The simple version

A Medicare Advantage plan is given one to five stars. Those stars are built from dozens of separate measures, each one assessed on its own and then combined into the single figure you see.

That single figure is doing two jobs at once. For you it is a guide sitting on the government's comparison tool while you pick a plan.

For the plan it is money. The same stars decide whether it collects a bonus payment from the government, and that payment lands a year later than the coverage being shopped for.

The numbers

• The scores for 2027 coverage were published on the government's plan comparison tool on October 8, 2026, and the fact sheet states they will affect 2028 quality bonus payments (CMS, 2027 Medicare Advantage and Part D Star Ratings fact sheet)
• Open enrollment for 2027 coverage runs from October 15, 2026 through December 7, 2026 (same fact sheet)
• A contract with drug coverage is rated on up to 43 separate measures; one without drug coverage on up to 32; a standalone drug plan on up to 13. CMS rates contracts, and one contract can hold several plans (same fact sheet)
• About 37% of contracts with drug coverage, 188 of them, earned four stars or higher for 2027. Weighted by how many people are enrolled, about 71% of members sit in those contracts (same fact sheet)
• 508 contracts with drug coverage were rated for 2027, down from 545 for 2024. The enrollment-weighted average score was 3.99 for 2027, against 4.01 for 2026, 3.95 for 2025 and 4.07 for 2024 (same fact sheet)
• Nonprofit contracts cleared four stars more often than for-profit ones: about 44% against about 34% (same fact sheet)

The part that catches people out

The thresholds that turn raw results into stars are called cut points, and the fact sheet says they are recalculated every year from how plans actually did in the measurement period.

So the stars are relative. A plan can deliver exactly the same care two years running and lose one because the others got better and the bar moved up behind it.

It also means stars are not a guarantee about your own care. They summarise how one plan did on dozens of measures during a period that ended before you ever saw them.

The actual math on 37 and 71

Two shares in the same fact sheet count one group two ways and disagree sharply. Counting contracts, about 37% earned four stars or higher. Counting the people enrolled, about 71% sit in one that did.

The gap is size. One contract can carry many separate plans, and the contracts that cleared the bar are the big ones. So a minority of contracts holds a large majority of the members.

Which share is useful depends on the question. For whether the typical contract cleared four stars, it is 37%. For whether most people are already in one that did, it is 71%.

What this means

The score is real information and it is free, sitting next to the benefits and the costs on the comparison tool. It is also a payment trigger, which is why plans work hard on the measures that carry the most weight.

Those two facts are not in conflict, but knowing both changes how you read the number. A high score tells you the plan performed well on the measures the government chose to count, during a period that has already closed.

It does not tell you how your own doctor will be covered, what your drugs will cost, or whether the plan will still score that way next year.

What this is NOT

This article explains what Medicare Advantage star ratings measure and what else the same score is used for, using the 2027 scores the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services published on October 8, 2026 as the example. It is not advice about which plan to choose, and it is not a recommendation for or against Medicare Advantage, original Medicare, or any named insurer. It is not a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any health insurer's stock. It does not predict what any plan will score next year, what any plan will cost you, or what any insurer will be paid. The comparison between the 37% contract share and the 71% enrollment share is our reading of two figures the fact sheet states separately, and the fact sheet does not draw that comparison. Coverage decisions turn on your own doctors, drugs and costs, which a published score cannot assess. This is not a political endorsement or criticism of anyone, and it takes no position on how the program is designed or paid for.

Sources

• Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, "2027 Medicare Advantage and Part D Star Ratings" fact sheet, read October 9, 2026