CVS biggest beneficiary of Medicare Advantage stars scores, says BofA

BofA says a “major overhang on managed care was just removed” as CMS released relatively stable Medicare Advantage stars score for the industry. Total stars bonus payments are “actually going to increase slightly,” as industry weighted membership in 4 star plans grows back to 74% from 72%, which means an overhang was removed for Humana (HUM) and UnitedHealth (UNH), the analyst tells investors. CVS Health (CVS) was able to reclaim its recent losses and get all the way back to 87% from 21%, making the “biggest beneficiary” and likely to sees a boost to margins, the analyst added. Elevance Health (ELV), however, lost ground, dropping from 64% to 35%, the analyst noted.