Insurers Sue to Bolster Revenue Amid Medicare Payment Squeeze

Medicare managed care plans, already facing declines in government reimbursements, are increasingly asking courts to help them boost payouts from a bonus payment program that’s under scrutiny from program watchdogs.

Private Medicare Advantage insurers Humana, UnitedHealth Group, Centene, and a subsidiary of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Louisiana have sued the Department of Health and Human Services in recent weeks to contest their 2025 “star ratings,” which determine how much they’ll receive in 2026 from the MA Quality Bonus Payment program.

The stakes are enormous, with hundreds of millions of dollars in play for plans that ...