Best Medicare Advantage Plans 2024
Medicare Advantage plans, also known as Medicare Part C, replace your Original Medicare coverage and can provide extra coverage. We break down the best Medicare Advantage plans in 2024 from top insurance companies to help you explore the options that best fit your needs.
Helpadvisor.com is owned and operated by Tranzact, the parent company of TZ Insurance Solutions LLC, which is the owner/operator of Medicareadvantage.com and other websites mentioned on HelpAdvisor and which has a financial relationship with some of the carriers listed on HelpAdvisor. This may influence which products we write about, but HelpAdvisor maintains editorial independence, and our opinions and evaluations are our own.
Nearly anyone shopping for a Medicare Advantage plan (also called Medicare Part C or Medicare health plans) wants to know which option offers the best Medicare Advantage plan. However, that all depends on how you define “best.”
For some, it may be based on plan quality or customer satisfaction with the insurance company who provides the plan. For others, it might be based on plan price or provider network restrictions.
Have Medicare questions?
Talk to a licensed agent today to find a plan that fits your needs.
We’ve compiled a list of Medicare Advantage plans in 2024 according to several different categories so that you may be able to find a Medicare Advantage plan carrier that might offer plans that fit your needs.
- Best for Quality: Kaiser Permanente
- Best for Price: Cigna
- Best for Extra Benefits: Aetna
- Best for Variety: AARP and UnitedHealthcare
- Best for Customer Experience: Humana
- Best for Trust: Anthem
Here are some of the Medicare Advantage plan providers you may be able to choose from depending on plan availability where you live. The insurance companies below are listed in no particular order.
Quality is important in a Medicare Advantage plan. Every year, Medicare evaluates plans based on a 5-star rating system. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) rates all Medicare Advantage plans and plan carriers on the 5-point scale using various quality criteria.
For 2023, all Kaiser Permanente Medicare health plans are rated at least 4 out of 5 stars overall. Many Kaiser Medicare beneficiaries are in plans with a perfect 5-star rating.
Kaiser Permanente could be a good option for anyone who prioritizes Medicare Advantage plan quality and lives in an area where a Kaiser Medicare plan is available.
Cons of Kaiser Permanente Medicare Advantage plans: Kaiser has a very small network that includes only 8 states and Washington D.C.1 A licensed insurance agent can help you compare plans available where you live.
Price is often the first thing consumers consider in a Medicare Advantage plan.
If cost is important to you, Cigna may offer some of the best Medicare Advantage plans for the budget-conscious.
Some Cigna Medicare Advantage plans may include enhanced benefits, such as:2
- Cigna Healthy Today Medicare flex card
- Part B "giveback" rebate plans
- Caregiver support programs
Plan availability and benefits can vary by location, so the above benefits may not be available with all the plans available where you live.
When you compare plans online or with the help of a licensed insurance agent, you can ask to see the full coverage details, benefits, costs, coverage and more for plans where you live.
Cons of Cigna Medicare Advantage plans: The majority of Cigna plans in most locations are HMO plans, based on our analysis of publicly available Medicare plan data.3 This means there may not be a lot of plan type variety, depending on where you live.
It’s typical for many Medicare Advantage plans to offer some extra benefits that Original Medicare (Medicare Parts A and B) don’t cover, such as coverage for dental, vision and hearing care or prescription drugs. But a number of Aetna Medicare Advantage plans really go the extra mile when it comes to additional benefits.
Some of the additional perks you might find in an Aetna Medicare Advantage plan may include memberships to the SilverSneakers fitness program, a home meal delivery program, coverage of over-the-counter medications and health products, home delivery of prescription drugs and even a concierge service to assist plan members with finding local health resources.4
Cons of Aetna Medicare Advantage plans: There are a lot of Aetna affiliate companies, which can make plan shopping confusing. Working with an independent Medicare insurance agent or broker might help you navigate the available plans in your area.5
Everyone has different health care needs, and variety of Medicare plan types can be important in a company’s Medicare Advantage plan selection.
AARP partners with UnitedHealthcare to offer a diverse lineup of Medicare Advantage plans that include Medicare HMOs, Medicare PPOs, Special Needs Plans (SNPs) and more.
If it’s plan options you’re looking for, AARP offers some of the best Medicare Advantage plans for variety. The variety of plans that are available where you live, however, may vary. So, it’s important to carefully review the options that are offered where you live.
Cons of UnitedHealthcare Medicare Advantage plans: An AARP membership is required to enroll in one of these Medicare Advantage plans.6
Everyone likes a good customer experience when shopping for anything, and that includes health insurance.
Humana makes it very easy to find in-network doctors and other providers such as Humana Medicare dentists in your area using a number of helpful search filters and doctor lookup tools.
Humana also gets strong customer service reviews. In fact, Humana Specialty Pharmacy has won the MMIT Patient Choice Award in each of the last five years.7
If customer experience is important to you, Humana offers some of the best Medicare Advantage plans for simplicity and ease of use.
Cons of Humana Medicare Advantage plans: $0 premium plans and prescription drug coverage may not be as readily available in some areas as they are in others. You can consider speaking with an independent licensed insurance agent to compare multiple Medicare Advantage plans available where you live.
Trust shouldn’t ever be compromised when it comes to your health, and more than 32 million Americans trust Anthem and its subsidiaries for their health insurance coverage.
Considering their relationships with brands like CVS and the Blue Cross Blue Shield family of brands, Anthem has some of the best Medicare Advantage plans for industry names you can trust.
Anthem Medicare Advantage cons: While Anthem’s reputation remains solid, the quality of its customer service doesn’t always get the best reviews.8
The CMS uses a 5-star scale to rate all Medicare Advantage plans every year, so any plan with a 5-star rating is considered the best, and plans with 4 stars or higher out of 5 are considered highly-rated Medicare plans.
The CMS uses up to 38 unique measures to score Medicare Advantage plans with prescription drug coverage, and up to 28 measures to rate Medicare Advantage plans that do not include drug benefits.
According to the CMS, there are 31 Medicare Advantage Prescription Drug plans with a perfect 5-star rating available in 2024.
Learn More About Medicare
Join our email series to receive your free Medicare guide and the latest information about Medicare.
By clicking "Sign me up!" you are agreeing to receive emails from HelpAdvisor.com
Thanks for signing up!
Your free Medicare guide is on the way.
Make sure to check your spam folder if you don't see it.
1 Kaiser Permanente. https://about.kaiserpermanente.org/who-we-are/annual-reports/2021-annual-report.
3 Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). 2024 MA Landscape Source File. https://www.cms.gov/Medicare/Prescription-Drug-Coverage/PrescriptionDrugCovGenIn.
4 Aetna. Retrieved Oct. 2022 from https://www.aetnamedicare.com/en/compare-plans-enroll/benefits-medicare-advantage-plan.html.
5 SilverScript is a Prescription Drug Plan with a Medicare contract marketed through Aetna Medicare. Aetna®, CVS Pharmacy® and MinuteClinic®, LLC (which either operates or provides certain management support services to MinuteClinic-branded walk-in clinics) are part of the CVS Health® family of companies.Aetna is the brand name for insurance products issued by the subsidiary insurance companies controlled by Aetna, Inc. The Medicare Supplement Insurance Plans are insured by Continental Life Insurance Company of Brentwood, Tennessee, an Aetna Company (Aetna), American Continental Insurance Company (Aetna), Aetna Health and Life Insurance Company (Aetna), Aetna Life Insurance Company (Aetna), or Aetna Health Insurance Company (Aetna).
6 UnitedHealthcare. https://www.aarpmedicareplans.com.
7 Humana. Humana Specialty Pharmacy Receives Prestigious National Patient Choice Award for Fifth Consecutive Year. (May 10, 2022). https://press.humana.com/news/news-details/2022/Humana-Specialty-Pharmacy-Receives-Prestigious-National-Patient-Choice-Award-for-Fifth-Consecutive-Year/default.aspx#gsc.tab=0.
8 Better Business Bureau (BBB). Retrieved Oct. 2022, from https://www.bbb.org/us/oh/worthington/profile/health-insurance/anthem-blue-cross-blue-shield-0302-912.
