Southeast Minnesota seniors see fewer options for Medicare Advantage coverage next year – Post Bulletin

ROCHESTER — The Medicare Advantage landscape for Rochester-area seniors has changed, with some insurance providers leaving the local market and Mayo Clinic exiting UnitedHealthcare’s and Humana’s networks.

Open enrollment for 2026 Medicare Advantage plans began on Wednesday, Oct. 15. Enrollees in Olmsted County, specifically, can choose plans from three insurers: Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota, Humana and Medica. That’s down from five insurers in 2025.

“Way fewer plan options,” said Jen Schimek, a Bankers Life retirement planning agent and Medicare broker. “Not as many avenues to explore for a lot of different people.”

One provider, UCare, had to stop offering its Medicare Advantage plans in Minnesota

following a ruling

from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. UCare had insured 158,000 seniors, representing 26% of the state’s Advantage market,

the Duluth News Tribune reported.

Rochester resident Cheryl Osborne is currently on a UCare Medicare Advantage plan with a $0 monthly premium. In 2026, she said she plans on switching to one of Medica’s two Medicare Advantage plans, at $47 and $159 per month, respectively.

“If you’re not sick or need health care, it’s not a bad plan, the $47 one,” Osborne said. “Am I going to get sick and need better coverage? I don’t know. Hopefully not.”

UCare’s departure from the Medicare Advantage market caused a “ripple effect downstream” for other insurers, said Mitch Anderson, an independent health insurance advisor at Prime Time Health Advisors in Rochester.

BCBS of Minnesota, for example, will only offer one plan instead of three in Olmsted, Dodge, Wabasha, Freeborn and Watonwan counties. UnitedHealthcare is also no longer offering Medicare Advantage plans in southern Minnesota, Anderson said.

Of the three Medicare Advantage insurers Olmsted County residents can choose from, one will be out of network with Mayo Clinic: Humana.

“Mayo Clinic will be out-of-network for Humana Medicare Advantage members beginning Jan. 1, 2026. Affected members have been notified of the change,” Humana said in a statement. “When providers require significantly higher reimbursement rates compared to original Medicare, it further strains our health care system. Ultimately, it costs patients more in the end, as seen in the increasing average Medicare Advantage premiums in Minnesota.”

The change affects Shannon and John Hendricks, who both qualify for Medicare benefits through their disability status. In 2022, they moved from Seattle to Rochester for better health care, said Shannon Hendricks, who is a double lung transplant recipient. She said their current Humana plan has “been one of the best Advantage care programs I have ever been on.”

This month, the Hendrickses have received 70 letters — two for each Mayo Clinic provider they’ve seen — informing them that their providers will not be in network next year.

“There were lots of choices before this,” Shannon Hendricks said, “but Mayo Clinic’s very picky about the Medicare Advantage plans that they accepted in the first place.”

While the Hendrickses are still weighing their options, Shannon Hendricks said she will likely switch to BCBS of Minnesota’s plan, bringing her monthly premium from $38 to $248. John Hendricks is eligible for Medicare with supplemental insurance, or Medigap, at the price of $88 per month.

“It’s all been really interesting and really a pain in the butt,” Shannon Hendricks said. “I’m not looking forward to outlaying all this extra money.”

Mayo Clinic’s Minnesota, Iowa and Wisconsin locations will also be out-of-network with UnitedHealthcare’s Medicare Advantage plans, the insurer said in a statement to the Post Bulletin.

The Post Bulletin reached out to Mayo Clinic for comment but did not receive a response.

In 2025, several Minnesota health systems went out-of-network with Humana’s Medicare Advantage plans, and Duluth-based Essentia Health also left UnitedHealthcare’s Medicare Advantage network,

the Post Bulletin reported in October 2024.

At that time, Mayo Clinic said its in-network status with those plans had not changed.

Anderson said BCBS of Minnesota and Medica Medicare Advantage plans are still in network for both Mayo Clinic and Olmsted Medical Center.

Olmsted Medical Center acknowledged the Post Bulletin’s inquiry but did not provide comment before publication.

In addition to some insurers leaving the local Medicare Advantage market, premiums are also increasing next year. Anderson said those costs are rising in tandem with the overall cost of health care.

“Premiums are going up, the copays are going up and some of the extra benefits — like the dental, vision, hearing, over-the-counter benefits — those extra benefits are being slimmed down,” Anderson said.

Schimek said all Medicare beneficiaries can look at their 2026 plan options on

Medicare.gov.

“There are options available with the Medigap Medicare supplements (for those) who are losing their plan,” Schimek said. “Some of them will get a guaranteed issue into original Medicare if their plan is leaving the area.”

Medicare is a government-funded health insurance program for Americans 65 and older and some younger adults with certain disabilities. Medicare Advantage plans are administered by health insurance companies rather than the government.

According to AARP,

about half of Medicare-eligible adults opt for a Medicare Advantage plan.