Medicare Advantage Roundup: Falling Satisfaction, Commission Cuts and a Costco Partnership

This week, Medicare Advantage insurers are innovating new ways to enter markets and boost margins as J.D. Power finds that plans are struggling to keep their members satisfied.

Over the past two years, Medicare Advantage plans have pivoted from customer satisfaction to shoring up their bottom lines as rising costs and plan usage rates have risen rapidly. But members have noticed, according to the new survey results from J.D. Power, which found that overall customer satisfaction with MA plans fell for a second consecutive year. While consumers had higher trust in more communicative plans, members reported that their plans were far less interested in saving them time and money or offering products and services that meet their needs.

To curb costs, Aetna is choosing a more innovative tact. Whereas some plans have opted to pull out of unprofitable markets entirely, the CVS Health insurance wing has opted instead to not pay commissions to marketers selling 123 Medicare Advantage plans across 33 states in 2027, Modern Healthcare reports. The company will also not compensate third-parties for new enrollments in Medicare Part D prescription drug plans. From an Aetna statement:

Aetna routinely reviews and updates our distribution strategy, including the commissionable status of our plan offerings. As a result, we have made a business decision to change certain plans to non-commissionable starting on September 15, 2026 and certain other plans starting on January 1, 2027 and we have notified brokers accordingly. Our prescription drug plan has been non-commissionable since 2025.

SCAN Group is expanding its offerings by partnering with wholesale titan Costco, for a line of Costco-branded plans that incorporate the company’s hearing and vision offerings. SCAN and Costco told the Wall Street Journal that the plan includes three target markets that represent roughly 5 million Medicare enrollees but couldn’t give specifics due to pending approval by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. SCAN offers Medicare Advantage plans in Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas and Washington.

The UnitedHealth Group received a visit from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), which is investigating the company for potentially underpaying taxes during a four-year period by transferring funds through a foreign subsidiary. According to STAT, the IRS is “seeking to significantly increase taxable income” from 2017 through 2020 and may force UnitedHealth to pay more for years following.