Medicare Star Rating

Star Ratings

Medicare Star Rating

AI overview

 

The Medicare 2026 Star Ratings are scheduled to be released on or around October 9, 2025, on Medicare.gov, just ahead of the Open Enrollment period  AEP Annual Election Period that begins on October 15, 2025 and ends December 7th. These ratings are available through the Medicare Plan Finder tool, allowing beneficiaries to review and compare plans before enrolling for the next year. [1, 2, 3]

 

Key Information


What are they?

The ratings are annual quality scores for Medicare health and drug plans

When are they released? 

For 2026, the ratings will be available around October 9, 2025.

 

Where to find them?

You can use the Medicare Plan Finder tool on Medicare.gov to view the ratings, according to the .

Why are they important? 

The ratings inform beneficiaries when choosing a plan during the annual Open Enrollment period, which begins on October 15, 2025.

Higher-rated plans can also receive bonus payments for insurers and larger rebates for beneficiaries.  The money doesn’t go as cash payments to members of a plan… it’s used to reimburse the Insurance Company for their costs.  So, there may be big changes for 2026.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) releases the ratings to help people select the best plan for their health and financial needs. [1, 3, 4, 5, 6]

AI responses may include mistakes.

 

 

What are Medicare Plan #Star Ratings?

 

The Overall Star Rating combines scores for the types of services each plan offers: What is being measured? For plans covering health services, the overall score for quality of those services covers many different topics that fall into 5 categories:

  • 2025 Star Ratings released  Reuters
  • Staying healthy: screenings, tests, and vaccines: Includes whether members got various screening tests, vaccines, and other check-ups that help them stay healthy.
  • Managing chronic (long-term) conditions: Includes how often members with different conditions got certain tests and treatments that help them manage their condition.
  • Member experience with the health plan: Includes ratings of member satisfaction with the plan.
  • Member complaints and changes in the health plan’s performance: Includes how often Medicare found problems with the plan and how often members had problems with the plan. Includes how much the plan’s performance has improved (if at all) over time.
  • Health plan customer service: Includes how well the plan handles member appeals.

For plans covering drug services, the overall score for quality of those services covers many different topics that fall into 4 categories:

  • Drug plan customer service: Includes how well the plan handles member appeals.
  • Member complaints and changes in the drug plan’s performance: Includes how often Medicare found problems with the plan and how often members had problems with the plan. Includes how much the plan’s performance has improved (if at all) over time.
  • Member experience with plan’s drug services: Includes ratings of member satisfaction with the plan.
  • Drug safety and accuracy of drug pricing: Includes how accurate the plan’s pricing information is and how often members with certain medical conditions are prescribed drugs in a way that is safer and clinically recommended for their condition.

    For plans covering both health and drug services, the overall score for quality of those services covers all of the topics above.

 

More links

42 CFR Part 422, Subpart D – Quality Improvement

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