Health insurers jump as Medicare hikes 2027 payment rates

Molina Healthcare

07/04/2026 18:39

Updates

** Shares of U.S. health insurers rise as the U.S. is set to raise Medicare Advantage payments to insurers by 2.48% next year

** Shares of Medicare-focused insurer UnitedHealth Group UNH.N jump 10.4%, Humana HUM.N rise 8.3%, CVS Health CVS.N up 7%

** Elevance Health ELV.N climbs 3.1%, Centene CNC.N adds 2.5%, Molina Healthcare MOH.N rises 0.3%, while Alignment Healthcare ALHC.O jumps 19.3%

     ** The final proposal is above the government's January draft proposal for an increase of just 0.09% for 2027, which triggered sharp declines in health insurers' shares

** "The industry has continued to face a tough environment, but on the heels of this more favorable release, we might be seeing the tide changing," Oppenheimer analyst Michael Wiederhorn said

** CMS said the increase would result in more than $13 billion in additional payments to Medicare Advantage plans in 2027

** Including session's moves, ALHC up 12%, HUM down 22%, MOH down 17%, CNC down 11%, ELV down 10%, UNH down 6%, CVS down 1%

 (Reporting by Joel Jose and Kamal Choudhury in Bengaluru)

 ((joeljose@thomsonreuters.com))