2027 Medicare Advantage Star Ratings Are Out: What Your Plan's Grade Says About Your Care
If your mom or dad is on a Medicare Advantage plan, a number attached to that plan changed on October 8, and it says something about how steady the next year is likely to be.
That day, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services published the 2027 star ratings for Medicare Advantage and Part D drug plans. Each contract is scored from one to five stars, built from dozens of quality and safety measures, and the 2027 scores are now on Medicare Plan Finder where any family can look them up.
The release did not come with a headline that reaches households. This post does that job: what Medicare found, where plans scored worst, which Florida plans came out on top, and what to do about any of it before open enrollment closes on December 7.
What Medicare published on October 8
CMS rated 508 Medicare Advantage prescription drug contracts for 2027. The average overall rating, weighted by enrollment, is 3.99 out of 5, essentially flat from 4.01 this year. The movement is in the tails:
- Fifteen contracts earned five stars for 2027, down from 22 for 2026.
- Thirty-one contracts sit at 2.5 stars, up from 21.
- About 37 percent of contracts earned four stars or higher. Weighted by enrollment, roughly 71 percent of Medicare Advantage members are in those plans, which means about three in ten are not.
- Four contracts carry the low-performing icon CMS reserves for consistently low ratings, the same number as last year.
- Stand-alone drug plans improved sharply: 22 percent of their enrollees are now in plans rated four stars or higher, up from 2 percent for 2026.
Two notes on how to read this. A rating belongs to a contract, not a ZIP code, and one contract can cover several plans sold under different names. Rounding also hides distance: a 3.5-star plan and a 2.5-star plan are both middle of the pack, and the gap between them is real.
Where plans scored worst
CMS also publishes the national average for every measure, and those averages are the most useful part of the release. For 2027:
- Follow-up after an emergency room visit for people with several chronic conditions: 2.5, down from 2.8 in 2026.
- Reducing the risk of falling: 2.7, unchanged from 2026.
- Medication adherence for diabetes medications: 2.7, down from 3.1.
- Monitoring physical activity: 2.8, down from 3.1.
- Controlling blood pressure: 3.0, down from 3.4.
Put those next to your parent's week. A fall is the event that most often turns living at home into a nursing home stay, and the average plan scores 2.7 on the measures built to prevent one. For someone managing three or four conditions, the weeks after an emergency room visit are where a hard stretch begins, and plans scored 2.5 there, the weakest result on this list.
That is the average, not a verdict on your parent's plan, but it tells you where to look when you compare.
CMS also added two measures for 2027 that read like letters to adult children: concurrent use of opioids and benzodiazepines, and polypharmacy with anticholinergic medications in older adults. Both are about the risk of an older person taking a combination of prescribed drugs that makes confusion or a fall worse. If your parent's plan is good at those, that is worth knowing.
What the grade actually does
For the plan, the rating is money. Medicare pays bonuses to plans rated four stars or higher. A KFF analysis updated in August 2026 estimated federal spending on that bonus program would reach at least $13.4 billion in 2026, up from $12.7 billion the year before, while the share of members in plans that qualify fell to 68 percent, down from 75 percent in 2025 and the lowest since 2018. Falling ratings cost plans real revenue, which is part of why plans trim benefits, merge, and leave counties. For that side of the story, start with our guide to Medicare Advantage plan exits in Florida for 2027.
For you, the rating is a doorway. If a plan with an overall five-star rating is sold where your parent lives, federal rules let them switch into it once, on any day between December 8 and November 30. That window is much wider than the normal one and it resets every year. It only opens toward a five-star plan.
What the rating does not tell you is whether your parent can keep their own cardiologist. That is a network question, and in Florida this year it is the more urgent one. Our county-by-county look at which Florida counties are losing Medicare Advantage plans for 2027 covers that.
The Florida plans that earned five stars for 2027
Fifteen contracts made the five-star list nationally. Two carry Florida in their name:
- Leon Health, Inc., a Florida company based in Doral, with about 40,630 members as of October 2026. It held five stars last year as well.
- Longevity Health Plan of Florida, Inc., with about 818 members.
A five-star rating only helps if the plan is sold where your parent lives, and small plans often serve a narrow area. Put the ZIP code into Medicare Plan Finder for plan year 2027 before you set your heart on any single plan.
What is different in Florida this year
A KFF analysis of the CMS plan landscape, published October 9, found that nationally 193 counties will have no Medicare Advantage drug plan for general enrollment at all in 2027, up from 123, affecting about 638,000 people. In Miami-Dade, Health Care Service Corporation is no longer offering Medicare Advantage drug plans for 2027.
If the plan decision has you thinking about care options too, our Miami and Orlando pages list every licensed facility with its inspection record, staffing and rating.
What to do before December 7
- Find the Annual Notice of Change. Federal rules require the plan to mail it at least 15 days before October 15, so it should have arrived by September 30.
- Read the first page. It says whether the plan continues in 2027 and what changes on January 1.
- Look up the 2027 rating, not last year's. Medicare Plan Finder shows the overall score and the pieces behind it, so you can see whether the weak spot is customer service, drug coverage, or care management.
- Check the network, not just the score. Hospitals and insurers across Florida are renegotiating right now for January. The plan's own 2027 provider directory is the only list that counts, so ask the plan for the page that names your parent's doctors and hospital.
- Use the free help. SHINE is Florida's counseling program, run by the Department of Elder Affairs. Its counselors are not affiliated with any insurer and do not sell plans. The number is 1-800-963-5337.
- Use the calendar, not your memory. Open enrollment runs October 15 through December 7 for coverage that starts January 1. If your parent is already in an Advantage plan, a second window from January 1 through March 31 allows one change to another Advantage plan. Treat it as a safety net, not a plan.
If your parent is on Original Medicare with a stand-alone drug plan, the drug plan ratings matter the same way, and the same calendar and free help apply. The premium side of 2027 is in our Medicare cost guide.
The honest bottom line
A lower star rating does not mean your parent is getting bad care. It means Medicare's own measurements found less of the care that keeps people steady, and that the plan has less room to argue about it. A five-star rating is not a guarantee either, and it says nothing about the nurse who will be at your dad's bedside.
What the ratings give you is a shorter list and a better question. Not "is this plan popular," but "does this plan do well at the things that keep my dad out of the hospital." You can answer that in an afternoon.
Sources: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, "2027 Medicare Advantage and Part D Star Ratings," fact sheet (October 8, 2026), including the five-star appendix; Medicare.gov, Plan Finder for plan year 2027, the 5-star special enrollment period, and the Plan Annual Notice of Change; KFF, "Medicare Advantage Plan Availability Varies Widely by County for 2027" (October 9, 2026); KFF, "Medicare Will Spend More Than $13 Billion on the Medicare Advantage Quality Bonus Program in 2026" (updated August 12, 2026); Leon Health, Inc., 2027 plan materials and company listings; Florida Department of Elder Affairs SHINE program.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are Medicare Advantage star ratings?
Star ratings score each Medicare Advantage and Part D contract from one to five stars, based on dozens of quality, safety and customer-service measures. CMS published the 2027 ratings on October 8, 2026, and they appear on Medicare Plan Finder.
How many Medicare Advantage plans earned five stars for 2027?
Fifteen contracts earned five stars for 2027, down from 22 for 2026. Two of them carry Florida in their name: Leon Health, Inc. and Longevity Health Plan of Florida, Inc. A five-star plan only helps if it is sold in your parent's county.
Where did Medicare Advantage plans score worst in 2027?
On national averages, follow-up care after an emergency room visit for people with several chronic conditions scored lowest at 2.5 out of 5, down from 2.8. Reducing the risk of falling averaged 2.7, medication adherence for diabetes drugs 2.7, monitoring physical activity 2.8, and controlling blood pressure 3.0.
Can I switch to a five-star Medicare Advantage plan at any time?
Yes, once per year. If a plan with an overall five-star rating is sold where you live, federal rules allow one switch into it on any day between December 8 and November 30. The window only opens toward a five-star plan.
Does a low star rating mean my parent is getting bad care?
No. A lower rating means Medicare's measurements found less of the care that keeps people steady, on average, across the plan's members. It is a reason to compare plans carefully, not a verdict on any one person's care.
When can I change my parent's Medicare Advantage plan for 2027?
Open enrollment runs October 15 through December 7, 2026, for coverage that starts January 1. Members already in an Advantage plan get one more change between January 1 and March 31. Florida's SHINE program gives free, unbiased help at 1-800-963-5337.