The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services rated Humana's flagship H5216 contract 4 stars for 2027, up from 3.5 stars previously.^[1] Humana stock surged 12.6% in after-hours trading on Thursday following release of the 2027 Medicare Advantage Star Ratings.^[7] CMS announced one-time $90 payments will be issued to eligible Original Medicare Part B enrollees.^[2] Approximately 20.8 million enrollees qualify for the payment, which will be distributed the week of 2026-10-08.^[5] AIDS Healthcare Foundation will pay $1.44 million to settle US Department of Justice allegations of false Medicare Advantage diagnosis code billing.^[6] CMS reported US healthcare spending reached $5.3 trillion, or 18% of GDP, in 2024.^[3] Medicare Advantage insurers denied more than four million prior authorization requests that same year.^[4]