US News Ranks Its Top Medicare Advantage and Part D Companies
The media company utilized CMS data and worked with Medicare experts to pinpoint qualities that were highly valued to consumers.
Heading into the New Year, many insurance companies are adjusting their coverage, either by ending an existing plan altogether or updating the plans that are being offered, by making changes to costs and benefits and costs. Statistics show that approximately 1.5 million American seniors could lose their Medicare Advantage plans, while another 3.5 million will lose their Part D drug plans by 2025.1
US News & World Report, a media company specializing in healthcare rankings and consumer advice, unveiled its top Medicare Advantage and Medicare Part D companies, based on their national performance among various consumer-value award categories.1,2
"With rapid, significant changes to Medicare Advantage and Part D plans this year, Americans can't rely on simply rolling over their current coverage," said Sumita Singh, senior vice president and general manager of Health at US News. "US News is committed to helping beneficiaries navigate this complex Medicare landscape and find the best plan for their individual health needs."
When it came down to the 2025 national Medicare Advantage and Part D company winners, US News computed insurers' ratings for three Medicare Advantage award categories: Screening & Prevention, Care Continuity and Highest Satisfaction, and one specific Medicare Part D award category: Highest Satisfaction.
The winners of the aforementioned categories included:
Best for Screening & Prevention: Devoted Health, Inc.
- Best for Care Continuity: Devoted Health, Inc.
- Highest Satisfaction (MA): Aetna Medicare, Elevance Health, Inc., Humana, Inc. and UnitedHealth Group, Inc.
- Highest Satisfaction (Part D): Aetna Medicare, Centene Corporation, The Cigna Group, Elevance Health, Inc., Humana, Inc. and UnitedHealth Group, Inc.
Many might be wondering what the methodology was for selecting these companies.
According to US News,3 the ratings are gathered from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), which the federal agency that administers the Medicare program.
“Every year, CMS evaluates each Medicare Advantage contract on dozens of quality measures. A Medicare Advantage contract is a Medicare Advantage plan or a group of related Medicare Advantage plans offered by a single insurance company,” explained Ben Harder and C.J. Trent-Gurbuz in an article for U.S. News.” For each contract, CMS also issues an overall rating, ranging from 1 star to 5 stars, with 5 being the best.
“In profiling individual Medicare Advantage plans in its directory this year, U.S. News included the CMS star rating for the contract to which that plan belongs; all plans belonging to a given contract received identical ratings because CMS does not make plan-level quality data available.”
References
1. US News Recognizes Medicare Advantage, Medicare Part D Companies for Top Beneficiary Benefits. PR Newswire. November 20, 2024. Accessed November 20, 2024. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/us-news-recognizes-medicare-advantage-medicare-part-d-companies-for-top-beneficiary-benefits-302310817.html
2. Trent-Gurbuz CJ. Best Medicare Advantage and Part D Companies Award Winners. US News & World Report. November 12, 2024. Accessed November 20, 2024. https://health.usnews.com/medicare/articles/best-medicare-advantage-and-part-d-companies-award-winners?ABSwitch_varName=MedicareSponsor&ABSwitch_varValue=variation1
3. Harder H, Trent-Gurbuz CG. How U.S. News Picked the 2025 Best Insurance Companies for Medicare. US News & World Report. November 12, 2024. Accessed November 20, 2024. https://health.usnews.com/medicare/articles/how-us-news-picked-the-best-insurance-companies-for-medicare
