On a special emergency pod episode of Health Affairs This Week coming to you on the A Health Podyssey feed, Health Affairs Publishing’s Jeff Byers welcomes Brown University&#x27;s David Meyers to the pod to unpack the 2027 Medicare Advantage final payment rule, including the higher-than-anticipated rate increase, changes to risk adjustment models, what is V28, and the tradeoffs between market stability and long-term program sustainability.<br>To view an Insider Cheat Sheet on the MA rule, purchase Insider.<br>On April 20th, join us for our upcoming Insider exclusive event exploring the evolution of the Medicare Advantage market featuring Sachin Jain, David Meyers, and Grace Mackleby.<br>Related Links:<br>Assessing Recent Regulatory Action On Medicare Advantage (Health Affairs Forefront)

2027 Medicare Advantage Final Payment Rule: Key Changes Explained | David Meyers

A Health Podyssey

Hello and welcome to A Health Podyssey. I'm your host, Jeff Byers. We are recording on April 7th, 2026. That's right. It's time for an emergency pod to discuss the Medicare Advantage payment final rule for plan year 2027. Today on the pod to discuss that we have David Meyers from Brown University. David is also a panelist for our upcoming Insider event on April 20th. That event is titled The Evolution of Medicare Advantage and the Market Implications.

Other speakers include Grace McElby and Sachin Jain. David, welcome to the program. Yeah, thank you so much for having me. Always happy to nerd out about techie Medicare Advantage rate announcements. Well, I'm glad you're here so that I can actually learn about techie rate announcements. So we'll go into Medicare Advantage in the Market more for our April 20th event. But today, let's discuss the new ruling. So essentially, like the assurance lobby got its wish, right? With a payment bump. Is that right?

Yeah. So what comes out in this rate announcement ultimately is something that looks really beneficial for the insurance companies compared to what was originally signaled in the advance notice that came out a couple months ago. And so this is definitely something that the insurers were hoping for. And I think that that's been demonstrated in how we're seeing some of their stocks trend on the market when the markets opened up this morning.

Yeah. So CMS announced on Monday, I can't remember if it was after close of business or not, but it was cutting it pretty close. A 2.48% payment increase for Medicare Advantage plans in 2027. This was above the proposed .009 payment bump.

2027 Medicare Advantage Final Payment Rule: Key Changes Explained | David Meyers

Read the full transcript

The candid version is on a podcast,
not the earnings call.

2027 Medicare Advantage Final Payment Rule: Key Changes Explained | David Meyers

Read the full transcript

The candid version is on a podcast, not the earnings call.

The candid version is on a podcast,
not the earnings call.