The 2027 Medicare Star Ratings: what a star does and doesn’t say
CMS published the 2027 ratings on October 8, a week before open enrollment. About 71% of Advantage drug-plan members are in a four-star contract or better. That is a statement about contracts, not about your doctors or your costs.
On October 8, CMS published the 2027 Star Ratings for Medicare Advantage and Part D plans on the Medicare Plan Finder. They arrive one week before open enrollment begins on October 15, which is when most people will see them, usually as a row of stars next to a plan’s name.
Stars are a useful number and an easy one to over-read. Here is what the 2027 ratings say, and what they leave out.
| Published | October 8, 2026, on the Medicare Plan Finder. They apply to plan year 2027. |
|---|---|
| Advantage drug plans (MA-PD) | About 71% of enrollees are in contracts rated four stars or more, weighted by enrollment. |
| Contracts at four or more | About 37% of Advantage drug-plan contracts (188 of them) earned four stars or higher. |
| Average rating | MA-PD average 3.99, down from 4.01 for 2026. |
| Contracts rated | 508 Advantage drug-plan contracts for 2027. |
| Standalone drug plans | About 27% (11 contracts) earned four stars or more. |
| Nonprofit vs. for-profit | About 44% of nonprofit contracts earned four or more stars, against about 34% of for-profit Advantage drug-plan contracts. |
| Open enrollment | 15 October – 7 December. Coverage starts 1 January. |
What the 71% means
The headline number is a share of people, not of plans. When CMS says about 71% of Advantage drug-plan members are in a contract with four or more stars, it is weighting each contract by how many people are enrolled in it. Because large insurers hold most of the enrollment, a handful of big contracts can pull the people-weighted figure well above the share of contracts. The two numbers on the table show the gap: 71% of members, but 37% of contracts.
The average rating moved the other way. At 3.99 for 2027, the Advantage drug-plan average slipped slightly from 4.01 the year before, which is a small change and is not a trend by itself. The ratings have been near four for several years.
A star rating describes a contract’s performance on a set of measures. It does not tell you whether a given plan covers your doctor, your drugs or your pharmacy.
What a star is attached to
Ratings belong to a contract, which is the agreement between CMS and an insurer. One contract can cover many different plans in many counties, with different premiums, networks and benefits. Two plans with the same stars can look entirely different from the inside, because CMS assigns ratings at the contract level and every plan under a contract shows that contract’s rating. That is why a rating describes a contract well and a single plan only loosely.
The overall rating blends many measures, from how well a plan keeps members healthy to how it handles complaints and appeals and how members rate their experience. A single number compresses all of that. It is possible for a contract to do well on average and still have a weak spot that matters to one person, such as the network in a particular county.
Also on The Second Half Guide What Medicare doesn’t cover What Medicare does not cover: teeth, eyes, ears, and the very large one most people do not discover until a parent needs it. Worth knowing early. Read it →How the ratings have moved
The Advantage drug-plan average has hovered near four stars: 4.07 for 2024, 3.95 for 2025, 4.01 for 2026 and 3.99 for 2027. A reader seeing “four stars” on a plan is therefore seeing roughly the market average, not an outlier. The 37% of contracts at four or more stars shows the same thing from the other side: most contracts sit around the middle, and a four-star rating is common rather than rare.
For standalone drug plans the picture is different. Only 11 contracts earned four stars or more, about 27%, which is a much smaller group than the Advantage side. CMS also reports a difference between nonprofit contracts, where about 44% reached four stars, and for-profit Advantage drug-plan contracts, where about 34% did. That is a fact about contracts in the ratings, not a finding about any one insurer’s plan in your county.
Why it matters for the money
Star Ratings are not only a consumer tool. They affect what CMS pays plans: higher-rated contracts are eligible for quality bonus payments, and CMS says the ratings published for 2027 will affect Medicare Advantage quality bonus payments for 2028. That gives insurers a strong reason to chase four stars, and it is one reason a plan’s marketing leans on its rating. A rating is real information, but it is also something the seller has every reason to put first.
The part the stars cannot tell you
A four-star contract can leave out the one specialist you see every month. A three-star plan can include every doctor and every drug on your list at the lowest cost in the county. The national story and the household story are separate, which is the same point made in the piece on the 2027 plan numbers: an average describes the market, and your plan is a single point in it.
The ratings also say nothing about whether a plan is staying. Insurers have announced exits for 2027 regardless of their stars; the piece on plans disappearing for 2027 covers that, and the notice about it was due by October 2.
Using the ratings during open enrollment
The ratings land at the same time as the other 2027 information. The Annual Notice of Change tells you what your current plan is changing; the Plan Finder lets you price the alternatives with your own drugs and pharmacy, and shows the Star Ratings alongside the cost and benefit information. A star rating does not replace a plan’s provider network, drug list, pharmacy network and cost sharing, which are the things that decide whether a plan covers what you use.
Plans also change from year to year, and so do ratings. A rating published in October describes performance measured earlier, which means a plan’s 2027 coverage and its 2027 stars are not measures of the same thing. The stars describe how a contract has done; the Plan Finder describes what it will offer.
What to check
- The Plan Finder shows Star Ratings next to each plan’s premium, deductible, copays, network and drug list; the rating does not replace any of them.
- A rating belongs to a contract that can cover many plans, so several plans can show the same stars.
- Your own doctors, drugs and pharmacy are checked in the Plan Finder, not by the rating.
- Your Annual Notice of Change lists what changes in your own plan for 2027.
- Open enrollment runs 15 October through 7 December; changes take effect 1 January.
The stars are one number among many. Used for what they are, a rough measure of how a contract performed, they help. Used as a verdict on your own coverage, they say more than they can.
This is general information, not personal insurance, financial or legal advice. We report the rules, the numbers and the deadlines as clearly as we can, but plan details, coverage decisions and premium costs depend on your specific plan. Treat this as a good place to find the right questions, not a substitute for your plan’s own materials or a licensed adviser.
Where these facts come from
Checked on 10 October 2026 against the sources listed below. Dollar limits and program rules change — if you're reading this well after that date, verify the numbers at the links below.
- CMS — 2027 Medicare Advantage and Part D Star Ratings (fact sheet) — https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/fact-sheets/2027-medicare-advantage-part-d-star-ratings
- CMS — Part C and D Performance Data — https://www.cms.gov/medicare/health-drug-plans/part-c-d-performance-data
- Fierce Healthcare — CMS releases the 2027 Medicare Advantage star ratings — https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/payers/cms-about-71-mapd-plan-enrollees-coverage-four-or-more-stars-2027
Edward Silva
Edward spent more than forty years as a computer professional — long enough to pick up one useful occupational habit: when somebody hands you a summary, go and read the actual documentation. He started The Second Half Guide after noticing that most writing aimed at people his age was either talking down to him or quietly selling him something, and that the plain facts — the dates, the thresholds, the dollar figures — were somehow the hardest part to find.
He's married, with two grown sons, both married themselves. He is not a financial adviser, an attorney or an insurance agent, and this site doesn't tell you what to do with your money. It tells you what the rules actually say, and links to where he checked.