Medicare Advantage and Part D star ratings for 2027

What a star rating measures

The rating combines very different things into one number: how often members get screenings and vaccines, how well diabetes and blood pressure are controlled, how members rate their care and the plan, how many complaints and appeals the plan generates and how it handles them, how well members take their drugs, and how the customer service line answers. For 2027 CMS added two drug-safety measures, the concurrent use of opioids and benzodiazepines and the use of several anticholinergic drugs in older adults, and increased the weight of the measures on improving or maintaining physical and mental health (CMS fact sheet of October 8, 2026).

Because the measures come from earlier years of data, the 2027 rating mostly describes how a contract performed in 2025 and early 2026. That is why a plan that is new, or a contract too small to measure, shows "new plan" or "too few data" in the lists of this site: these are CMS's own labels, not a bad grade.

Ratings across the 2027 plans

Of the 3,395 rated plans open to everyone, 2,190 have four stars or more. Counting plans is not the same as counting contracts: a large insurer can file dozens of plans under one contract, all with the same rating. CMS also notes in its fact sheet that nonprofit organizations earn higher ratings more often: about 44 % of nonprofit drug-covering contracts have four stars or more, against 34 % of for-profit ones.

The five-star special enrollment period

If a plan with an overall rating of five stars is offered where you live, you can switch into it once during the year, from December 8 before the plan year through November 30 of that year (42 CFR 422.62(b)(15)). The switch usually takes effect the first day of the following month. It works in one direction only: into the five-star plan. 15 drug-covering contracts earned five stars for 2027, 6 of them for the second year in a row. Sort your county by stars in the finder: if the first line shows 5.0, the window is open to you.

Low ratings and the warning icon

CMS flags on Medicare.gov the contracts with consistently low ratings: 4 drug-covering contracts carry that icon for 2027. A low rating does not stop you from joining, but it is a reason to read the plan's complaint and appeal record and its network carefully.

Why the same insurer can rate differently by state

An insurer usually holds several contracts with CMS, often one per region or per company it acquired, and each contract gets its own rating. A national brand can therefore carry 4.5 stars in one state and 3 stars in the next, for plans that look alike on paper. The lists of this site show the rating of the exact contract behind each plan ID (the letter and four digits at the start, such as H1234), so two plans with the same marketing name but different contracts can show different stars in neighboring counties.

Ratings also move from one year to the next. Thresholds, called cut points, are recalculated each year from the performance of all contracts, and a contract can lose half a star without getting worse if the others improved. Look at the trend over two or three years on Medicare.gov rather than a single figure.

How much weight to give the stars

A rating is a summary of averages, and your own needs may weigh on a few measures only. For someone with a chronic illness, the measures on care coordination, appeals and drug adherence matter more than the general score; for someone in good health, the customer service and member satisfaction parts may be enough. Stars never tell you whether your doctors are in the network or whether your drugs are covered. Use them after cost and network have narrowed the choice to two or three plans, with the two-plan comparator.

Stand-alone drug plans have their own Part D rating: about 27 % of them (11 contracts) earned four stars or more for 2027. The Part D plans page shows the rating of each one by state.