Street View: US Medicare ratings for 2026 meet expectations
10/10/2025 11:57
** Late on Thursday, U.S. government announced quality ratings for 2026 Medicare health and prescription drug plans ** The ratings help determine bonus payments from the government to health insurers ** CVS Health's CVS.N Aetna unit has more than 81% of members in top-rated programs, while UnitedHealth UNH.N has 78%, Elevance ELV.N 55% and Humana HUM.N about 20%, figures from the regulator and companies showed CONSISTENT WITH EXPECTATIONS ** Baird says the net winners were Centene CNC.N as the increase in members in higher rated plans will help EPS in 2027 by 6.8%, Elevance by 4.1%, UnitedHealth by 2.1%, Molina MOH.N by 3%, and Alignment Healthcare ALHC.O could improve to 4.5 or 5 star plans next year ** Evercore ISI says overall results were in line expectations, and CVS members in top-rated programs, consistent with expectations and likely a relief to investors post some worries over the past few weeks ** Mizuho also says this is a positive for CVS, as it removes a valuation overhang from the stock, along with Elevance, Centene, and Molina ** JP Morgan says ratings were consistent with commentary from companies, adding CVS still leads large-cap managed care organizations in percentage of enrollment in top-rated plans (Reporting by Puyaan Singh) ((Puyaan.Singh@thomsonreuters.com))