UnitedHealth Group, Cigna, and Humana all have something in common—besides being major health plans, that is.

They’re all currently facing lawsuits from patients alleging AI programs led to denied care. These suits claim (pun not intended) the insurance companies used AI-based algorithms to deny care without human oversight.

So far, AI has been touted as the future of healthcare by leaders across the industry. AI scribes have been promised to give clinicians more face time with patients and better work-life balance, while also saving hospitals money. AI agents, able to carry out complex tasks autonomously, have turbocharged the tech’s potential.

Reports have already shown these tools are being adopted faster than safeguards, despite concerns about cybersecurity or clinical deskilling. Now, with all the emerging lawsuits, the outlook of AI in healthcare is looking even more complicated.

Here’s how AI is impacting health insurance.—CC, CM

One word defined Medicare Advantage (MA) star ratings this year: stability.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) publicly released much-anticipated 2026 star ratings on Oct. 9. These ratings, ranked from one to five, determine the distribution of billions of dollars in quality bonus payments from CMS for plans ranking four or higher.

Over the last few years, the weighted proportion of members in plans with four or more stars has jumped around dramatically from 79.5% in 2024 to 64.1% in 2025, according to an analysis from consulting firm HealthScape Advisors. But for 2026, the proportion stayed pretty stable at 63.5% by HealthScape’s calculations.

“In some ways, stability is a good thing, especially given how volatile the Medicare market is these days. But the flip side of that is we didn’t really see meaningful improvement,” Alexis Levy, senior partner at HealthScape Advisors, told Healthcare Brew.

Find the latest on MA star ratings here.—CC

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