Twelve insurers are leaving Medicare Advantage entirely for 2027, and the list includes Aspirus Health Plan in Wisconsin and iCircle in New York. The count comes from a Becker’s Payer Issues tally first published Sept. 30 and updated Oct. 6. Each name on it is dropping every county where it sold Medicare Advantage plans, so members of those plans face a change of coverage on Jan. 1.
Aspirus is the Wisconsin entry, with a full exit across 21 counties. The plan has been under a federal sanction all year. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) suspended its new enrollment effective Feb. 24, 2026, writing in its sanction notice that Aspirus was “failing substantially to carry out its contract with CMS because it is not able to accept new enrollments.” Becker’s ties the suspension to the takeover of Aspirus’s claims processor, UCare, by Minnesota regulators.
For anyone on one of these plans, the practical question is simple: is my plan on the list, and what do I pick instead? Annual enrollment on Medicare.gov runs Oct. 15 through Dec. 7, and coverage under a new plan begins Jan. 1. A member who waits for the plan’s own letter can lose weeks of that window.
Members of a plan that is ending have to line up drugs, doctors and costs for the replacement before Dec. 7, and The 2027 Medicare Open Enrollment Decision Kit includes a cost calculator spreadsheet that compares plans on cost, drugs and doctors and a prescription-by-plan comparison for exactly that sorting.
Open the plan-comparison tools for a Medicare Advantage plan that is ending →
Aspirus: a sanction, a suspension and no 2027 notice
Aspirus’s agent page says that as of Jan. 20, 2026, the plan was no longer enrolling new members in its 2026 Medicare Advantage plans. The CMS notice goes further, pointing to a Wisconsin order directing Aspirus to “cease and desist the writing of new and renewal business.” The agent page carries no 2027 exit notice, so the 21-county exit rests on Becker’s list. Members in those Wisconsin counties are the ones most likely to hear from the plan or from CMS in the coming weeks.
iCircle’s special needs plan in New York
iCircle is on the list for a full exit from 14 New York counties. Its plan is a dual-eligible special needs plan, known as a D-SNP, which serves people who have both Medicare and Medicaid. That group has a particular reason to be careful, because a replacement has to work with their Medicaid coverage as well as Medicare. iCircle’s website says its managed long-term care plan was acquired by VNS Health effective April 1, 2026, and that iCircle will stop accepting electronic claims on Jan. 1, 2027. The site posts no Medicare Advantage notice, and Becker’s is the source for the 2027 exit.
Braven, WellSense and the rest of the list
New Jersey’s Braven Health is listed as leaving all 21 of its counties. WellSense is listed as exiting all 10 New Hampshire counties and shutting down. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Mississippi is listed with 26 Mississippi counties. Wellmark, Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Dakota, CHRISTUS, Providence, Memorial Hermann, Mass Advantage and Sharp round out names Becker’s has already covered. A member who sees a familiar plan name here should look for a non-renewal notice, since insurers must tell members when a plan will not return.
A market that is also shrinking elsewhere
The full exits sit inside a broader pullback. A Becker’s Hospital Review analysis of CMS landscape data, published Oct. 1, found that only four organizations are entering the market in 2027. The same analysis shows Health Care Service Corporation selling Medicare Advantage plans in 478 counties next year, down from 948, and Centene offering 210 plans, down from 303. Devoted Health is the main gainer, going to 740 plans from 427. For members of a plan that stays, the lineup around it can still look different on Jan. 1.
Choosing a replacement before December 7
The free starting point is the Medicare Plan Finder, which lists every plan available in a given ZIP code, with premiums, drug costs and star ratings. A member should have their medication list with dosages, their doctors’ and hospital’s names and a note of any pharmacy they rely on before sitting down to compare. Total cost, meaning premium plus expected drug and doctor costs, tells more than the monthly premium alone.
People whose plan ends have another window. Medicare.gov says the special enrollment period for a plan that is not renewing runs from Dec. 8 through the last day of February of the following year. Moving to Original Medicare is also an option, though it can raise questions about a Medigap supplement and Part D drug coverage that are better settled before the new year.
Becker’s list stood at 12 payers as of its Oct. 6 update, and CMS’s plan-level data on the Plan Finder shows each county’s actual 2027 options.
For members who would rather sort replacement plans on paper than on screen, The 2027 Medicare Open Enrollment Decision Kit offers a provider call script to confirm a doctor is in network and the Open Enrollment calendar of dates that matter before Dec. 7.
Click here to get The 2027 Medicare Open Enrollment Decision Kit for a plan that is leaving →
This article was produced with AI assistance and reviewed by The Financial Wire’s editorial team.
David M. Keller is a finance writer based in Columbus, Ohio, covering personal finance and consumer-focused economic topics. He earned his degree in journalism from Ohio University and began his career reporting on local business and economic trends for a regional media outlet. Since then, he has contributed to a variety of online publications, focusing on clear, practical coverage of topics such as cost of living, debt, and everyday financial decision-making.
