Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts is eliminating several of its Medicare Advantage plans for 2027, a move the insurer says is affecting roughly 20,000 Massachusetts seniors who must now find new coverage before the end of the year. The company is also sharply limiting enrollment in the plans it does keep, cutting off both the HMO and PPO options that many older residents have relied on for years.
According to The Boston Globe, the cuts hit Medicare Advantage offerings in Middlesex, Essex, and Worcester counties. Medicare Advantage is the privately run alternative to Original Medicare, the federal insurance program for people 65 and older. On its own enrollment page, Blue Cross confirms that enrollment in its Medicare Advantage plans is extremely limited for 2027, and online enrollment is unavailable on its website, according to Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts.
A third-party plan-tracking page, citing CMS enrollment data from October 2026, lists 28 plan listings as being replaced and identifies seven plans as ending in 2027, according to ismyplanending.com. Blue Cross’s 2027 lineup includes seven plans: two HMO, two HMO-POS, and three PPO options, according to the insurer’s plan-information page.
A Somerville Retiree Faces Higher Bills
The toll on individual households is stark. Tom Stambaugh, 74, of Somerville, will pay nearly three times as much for health insurance next year as he did in 2026, the Globe reports. He chose Original Medicare but now must purchase two supplemental plans to help cover copays and prescriptions, bringing his monthly cost to $315 — a nearly 200 percent jump in his annual insurance costs. Stambaugh told the Globe the added expense is an inconvenience for him and his wife.
Blue Cross Reports Financial Pressures
Blue Cross reported a net loss of $223.6 million on $9.7 billion in revenue for full-year 2024, and said at the time that member medical-care and prescription costs were growing at their fastest rate in more than a decade, per a Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts announcement. The Globe also reports that Blue Cross ended coverage of GLP-1 medications for obesity and offered buyouts to hundreds of employees in October 2025, as rising GLP-1 popularity added to cost pressures across the industry. Massachusetts separately approved a 13 percent increase in average Blue Cross premiums for non-Medicare Advantage plans sold on the state’s Health Connector, according to the Globe.
Other Insurers Are Also Pulling Back
Blue Cross isn’t alone in retreating from Medicare Advantage. The Globe reports that Mass General Brigham Health Plan is terminating all of its Medicare Advantage PPO plans for 2027…