies on content and your personal data.

We’d like to share more about how we work and what drives our day-to-day business.

How we make money

We sell different types of products and services to both investment professionals and individual investors. These products and services are usually sold through license agreements or subscriptions. Our investment management business generates asset-based fees, which are calculated as a percentage of assets under management. We also sell both admissions and sponsorship packages for our investment conferences and advertising on our websites and newsletters.

How we use your personal data

How we use your information depends on the product and service that you use and your relationship with us. We may use it to:

Verify your identity, personalize the content you receive, or create and administer your account.
Provide specific products and services to you, such as portfolio management or data aggregation.
Develop and improve features of our offerings.
Gear advertisements and other marketing efforts towards your interests.

To learn more about how we handle and protect your data, visit our privacy center.

How we approach editorial content

Maintaining independence and editorial freedom is essential to our mission of empowering investor success. We provide a platform for our authors to report on investments fairly, accurately, and from the investor’s point of view. We also respect individual opinions––they represent the unvarnished thinking of our people and exacting analysis of our research processes. Our authors can publish views that we may or may not agree with, but they show their work, distinguish facts from opinions, and make sure their analysis is clear and in no way misleading or deceptive.

To further protect the integrity of our editorial content, we keep a strict separation between our sales teams and authors to remove any pressure or influence on our analyses and research.

Read our editorial policy to learn more about our process.

© Copyright 2026 Morningstar, Inc. All rights reserved. Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500, Nasdaq, and Morningstar Index (Market Barometer) quotes are real-time.