Two hospital-backed Medicare Advantage plans in New England are leaving the market at the end of 2026. CarePartners of Connecticut, a joint venture of Point32Health and Hartford HealthCare, is pulling out of the seven Connecticut counties where it sold plans this year. Mass Advantage, owned by Worcester-based UMass Memorial Health, is exiting Worcester County and will shut down.
Members of either plan have until Dec. 7 to pick replacement coverage that starts Jan. 1. The two exits are part of a wider retreat by provider-owned insurers, and they leave people in these plans choosing between another Advantage plan and Original Medicare.
Which plans are closing, and who owns them?
The exits appear in Becker’s Hospital Review’s list of health system-affiliated insurers leaving Medicare Advantage for 2027, which the trade publication built from federal plan data. CarePartners of Connecticut ranks sixth of the ten insurers on that list. Mass Advantage ranks ninth, and Becker’s says the plan “will shut down” because of the exit.
Neither entry gives a member count. Becker’s also does not name the seven Connecticut counties in its entry, so people covered by CarePartners should confirm with the plan whether their county is among them. The exits affect people who hold these plans individually; Becker’s notes elsewhere that Sharp will keep its employer group plans, so group coverage is a separate question.
Is this the same as the 4.3 million losing plans?
These two exits sit inside a much larger number. KFF analysts, including Jeannie Fuglesten Biniek and Juliette Cubanski, counted 4.3 million Medicare beneficiaries whose Advantage or stand-alone drug plan will be terminated at the end of 2026. About 3.1 million of them are in Advantage drug plans and 1.2 million in stand-alone drug plans.
The KFF analysis does not mention Connecticut or Massachusetts, so it cannot say how many people in CarePartners or Mass Advantage are affected. Members of the two plans should treat the plan’s own termination notice as the answer for their household.
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What must members of these plans do by Dec. 7?
People in CarePartners of Connecticut or Mass Advantage have to act themselves, because coverage does not roll over to a different insurer. During the Oct. 15 to Dec. 7 window, Medicare.gov says a person can join, drop or switch to another Medicare Advantage plan, or join a drug plan while in Original Medicare. The plan has to receive the request by Dec. 7 for coverage to begin Jan. 1.
The same page lists special enrollment periods for people who lose coverage. It does not spell out the window for a plan that leaves the market, so members should read the termination letter for the exact dates and rights that apply to them.
Medicare.gov points people to its plan comparison tool to see costs and services in a given area. It also lists 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227) and the State Health Insurance Assistance Program, which offers free counseling.
Advantage again, or Original Medicare with a Medigap policy?
The choice is more than swapping one Advantage logo for another. Someone who moves back to Original Medicare also has to think about a drug plan and a Medigap supplement, which pays some of the costs Original Medicare leaves behind.
KFF notes that people whose Advantage plan is terminated have guaranteed-issue rights to a Medigap policy. That means an insurer cannot deny the policy or charge more because of a pre-existing condition. KFF adds that people in plans that are only consolidating do not carry those federal rights, which is why a plan that is closing differs from a plan that is merely changing.
Doctors and hospitals matter as much as premiums in a market where the owners are health systems. Anyone shopping for a replacement in Hartford HealthCare or UMass Memorial territory should check, plan by plan, whether current physicians, specialists and prescriptions are covered before Dec. 7.
Why are provider-owned plans pulling out?
Becker’s lists eight other insurers beside these two on its health-system roster, among them Braven Health in New Jersey, Providence Health Plan, Aspirus Health Plan in Wisconsin and Sharp Health Plan, which will keep offering employer group Advantage plans. Several Blue Cross Blue Shield plans are leaving too. The publication counts 18 health plans exiting Medicare Advantage for 2027, based on CMS data.
The Becker’s entries for CarePartners and Mass Advantage give no reason from either plan or its owners. What is on the record is the timing: the plans end with 2026, and the enrollment window closes Dec. 7.
What is the open question for these members?
Members face one concrete decision with one hard date. The plan they hold ends Dec. 31, the replacement must be chosen by Dec. 7, and the only way to know which replacements keep a given doctor is to check each one. For people in the seven Connecticut counties and in Worcester County, the unanswered piece is which of the remaining plans, or which Original Medicare setup, costs least once drugs and doctors are counted.
Is a CarePartners or Mass Advantage plan on the way out before Dec. 7?
A plan that ends Dec. 31 leaves a household with a single enrollment window, and the Dec. 7 deadline falls on the plan’s receipt of the request, not the day someone starts looking. Picking a replacement without comparing doctors and drugs is how people end up with a surprise in January.
“The Medicare Money Bundle” holds all 8 Medicare guides in one 102-page download, including “Open Enrollment in an Afternoon: Plan Finder in one sitting, and a keep-or-switch answer” and “Medigap vs. Medicare Advantage: your Medigap rights, state rules, and both paths priced.” The whole set costs $8, and every guide comes in large print.
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This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
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.
