2025 AEP Insight📊
By the Numbers: Analyzing the 2025 Medicare Advantage Market: A Comprehensive Overview of Leading Payors
December 19, 2024 Market Research
Table of Contents
The Medicare Advantage market in 2025 reflects distinct strategic approaches by leading payors. UnitedHealth Group continues to solidify its dominance, with steady growth in plan offerings, while Humana maintains its position as the second-largest player. Devoted Health’s aggressive expansion, with a remarkable 62% increase in plan count, highlights its disruptive approach to gaining market share. Conversely, Centene’s reduction in plans by over 20% underscores a strategic shift toward optimization rather than growth. This divergence among payors reflects a balancing act between expansion into new markets and the streamlining of existing portfolios. The concentrated control of the market by United, Humana, and CVS signals a competitive environment where smaller players must innovate or focus on niche segments to thrive. As newer entrants like Devoted Health capitalize on their growth strategies, established leaders must refine their offerings to maintain relevance and member retention in this dynamic space.
In the 2025 Medicare Advantage (MA) market, UnitedHealth Group, Inc. (United) continues to lead, offering 923 plans—an increase of 35 plans accounting for 3.9% Year-over-Year (YoY) growth from 2024, representing 16.2% of the total plan count. Humana Inc. (Humana) holds second place with 14% of market plans, showing a slight 0.6% increase YoY, while CVS Health Corporation (CVS), comprising 12.3% of the available plans, saw a decrease of 42 plans (5.7% YoY decline). Notably, Devoted Health, Inc. (Devoted) experienced significant growth, expanding from 145 to 235 plans, a 62% YoY increase reflecting its aggressive expansion strategy. In contrast, Centene Corporation (Centene) reduced its plan offerings from 404 to 321, signalling a shift in market focus.
Smaller players like Highmark Health and Zing Health Consolidator, Inc. also showed notable growth, with YoY increases of 23.3% and 90.5%, respectively, indicating targeted regional expansions. Despite these changes, major players still dominate, with United, Humana, and CVS together holding nearly 43% of the total MA plan count, underscoring the market’s concentrated competitive structure.
To highlight the importance of top payors in line with several plans offered by them, along with a focus on plan type expansion, premium adjustments, and cost-sharing shifts, each responding to regional and market-specific demands. This report provides a detailed look at these trends across plan distribution, premium structures, drug deductibles, and maximum-out-of-pocket (MOOP), revealing the distinct approaches of top payors toward growth, regional expansion, and cost containment. It also, include the fastest-growing payor in 2025, Devoted Health, and the company with the largest decrease in plans, Centene.
Note:
- The total number of plans is divided into several categories, which include Renewal Plans, Consolidated Renewal Plans, Renewal Plans with Service Area Expansion (SAE), Renewal Plans with Service Area Reduction (SAR), Initial Contracts, and New Plans.
- Categories of plans will be represented in italics (e.g.: Consolidated Renewal Plans, New Plans).
- New Plans (without italics or capitalization) indicate both New Plans and Initial Contracts. Renewal Plans are a combination of Renewal Plans, Consolidated Renewal Plans, Renewal Plans with SAR and Renewal Plans with SAE.
Plan Category Breakdown in Payors
SAR Trends Explode: Humana’s Jump to 32% and CVS’s 21% Signal a New Strategic Era .
The distribution of new, renewal, and adjusted plans across the Medicare Advantage landscape reveals the shifting priorities of key payors. Devoted Health leads in market disruption, with 42% of its plans classified as new, doubling its portfolio through an aggressive growth strategy. UnitedHealth’s resurgence in new plan offerings, with a 66% increase YoY, suggests a recalibration to regain competitive edge. In contrast, Centene’s notable reduction in Service Area Expansion (SAE) plans and a 20.6% decrease in overall plans indicate a pullback in underperforming regions. Humana and CVS, however, have focused on renewal plans with Service Area Reductions (SAR), reflecting a tactical approach to consolidate and optimize their portfolios. These trends highlight a clear dichotomy: some payors aggressively expanding to capture market share, while others strategically focus on improving the performance of existing plans to strengthen their positioning in an increasingly saturated market.
New plans alone comprise 15% of the total United plans available. After a dip in 2024, New Plans rebounded with a 66% YoY increase in 2025, showcasing robust growth by adding 55 plans. Compared to the previous year, United has declined in plan counts only in Renewal Plans with SAE (dropped 140 to 75 plans). While Humana adopted a conservative strategy, with declines across most plan categories except for steady numbers in New Plans and a dramatic increase in Renewal Plans with SAR. This payor rose significantly, with SAR plans growing from 3% of Humana’s total in 2024 to 32% in 2025, indicating a strategic focus on service-augmented renewals. Similarly, CVS experienced a substantial rise in Renewal Plans with SAR, increasing from 6 plans in 2024 to 150 in 2025, comprising 21% of CVS’s total plans. CVS saw a decrease in New Plans (20% of its total) and no Initial Contracts, though Consolidated Renewals rose slightly, from 35 to 39 plans.
Devoted, on the other hand, has aggressively expanded in all the plan categories, particularly in new plans comprising 42% of the total Devoted plans, with a 127% YoY rise in New Plans and 49 Initial Contracts in 2025 after a brief pause. This underscore Devoted’s strong market expansion efforts, although its Renewal Plans with SAE saw a drop from 52 to 40 plans in 2025, perhaps indicating a shift to different plan structures. Centene has experienced notable volatility, with reductions in Renewal Plans (-121), Consolidated Renewal Plans (-20), and no Initial Contracts. However, Renewal Plans with SAR saw a modest increase, growing by 85.7% YoY from 14 to 26 plans in 2025. Additionally, New Plans increased by 24, bringing the total to 45, while Renewals with SAE saw a rise in their percentage of the total, increasing from 3.5% to 12%.
Overall, these trends reflect diverse approaches among leading MA payors, with Centene and CVS focusing on stability and optimization, Devoted Health pushing for rapid growth, Humana streamlining offerings, and United balancing expansion with a strong renewal base.
Plan Type Overview of the Payors
All payors, except for Devoted, showed a decrease in the percentage of Non-SNP plans out of the total.
The growth and contraction of various plan types highlight evolving priorities among Medicare Advantage payors. Non-SNP plans, which dominate the market, have seen a general decline, except for Devoted Health’s sharp 64% increase in offerings. The expansion of D-SNP and C-SNP plans across multiple payors underscores a strategic shift toward catering to high-need populations. For instance, UnitedHealth and CVS have actively increased their D-SNP offerings, while CVS introduced C-SNP plans for the first time, signaling a targeted approach to special-needs populations. Conversely, I-SNP plans, with limited adoption, saw significant reductions by United, while Humana modestly increased its offerings. These trends illustrate that while Non-SNP plans remain the cornerstone of portfolios, payors are increasingly prioritizing specialized offerings to differentiate themselves and capture market share in these high-value niches. This diversification strategy aligns with the growing demand for tailored healthcare solutions in the Medicare Advantage ecosystem.
Out of the total United plans, Non-SNP plans experienced a decrease from 70% to 65%, reflecting a 5% drop, leading with a total of 599 plans. Similarly, CVS saw a notable 10% YoY decline, having 572 total Non-SNP plans. Both Humana and Centene faced consecutive declines for the second year in a row. Centene reported a reduction of 69 plans, bringing its total to 225 plans, while Humana experienced a slight drop of 4 plans, resulting in a total of 601 plans. In contrast to these declines, Devoted saw a significant increase in the number of Non-SNP plans, rising from 118 plans to 193, marking substantial growth.
Apart from Humana and Centene, remaining payors saw an increase in the Dual Eligible Special Needs Plans (D-SNP) category. In terms of absolute plan count, United led with an increase of 42 plans, reaching a total of 185 D-SNP plans in 2025, followed by CVS with an increase of 13 plans, totaling 117 D-SNP plans, and Devoted with an increase of 15 plans, reaching 38 total D-SNP plans. In contrast, Centene saw a decrease in the number of plans, dropping from 106 to 92. However, in terms of percentage of total plans, Centene accounts for 29% of its plans being D-SNPs, the highest among all payors, followed by United at 20%, CVS at 17%, Devoted at 16%, and Humana at 15%.
In 2025, Medicare Advantage expansion strategies revealed significant disparities among payors. UnitedHealth Group led with an aggressive addition of 999 counties, capturing 41.7% of eligibles and growing enrollment by 3.9%. Humana followed with 62 new counties, covering 4.5% of eligibles, but showed declining momentum compared to previous years. Centene added 2 counties, with minimal enrollment impact at 0%. Devoted Health, after expanding aggressively in 2023, made no new additions, signaling a stabilization strategy. CVS Health entered 18 new counties, covering 5.5% of eligibles. Overall, the data highlights a shifting landscape where national players are consolidating their market presence, while smaller payors focus on maintaining strategic stability.
|
|
No. of counties (Newly expanded counties)
|
||
|---|---|---|---|
|
Parent Organization
|
2023
|
2024
|
2025
|
|
Centene Corporation
|
59 (+52)
|
14 (0)
|
16 (+2)
|
|
Devoted Health, Inc.
|
33 (+33)
|
29 (0)
|
13 (0)
|
|
Humana Inc.
|
655 (+579)
|
1,038 (+384)
|
1,048 (+62)
|
|
UnitedHealth Group, Inc.
|
1,030 (+478)
|
1,136 (+204)
|
2,094 (+999)
|
|
CVS Health Corporation
|
-
|
-
|
18 (+18)
|
|
|
Eligibles can be covered in newly expanded counties (%)
|
||
|---|---|---|---|
|
Parent Organization
|
2023
|
2024
|
2025
|
|
Centene Corporation
|
6,155,134 (14.8%)
|
0 (0.0%)
|
745,443 (1.5%)
|
|
Devoted Health, Inc.
|
1,803,061 (4.3%)
|
0 (0.0%)
|
0 (0.0%)
|
|
Humana Inc.
|
10,486,659 (25.3%)
|
6,924,604 (14.3%)
|
2,158,303 (4.5%)
|
|
UnitedHealth Group, Inc.
|
11,682,872 (28.1%)
|
3,456,007 (7.1%)
|
20,230,388 (41.7%)
|
|
CVS Health Corporation
|
0 (0.0%)
|
0 (0.0%)
|
2,649,723 (5.5%)
|
|
|
Enrollment in expanded counties (%)
|
||
|---|---|---|---|
|
Parent Organization
|
2023
|
2024
|
|
|
Centene Corporation
|
4,841 (0.9%)
|
0 (0.0%)
|
|
|
Devoted Health, Inc.
|
1,273 (0.2%)
|
0 (0.0%)
|
|
|
Humana Inc.
|
54,074 (10.1%)
|
40,255 (4.7%)
|
|
|
UnitedHealth Group, Inc.
|
56,487 (10.6%)
|
33,507 (3.9%)
|
|
|
CVS Health Corporation
|
0 (0.0%)
|
0 (0.0%)
|
|
Devoted and Centene do not offer Institutional Special Needs Plans (I-SNP), whereas CVS has a small presence in this category, with a total of only five I-SNPs. In contrast, Humana experienced growth in its I-SNP offerings, increasing from 7 to 13 plans. Meanwhile, United saw a decline in its I-SNPs, dropping from 67 to 39 plans, making up around 4% of its total plans.
The payor landscape shows varied performance across different types of SNPs. While payors like United and CVS saw growth in categories such as D-SNPs and C-SNPs, others like Humana and Centene experienced declines or remained stable in certain areas. Notably, Devoted demonstrated significant growth in Non-SNP plans and expanded its offerings to include D-SNPs while maintaining a steady position in C-SNPs. Meanwhile, the presence of I-SNPs remained limited across the payors, with CVS and Humana showing small increases, while United saw a decline in this category. Overall, these shifts reflect a competitive market where payors are adjusting their strategies to meet the demands of specific special needs populations.
Local HMO plans experienced a decline in Centene reducing its offering by 45 plans and CVS decreasing by 22, however, United adding 54 plans seeing growth of 11.7% YoY. Humana and Devoted Health experienced minimal changes, with small increases of 3 and 34 plans, respectively. Local PPO offerings also saw the decline, especially for Centene, which reduced its count by nearly 50% (from 115 to 77 plans), while CVS saw a smaller decline of 19 plans. On the other hand, Devoted Health increased its offerings by 56 plans (totalling to 96), and Humana showed a slight increase of 6 plans. United had a modest decrease of 3.8 YoY.
The MMP and PFFS segments remained relatively stable, with no significant changes for most payors. Humana slightly reduced its PFFS offerings by one plan. In the Regional PPO category, both CVS and United reduced their offerings, with CVS offering one fewer plan and United cutting four plans. Humana also decreased its Regional PPO offerings by three plans.
State Overview
Geographic trends in 2025 reflect distinct expansion and contraction strategies by major payors. Devoted Health’s aggressive push into seven new states, increasing its presence from 13 to 20 states, exemplifies its ambition to broaden its footprint. Meanwhile, Centene scaled back from 37 to 32 states, aligning with its overall reduction strategy to optimize operations. CVS and Humana made minor geographic adjustments, indicating a cautious approach to expansion. UnitedHealth, maintaining its presence in all 50 states, demonstrates a commitment to nationwide coverage and stability. These trends highlight the varying priorities of payors: while some prioritize market penetration through geographic expansion, others focus on consolidating their presence in key markets. This divergence underscores the complexities of balancing growth with operational efficiency, especially as payors navigate the unique challenges of regional markets within the highly competitive Medicare Advantage landscape.
In 2025, the geographic reach of major payors exhibits mixed trends. Centene reduced its presence from 37 states in 2024 to 32 states in 2025, indicating a pullback in coverage. Similarly, CVS slightly scaled back, serving 44 states in 2025 compared to 46 in 2024. In contrast, Devoted experienced notable expansion, increasing its coverage from 13 states in 2024 to 20 states in 2025. United saw no changes maintaining its reach at 50 states for both years, with Humana dropping from 51 to 50 states (i.e., Rhode Island). These shifts reflect varying strategies, with some payors expanding their footprint while others reduce their market presence.
|
Parent Organization
|
States
|
2024
|
2025
|
YOY%
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Centene Corporation
|
Texas
|
41
|
34
|
-17.1%
|
|
CVS Health Corporation
|
Florida
|
57
|
54
|
-5.6%
|
|
Devoted Health, Inc.
|
Florida
|
53
|
61
|
15.1%
|
|
Humana Inc.
|
Florida
|
122
|
114
|
-6.6%
|
|
UnitedHealth Group, Inc.
|
Texas
|
90
|
88
|
-2.2%
|
The table shows healthcare organizations leading in either Texas or in Florida. Devoted leads with a 15.1% YoY increase in Florida, indicating strong growth, while Centene experiences the largest decline in Texas by having seven fewer plans compared to previous year, possibly due to competitive or strategic factors. CVS remains stable in Florida with slight reduce. Humana and United experience minor declines of -6.6% YoY and -2.2% YoY in Florida and Texas, respectively, possibly due to market adjustments. Overall, Devoted Health is expanding, while others see slight contractions or stability.
Cost Factors
a. Premium
Devoted Health plans premium ranging from $0 to <$50
Medicare Advantage plans in 2025 show a decisive shift toward affordability, with significant growth in zero-premium plans and a decline in mid-tier options. Devoted Health leads the market, nearly doubling its zero-premium offerings, which now account for 79% of its portfolio. Humana and CVS have also expanded their zero-premium plans, reflecting a strategic emphasis on attracting cost-sensitive beneficiaries. Conversely, mid-premium plans (>$25 to <=$50) have fallen sharply, particularly for Humana and United, as payors pivot away from less competitive tiers. High-premium plans remain niche, with limited adoption except for United, which leads with six offerings. These trends indicate that payors are leveraging zero-premium plans as a key driver for growth while strategically phasing out mid-premium tiers. By focusing on affordability, Medicare Advantage payors are better positioned to meet member needs and remain competitive in a price-sensitive market.
In 2025, premium offerings across major payors reveal distinct trends, with growth across the zero-premium segment for each. United now has 66% of its plans in the zero-premium category, while Humana saw a notable increase, rising from 474 to 589 in the same category. Similarly, CVS expanded its proportion of zero-premium plans from 62% to 68%. Centene added 13 more plans in this category, bringing its total to 251. Devoted Health has expanded primarily within the $0 premium segment, comprising around 79%, almost doubling its no-premium plans from 101 to 186.
Centene and United experienced a reduction in their low-premium category (>$0 to <=$25), with Centene decreasing by 31 plans and United by 10 plans compared to 2024. In contrast, other payors expanded in this segment: Devoted added a single plan, while CVS increased its count from 74 to 95 plans. Humana also saw growth in this category, raising its share from 4% to 9% of its total plans, reflecting a wider industry shift towards accessible, low-premium offerings.
In the >$25 to <=$50 premium segment, most payors have decreased their offerings, with Devoted being the sole exception. Humana and United saw significant reductions, with Humana’s mid-premium plans dropping sharply from 202 to 77 and United’s from 321 to 194. Centene also cut back in this segment, reducing its share from 27% to 13%. CVS saw a substantial decline as well, offering 89 fewer plans in 2025 compared to 2024. This trend indicates a shift away from mid-premium plans across most payors, potentially favouring lower-cost or zero-premium options.
In the above $200 premium segment, CVS offers a single plan, while United provides six options. Within the >$50 to <=$100 premium range, the number of plans is less overall; Humana notably reduced its offerings from 59 to 39, while other payors showed modest increases. In the >$100 to <=$200 category, most payors maintained similar plan counts, with minimal additions of just one or two plans, suggesting a steady approach in higher-premium options across the board. This overall trend across payors reflects a broader industry movement toward lower-cost plan options, particularly in the $0 premium segment, with noticeable declines in mid-range premium plans as competition intensifies for cost-sensitive enrollees.
b. Drug deductible
Strategic Realignment: Why High Deductibles Are Becoming the New Normal in Medicare Advantage
The move toward higher drug deductibles is a defining trend in 2025, reflecting industry-wide adjustments to cost-sharing models. Zero-deductible plans have declined dramatically, with United, Humana, and CVS reducing offerings significantly. Devoted and Centene eliminated zero-deductible plans entirely, signalling a decisive pivot. Meanwhile, plans with deductibles over $400 have surged, with CVS leading the way (+408 plans) and United (+236) and Devoted (+174) following suit. Mid-tier deductibles (>$200 to <=$400) have also grown modestly, particularly for Humana and United. This trend underscores a strategic realignment where payors shift costs toward members while maintaining affordability in premiums. These adjustments aim to balance plan sustainability with market competitiveness, signalling a broader industry shift toward cost-sharing structures that reflect the increasing financial pressures within the healthcare system.
In 2025, deductible offerings across major payors demonstrate a clear trend toward higher deductible plans, with notable reductions in the zero-deductible category for all payors. United experienced the most significant drop, with zero-deductible plans plummeting from 513 to just 10, while Humana plans falling from 369 to 185. CVS followed a similar trend, reducing from 363 to 86 zero-deductible plans. Centene and Devoted reduced their zero-deductible offerings entirely, with Centene moving from 93 to 7 plans and Devoted discontinuing this segment altogether, having offered 57 plans in 2024.
For payors with low deductibles (>$0 to <=$100), plan offerings remained sparse. Centene, Devoted, and CVS had no plans in this segment for 2025, while Humana and United saw slight reductions, each dropping one plan compared to the previous year. In the mid-range deductibles (>$100 to <=$200), the reductions continued, with all payors except United reducing or discontinuing plans. United was the only payor with growth here, adding 17 plans, increasing its mid-range offerings in a category where most others pulled back.
Within the >$200 to <=$400 deductible segments, the trends diverged. Humana and United expanded significantly, with United’s plans jumping from 78 to 279, and Humana increasing its share from 14% to 30%, suggesting a deliberate emphasis on mid-range deductibles. Conversely, other payors reduced their offerings in this segment.
For the highest deductible category (over $400), all payors demonstrated a strong growth, with CVS and United leading the shift. CVS saw a dramatic rise in high-deductible plans, soaring from 107 to 515, while United significantly expanded its share from 26% to 62%, underscoring a strategic pivot towards high-deductible options. Centene, Devoted, and Humana also bolstered their high-deductible plans, with Centene adding 79 plans for a total of 278, Devoted rising from 47 to 221, and Humana increasing its proportion from 26% to 36%. Almost all the plans in the Devoted has drug deductible higher than $400, except for two plans ranges between >$300 to <$400. This growth across payors in the highest deductible bracket reflects an industry-wide move towards more cost-sharing with enrollees, likely driven by both competitive pressures and evolving market dynamics.
c. MOOP
Around 28% of the Humana plans and 26% of the Centene plans are having MOOP exceeding $9,000.
Rising MOOP limits across Medicare Advantage plans in 2025 demonstrate a clear trend toward increased cost-sharing. High-MOOP plans (> $9,000) were introduced across all major payors, with Humana leading at 28% of its portfolio. Mid-MOOP plans (>$6,000 to <=$7,500) saw significant growth, while low-MOOP plans (>$0 to <=$1,500) stagnated, indicating reduced focus on this segment. The introduction of high-MOOP plans reflects an effort by payors to offer lower premiums while shifting potential costs to members. These shifts highlight the balancing act between member affordability and plan profitability, where payors optimize cost-sharing thresholds to remain competitive without overburdening beneficiaries.
Maximum Out-of-Pocket (MOOP) among major payors reflect strategic shifts across various cost tiers, with a particular focus on higher MOOP options. For the lowest tier (>$0 to <=$1,500), there was modest growth for most payors, while Devoted doesn’t offer plans in this range for 2025. In the >$1,500 to <=$3,000 MOOP range, reductions were more common across payors. Apart from United diverged from this trend by expanding its offerings in this tier, rising from 42 to 63 plans.
The >$3,000 to <=$4,500 MOOP segment showed a mixed approach. CVS and United saw reductions in this range, with CVS decreasing by 27 plans and United by 26. Meanwhile, Devoted and Humana expanded modestly, adding 18 and 20 plans respectively, suggesting a focused increase in mid-range MOOP options. In the >$4,500 to <=$6,000 MOOP category, Devoted was among the few to expand, with 14 additional plans reaching a total of 57. United also grew, rising from 171 to 200. However, Centene, CVS, and Humana decreased their offerings, with CVS seeing the most reduction, dropping from 240 to 176 plans in this range.
For the >$6,000 to <=$7,500 MOOP bracket, every payor except Centene displayed growth. United saw the largest increase in this range, expanding from 141 to 218 plans. Humana and CVS also grew their offerings, with Humana adding 33 plans and CVS adding 45. Centene, however, cut back by 18 plans, moving away from this mid-high tier. In the >$7,500 to <=$9,000 MOOP segment, reductions were common. CVS, Centene and Humana saw substantial cuts, with CVS decreasing from 96 to 48 and Humana from 105 to 55 plans. Devoted and United was the exception, adding 16 plans and 22 plans, respectively.
The 2025 marks the first time that plans with MOOP exceeding $9,000 have been introduced. Humana leads this segment with 225 (28% of total) plans, while United and CVS follows closely with 174 (19% of total) and 162 (23% of total) plans, respectively, signalling a strategic shift toward cost-sharing models with higher out-of-pocket cost. Devoted Health introduced 39 (17% of total) plans and Centene has 81 (26% of total) plans in this segment. The shift toward high MOOP categories across payors suggests a trend of balancing premium affordability with higher out-of-pocket risk for enrollees, accommodating both competitive market forces and consumer demand for lower monthly costs.
Conclusion
The 2025 Medicare Advantage landscape underscores a dynamic shift among leading payors, balancing between aggressive expansion and selective plan consolidation. UnitedHealth maintains its market lead through steady growth, while Devoted Health exhibits rapid expansion, particularly in new plans, signalling a focused growth strategy. Conversely, CVS and Centene emphasize optimization, reducing plan counts in favour of strategic positioning. Overall, premium reductions and higher deductibles reflect a broader industry trend of cost-sharing. The diverse strategies across plan types and costs indicate an increasingly competitive Medicare Advantage market, as payors strive to cater to varied member preferences and financial considerations.
