Share this article and save a life!
2.6 million seniors just lost their Medicare Advantage plans.
That’s not a typo.
UnitedHealthcare, Humana, and Aetna are pulling back from Medicare Advantage in unprecedented ways for 2026:
• UnitedHealthcare: Exiting 225 counties, entering only 14
• Humana: Leaving 198 counties, entering just 5
• Coverage dropping from 90% to 80% of U.S. counties
💔 The human impact is staggering.
13% of all Medicare Advantage enrollees must find new plans, up from 6% last year. Four insurers completely exited the market citing financial challenges.
Why the exodus? Insurers blame “government funding cuts and rising healthcare costs.” Yet UnitedHealth still posted a $2.3 billion quarterly profit.
Here’s what healthcare leaders need to understand:
This isn’t just about insurance companies and their margins. When MA plans exit counties, traditional Medicare becomes the only option. Hospitals and health systems that built their revenue models around MA contracts face sudden shifts in payment structures.
Rural counties are getting hit hardest, where MA plans often provided supplemental benefits that traditional Medicare doesn’t cover: dental, vision, transportation to appointments.
The irony? While insurers retreat from MA citing losses, traditional Medicare reportedly missed $7 billion in savings by not adopting MA’s utilization controls.
This creates a perfect storm: Seniors lose coverage options. Providers lose predictable revenue streams. Rural communities lose access points.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration just eliminated 12 quality measures from MA star ratings, potentially costing taxpayers $13 billion over 10 years.
We’re watching the unraveling of a system that covers 31 million Americans.
The question isn’t whether this disruption will reshape healthcare delivery. It’s whether we’re prepared for what comes next.
♻️ Repost if Medicare Advantage instability threatens your community’s healthcare access
👉 Follow me, Jonathan Govette, for real-time updates on healthcare technology and business news. LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathangovette/
Share this article and save a life!
Author:
CEO/Co-Founder @ Oatmeal Health | AI Lung Cancer Screening | Almost Became a Doctor | Engineer | Follow to Share What I’ve Learned Along the Way
I help patients get the care they need earlier, preventing late-stage cancer.
That’s been the throughline across three companies and almost 20 years in healthcare. At ReferralMD, we fixed broken referral networks so patients didn’t fall through the cracks. At Oatmeal Health, it’s lung cancer: building the diagnostic and screening infrastructure so the 85% of cases caught too late get caught early instead.
Today as CEO of Oatmeal Health, I lead a team embedding AI into radiology workflows to turn routine lung CT scans into reimbursable cancer risk assessments. We partner with FQHCs to reach underserved communities, and with health systems and payers to make early detection economically sustainable. Think HeartFlow or Cleerly, but for lungs.
Between companies, I advised at Techstars and Plug and Play, mentoring founders building in digital health. That experience shaped how I think about what separates companies that ship from companies that stall: distribution, reimbursement, and clinical trust, not just technology.
I’m a CancerX alumnus, a 3x healthcare founder, and someone who believes the biggest problems in cancer aren’t scientific. They’re operational.
We’re hiring mission-driven builders at Oatmeal Health. If you want to work on something that matters, reach out.
When I’m not working, I’m traveling, mentoring, and keeping up with one very energetic husky. 🐾
Substack – The Oatmeal Bite:
Millions of patients get less care because of who they are, where they live, or how they look. I’m fighting to change that. CEO @OatmealHealth, a startup built for the underserved. The Oatmeal Bite: intel for clinicians, investors, and advocates.
Jonathan Govette
CEO of Oatmeal Health
Substack:
https://oatmealhealthjonathangovette.substack.com/
