Humana is exiting selected Medicare Advantage plans for the coming plan year, affecting approximately 600,000 members — roughly 8% of its 7.2 million Medicare Advantage enrollees. If you receive a non-renewal letter, you are not losing Medicare. But you are facing a deadline, a decision, and one rare opportunity you should not let expire unused.
Every date on this timeline has a real consequence. Miss the December deadline and you may face a late enrollment penalty or lose your guaranteed-issue Medigap right permanently.
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JULJuly 29, 2026 Humana Announces 600,000-Member Exit on Earnings Call CFO Celeste Mellet confirms Humana will exit selected lower-performing Medicare Advantage plans. The company targets plans rated 3.5 stars or below and says the goal is a sustainable profit margin by 2028. No public list of affected plan numbers or counties has been released yet — the only way to know if you’re affected is to wait for your official notice.
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SEPSeptember 2026 Annual Notice of Change (ANOC) Mailed to All Members Every Medicare Advantage member receives an ANOC letter explaining what is changing in their plan for the coming year — premiums, copays, drug list, network. Read this letter carefully even if your plan is not being discontinued. Benefits can change significantly year to year. Federal law requires plans to send ANOCs no later than September 30.
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OCT 2October 2, 2026 — Federal Deadline Non-Renewal Notices Mailed to Affected Members Federal regulations require non-renewal letters to be dated October 2 for plans ending December 31. If your plan is being discontinued, this letter arrives in early October. Do not discard it as junk mail. It triggers your legal rights and starts your enrollment clock. If you haven’t received anything by mid-October and are unsure of your status, call Humana directly or 1-800-MEDICARE.
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OCT 15October 15 – December 7, 2026 Medicare Annual Enrollment Period Opens — Your Window to Switch This is the once-a-year window when all Medicare beneficiaries can change their Medicare Advantage plan, switch to a different insurer, or move between Original Medicare and Medicare Advantage. Compare plans at Medicare.gov/plan-compare or call 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227). Changes made during this window take effect January 1. If your plan is being discontinued and you do nothing, you may revert to Original Medicare without a drug plan — triggering a late enrollment penalty.
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DEC 31December 31, 2026 Discontinued Humana Plans Officially End Coverage under discontinued plans stops at 11:59 PM on December 31. Whatever plan you chose (or were defaulted to) during Open Enrollment becomes active January 1. If you received a non-renewal notice and took no action, contact 1-800-MEDICARE immediately — you likely still qualify for a Special Enrollment Period to choose a plan.
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63 DAYSUp to 63 Days After Coverage Ends Guaranteed-Issue Medigap Window Closes If you switch to Original Medicare rather than another Advantage plan, your guaranteed-issue right to buy a Medigap supplement policy without medical underwriting expires 63 days after your old coverage ends — roughly late February. This window does not extend or repeat. If you want Medigap, apply before this date. After it closes, insurers in most states can charge you more or decline you based on your health history.
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The questions flooding senior forums and Medicare helplines right now — answered directly, without insurance-industry vagueness.
No. Your Medicare benefits — Part A and Part B — are not going anywhere. What is ending is the specific private insurance wrapper (the Humana Medicare Advantage plan) that was delivering those benefits. Medicare Advantage is a contract between Humana and the federal government, not a replacement for your underlying Medicare eligibility. When that contract for a specific plan ends, your original Medicare entitlement is fully intact. The practical reality: you will have a gap in coverage starting January 1 if you don’t actively choose a replacement plan before December 7. That gap can be costly — Original Medicare without a supplement has no annual out-of-pocket limit, and hospital stays can run thousands of dollars. The urgency is real. The panic is not.
The honest reason is financial. Humana’s leadership stated publicly that the goal is returning the business to a sustainable pre-tax profit margin by 2028. The plans being dropped are primarily those rated 3.5 stars or below — lower star-rated plans receive smaller bonus payments from the federal government, making them less profitable. Medical costs have risen faster than the federal payments Humana receives to cover those costs, and the gap between the two was widening heading into the next bid cycle. The company is not exiting Medicare Advantage entirely — it still has 7.2 million Medicare Advantage members and expects to remain one of the largest MA insurers in the country. After these cuts, Humana’s MA footprint will cover 46 states and about 85% of U.S. counties. This is a business portfolio decision, not a collapse.
Humana has not released a public list of every discontinued plan and county. The only definitive way to know if your plan is affected is to wait for your official notice. Federal law requires non-renewal letters to be dated October 2 — watch your mail carefully in early October. If you haven’t received anything by mid-October and want to confirm sooner, call Humana member services and ask specifically: “Is my plan being discontinued for the coming plan year?” Have your plan name and member ID from your insurance card ready. You can also call 1-800-MEDICARE with that same information — they can confirm the status of any specific plan. Do not assume you’re unaffected simply because you haven’t received a letter yet. Mail delivery varies, and some notices arrive later in October.
Humana expects to “recapture” roughly 40% of the 600,000 affected members — approximately 240,000 people — into other plans it offers. The company will likely send you information about available Humana alternatives. This is not a reason to simply go along with whatever they suggest. A replacement Humana plan may or may not include your current doctors. It may or may not cover your current prescriptions at the same cost. It may have higher out-of-pocket expenses than competing plans in your area. Accepting a company-suggested replacement plan without comparing it against other options — including non-Humana plans and Original Medicare plus Medigap — means making a decision with incomplete information. The Medicare plan finder at medicare.gov/plan-compare lets you compare every available plan in your ZIP code with your actual drugs and doctors entered.
Under normal circumstances, if you want to buy a Medigap (Medicare Supplement) policy after your first Medicare enrollment window, insurance companies in most states can ask about your health history, charge you more based on pre-existing conditions, or decline you outright. Many people with diabetes, heart disease, cancer history, or other chronic conditions have been turned down for Medigap or quoted unaffordably high premiums because of this rule. Federal law creates an exception when your Medicare Advantage plan is discontinued. During that limited window, insurers must sell you certain Medigap plans without medical underwriting — no health questions, no rejection, no higher premiums based on your conditions. For someone with serious health conditions who has been effectively locked out of Medigap, this is genuinely the most significant financial protection opportunity that may appear in years. The window lasts 63 days after your old coverage ends.
Florida has the highest Medicare Advantage enrollment rate of any state — over 60% of Florida’s 5 million-plus Medicare beneficiaries are in an MA plan, and Humana has historically had strong Florida presence. States with high MA penetration and areas where Humana had lower-performing or lower-rated plans are more likely to be affected. However, Humana has not published a state-by-state breakdown of the affected plans, and the cuts are described as targeted at specific lower-return plans rather than entire state withdrawals like the 2026 round, which explicitly dropped two full states. The only way to know your specific status is to wait for the October notice or call Humana directly with your plan information.
No — Humana is not alone. UnitedHealthcare’s Medicare Advantage membership fell about 9% heading into this plan year. Elevance Health (formerly Anthem) dropped 14%. Presbyterian Health Plan recently announced it is exiting most of its Medicare Advantage plans, affecting about 30,000 members. The pattern is industry-wide: federal payment rates haven’t kept pace with rising medical costs, lower-rated plans generate smaller bonus payments, and the Inflation Reduction Act’s $2,000 annual cap on out-of-pocket drug costs adds additional complexity. The broader lesson: Medicare Advantage plans can and do change — sometimes dramatically — from year to year. Any member, not just those affected this cycle, should review their plan every October during Open Enrollment rather than auto-renewing without checking whether their doctors, drugs, and costs still make their current plan the best option.
Medicare Advantage and Original Medicare plus Medigap are fundamentally different structures. Medicare Advantage is a private managed care plan — it typically has a network of providers, lower monthly premiums, extra benefits like dental and vision, and an annual out-of-pocket maximum, but you must use in-network doctors and get prior authorizations for some care. Original Medicare allows you to see any doctor in the U.S. who accepts Medicare, with no network restrictions and no prior authorization requirements — but it has no annual out-of-pocket cap on its own, which is where Medigap fills the gap. The right choice depends on your health, your doctors, your medications, and your financial situation — not on which option requires the least paperwork right now. This is exactly the kind of decision a free SHIP counselor can help you think through without any sales pressure.
When your Humana plan is discontinued, you have three main paths. None is automatically better — the right one depends on your health, income, doctors, and whether you want Medigap protection.
| Option | Monthly Premium | Doctor Choice | Drug Coverage | Out-of-Pocket Cap | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Another Medicare Advantage Plan | Often $0–$80/mo | In-network only · referrals may be required | Usually included (Part D built in) | Yes — federal max is $9,350 (individual) | Healthy, local care, budget-conscious |
| Original Medicare + Medigap Plan G | $100–$250+/mo Medigap premium + Part B | Any Medicare-accepting doctor in U.S. · no referrals | Separate Part D plan needed (~$30–$80/mo) | Predictable — only Part B deductible after | Chronic conditions, travel, specialist needs |
| Original Medicare Only (No Supplement) | $0 for supplement · Part B premium only | Any Medicare-accepting doctor | Separate Part D plan needed | No cap — unlimited exposure | Risky without supplement · rarely advisable |
| Stay with Humana (Different Plan) | Varies by new plan | In-network only — verify your doctors are still covered | Typically included | Yes — plan-specific cap | If your doctors stay in network and costs compare well |
This is the provision most people affected by a plan discontinuation never learn about — often until the window has closed. It can be the most financially significant protection available to someone with chronic health conditions.
Normally, the right to buy a Medigap policy without medical underwriting exists only during a six-month window when you first enroll in Medicare Part B. After that window closes, insurance companies in most states can and do use your health history to deny coverage or charge dramatically higher premiums. A person who developed Type 2 diabetes, heart disease, COPD, or cancer after joining Medicare Advantage may have been effectively priced out of Medigap for years. The guaranteed-issue right that comes with a plan discontinuation reopens that door specifically for people in this situation — people who need predictable cost protection the most but have been locked out of it.
When your Medicare Advantage plan is discontinued and you switch to Original Medicare, federal law gives you a guaranteed-issue right to purchase Medigap Plans A, B, C, D, F, and G — subject to eligibility. People who first enrolled in Medicare Part B on or after January 1, 2020 generally cannot buy Plans C or F (which cover the Part B deductible). For most people affected by Humana’s cuts, Plan G is the most comprehensive available option and one of the most popular because it covers essentially all Medicare cost-sharing except the Part B deductible. The insurer cannot reject you, impose a waiting period for pre-existing conditions, or charge you a higher premium than a healthy applicant of the same age. The window runs from up to 60 days before your coverage ends through 63 days after it ends.
The guaranteed-issue Medigap right only applies if you return to Original Medicare rather than enrolling in another Medicare Advantage plan. If you accept a replacement Advantage plan — including one from Humana — you do not trigger this right at this time. This makes the decision sequence critically important: if you think you might ever want Medigap, this is the moment to make that move. If you decline and choose another Advantage plan, you may face the same underwriting barriers again in the future. This doesn’t mean Medigap is automatically the right choice — it has higher monthly premiums and requires a separate Part D drug plan. But if you have significant health conditions and have been priced out of Medigap before, evaluate this option carefully before accepting any replacement plan.
- Contact a SHIP counselor first — free, unbiased help at shiphelp.org or 1-877-839-2675. They can explain exactly what Medigap plans are available in your state and confirm your eligibility for the guaranteed-issue right based on your specific situation.
- Get quotes from multiple Medigap insurers — premiums for the same standardized Plan G vary significantly by insurer even though the benefits are identical. Use the plan comparison tool at medicare.gov/medigap or work with a broker who represents multiple companies (not just one).
- Apply before your coverage ends if possible — the window opens 60 days before your December 31 coverage end date, meaning applications can begin around November 1. Earlier applications give you more time to resolve any paperwork issues.
- Also enroll in a standalone Part D drug plan — Original Medicare does not cover outpatient prescription drugs. If you switch to Original Medicare plus Medigap, enroll in a Part D drug plan during the Annual Enrollment Period (October 15–December 7) to avoid a late enrollment penalty.
These steps should be taken in sequence. Rushing to enroll in the first plan that contacts you — especially one Humana markets directly to you — is the most common and most costly mistake people make in this situation.
Federal law requires non-renewal notices to be dated October 2. Watch your mail carefully starting in early October and open every piece of mail from Humana — even items that look like marketing. Your non-renewal letter (sometimes called an Annual Notice of Change or termination notice) is a legal document that triggers your rights and starts your enrollment clock. Keep the letter and every subsequent notice in a safe place. If you haven’t received anything by mid-October and are unsure, call Humana member services or 1-800-MEDICARE with your plan name and member ID to confirm your plan’s status. Do not assume you’re unaffected because you haven’t heard anything — mail timing varies.
Every state has a State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP) — free, trained, unbiased Medicare counselors who are paid no sales commissions. Unlike an insurance broker, a SHIP counselor has zero financial interest in which plan you choose. They can explain your guaranteed-issue Medigap right, help you understand all options available in your county, and walk through the comparison process with your specific doctors and medications in mind. A 30-minute call with a SHIP counselor before you talk to any insurance company or broker can prevent a costly mistake. Find your state’s SHIP at shiphelp.org or call 1-877-839-2675 and say “Medicare” when prompted. This service is completely free.
The official Medicare plan finder at medicare.gov/plan-compare lets you enter your ZIP code, your specific prescription medications and dosages, and your preferred doctors and hospitals. It then calculates your estimated total annual cost for every plan available in your area — premiums, copays, deductibles, and drug costs combined. This tool compares all plans from all insurers, not just Humana. Before making any decision, use this tool or have a SHIP counselor run it with you. Check that your current doctors and hospitals are in-network for any Advantage plan you’re considering — provider networks change year to year, and a plan that included your cardiologist last year may not include them next year.
If a SHIP counselor or your own research suggests that Original Medicare plus a Medigap supplement might serve you better than another Advantage plan — particularly if you have significant health conditions or see multiple specialists — get Medigap quotes now, while the guaranteed-issue window is open. Contact multiple Medigap insurers or use a broker who represents many companies, not just one. Premiums for the same standardized Plan G vary by 30–50% or more between insurers in the same county, even though the benefits are legally identical. Apply before your December 31 coverage end date if possible — starting around November 1 gives you time to complete paperwork without rushing. If you wait until after January 1, the window still stays open 63 more days, but don’t rely on that buffer if you can act sooner.
Original Medicare does not cover outpatient prescription drugs. If you move from Medicare Advantage (where drug coverage is typically built in) to Original Medicare, you must enroll in a standalone Medicare Part D drug plan to maintain prescription coverage. Use the plan finder at medicare.gov/plan-compare to compare Part D plans based on your specific medications — costs vary dramatically depending on your drug list. Enroll in a Part D plan during the Annual Enrollment Period (October 15–December 7). Missing this step and going without Part D coverage, then trying to enroll later, triggers a Part D late enrollment penalty — 1% of the national base beneficiary premium for every month you were without creditable coverage, added permanently to your premium.
After enrolling in a new plan, you should receive a confirmation within a few weeks. Write down the plan name, plan ID number, and your new member number. In early January, call your new plan and confirm that your enrollment was processed correctly and that your doctors and preferred pharmacy are still in their network. Do not assume an enrollment processed automatically. Errors happen, and catching one in early January gives you time to fix it through a Special Enrollment Period if needed. Keep your old Humana insurance card until your new coverage is confirmed active on January 1. If you have a scheduled medical appointment in early January, call the provider’s billing office ahead of time to confirm they have your new insurance information before your visit.
Take one breath, then take one action. Call 1-800-MEDICARE at 1-800-633-4227 — available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Tell them your plan is being discontinued and ask what your options are in your county. They will confirm your situation, explain the enrollment period dates, and tell you whether any other Humana plans are available to you. After that call, contact your SHIP counselor for an unbiased comparison of all available plans. You have time — the Annual Enrollment Period runs through December 7. Use it to compare, not to react. The worst decision you can make is enrolling in the first plan Humana recommends without comparing it against alternatives for your specific doctors and medications.
This is precisely the situation where the guaranteed-issue Medigap right is most valuable. Under normal circumstances, your health conditions would make it difficult or impossible to qualify for Medigap at affordable rates. The plan discontinuation reopens that door specifically for you. Before accepting any replacement Advantage plan, get Medigap quotes while this window is open — even if you ultimately decide the lower premium of an Advantage plan is more important right now, you will at least be making an informed choice with actual numbers in front of you. Contact a SHIP counselor who can help you compare the total annual costs of both options given your expected healthcare use. A higher Medigap premium may cost less total than an Advantage plan with copays and coinsurance for someone who uses significant healthcare services.
If you depend on a specialist — oncologist, rheumatologist, cardiologist, neurologist — who is not in the network of any available Medicare Advantage plan in your county, Original Medicare is likely your better option. Original Medicare allows you to see any doctor in the United States who accepts Medicare, with no network restrictions, no prior authorization for specialist visits, and no requirement to get a referral from a primary care physician first. Pair it with Medigap Plan G to cap your out-of-pocket exposure and a standalone Part D plan for drug coverage. Yes, the monthly premium will be higher than a $0-premium Advantage plan. But if your specialist isn’t covered under any available Advantage plan, a $0-premium plan that doesn’t cover your doctor isn’t actually cheaper in practice.
Original Medicare is almost always the better choice for frequent travelers or snowbirds who split time between states. Medicare Advantage plans are generally tied to a county or region — care outside the plan’s service area is typically covered only for emergencies. Original Medicare, by contrast, covers you at any Medicare-accepting facility or doctor anywhere in the United States, with no geographic restrictions. Medigap Plan G travels with you the same way. If your winters are in Florida and your summers are in Pennsylvania, for example, an Advantage plan from one state will leave you essentially uninsured for non-emergency care in the other. The guaranteed-issue Medigap window you have now is your best opportunity to make this switch without medical underwriting barriers.
Yes — at minimum, review your current plan’s Annual Notice of Change (ANOC) letter carefully. Even if Humana is not discontinuing your specific plan, your premiums, copays, drug formulary, and provider network may have changed for the coming year. A drug that cost you $30 a month this year might cost $90 next year if it moved to a different formulary tier. A specialist you see regularly may have left the network. The official Medicare plan finder at medicare.gov/plan-compare lets you enter your current medications and doctors and instantly shows whether there’s a better option in your county — in terms of total annual cost, not just monthly premium. About one in three Medicare Advantage members who compare plans during Open Enrollment finds a better option in their area. Comparison costs nothing and takes about 20 minutes.
This guide is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute insurance, legal, or financial advice. Benefit figures, enrollment dates, and guaranteed-issue rights information reflect publicly available federal Medicare regulations and Humana announcements as of the publication date. The list of affected Humana plans and counties has not been publicly released by Humana as of publication — official non-renewal notices are the authoritative source for individual plan status. Medigap guaranteed-issue rights depend on individual circumstances and how a plan’s exit is classified — confirm eligibility with Medicare.gov, 1-800-MEDICARE, or a SHIP counselor before making coverage decisions. This page has no affiliation with Humana, Medicare, CMS, or any insurance carrier referenced.