Best Medicare Advantage Plans in Maine (2027)

UnitedHealthcare is Maine’s best Medicare Advantage company for 2027, and Aetna Medicare and Humana match it on cost. Median max annual cost exposure is a year of premiums plus the out-of-pocket limit, the most you pay for in-network care. The median is $7,150 for all three, $1,858 below AMH Health, the next-lowest carrier.

Star ratings and service areas separate the three carriers. UnitedHealthcare has Maine’s highest median rating from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), a federal 1-to-5-star quality score. Aetna sells in eight of Maine’s 16 counties, so check yours. Martin’s Point sells as many plans as Humana, yet its median cost exposure is $1,895 higher.

Maine enrollees have a wide choice of Medicare Advantage plans, with 18 in the median county. Medicare Advantage is a private plan that replaces Original Medicare, the federal Part A and Part B program, and usually adds drug coverage. Six carriers sell 31 plans statewide.

Fifteen of the 31 plans share a $7,150 out-of-pocket limit, so quality matters more. Star ratings attach to CMS contracts, carriers’ agreements with Medicare. Seven of 11 Maine contracts hold 4 stars or more. If $7,150 would strain your budget, price Medicare Supplement plans, which pay some or all of Original Medicare’s deductibles and coinsurance.

The best Medicare Advantage plan for you depends on your doctors, prescription needs and total health care budget.

More than half of Maine’s Medicare Advantage plans charge no premium, and plan type doesn’t change the worst-case bill. HMO, HMO-POS and PPO plans share a $7,150 median out-of-pocket limit. In Maine, flexibility costs less. HMOs, the most restrictive type, charge more for premiums and hospital stays.

The median HMO charges $23 a month and $490 for each hospital day, the highest of any type. The premium alone adds $276 a year, and a five-day stay costs about $270 more than with the median HMO-POS plan. Price HMO-POS and PPO plans first, since both also cover some out-of-network care.

*Median cost figures across all 31 non-SNP Maine MA plans, grouped by plan type. All dollar figures rounded to nearest dollar. Source: CMS 2027 data, MoneyGeek analysis.

These state and federal resources help Maine residents compare Medicare Advantage plans, get free counseling and understand their coverage before enrolling.

• Medicare Plan Finder: The official CMS tool for comparing Medicare Advantage plans available in your county, including premiums, out-of-pocket limits and covered benefits.
• Maine State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP): A free, unbiased counseling program for Maine residents on Medicare. Counselors can help you compare plans, understand your rights and review your coverage.
• Maine Bureau of Insurance: The state agency that licenses insurance companies in Maine. Use it to check a carrier’s license. For a complaint about a Medicare Advantage plan, use Medicare’s online complaint form or call 1-800-MEDICARE.
• Medicare Extra Help Program: A federal program that lowers Part D drug costs, including drug coverage in Medicare Advantage plans. Qualifying enrollees pay a $0 plan premium and deductible in 2027. The latest published limits (2026) are $23,940 in income and $18,090 in resources for individuals, or $32,460 and $36,100 for married couples.

MoneyGeek’s 2027 Maine Medicare Advantage ratings cover 31 non-SNP plans across six carriers, 11 CMS contracts and 16 counties. The analysis uses five CMS datasets. They are the Medicare Plan Landscape File, Plan Benefit Package files, CMS Star Ratings, the Contract/Plan Enrollment file and the Report Card Master Table from the Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS), Medicare’s member satisfaction survey.

All ratings exclude Special Needs Plans. A carrier qualifies for scoring when it sells plans in at least three of Maine’s 16 counties and has data in all three scoring categories. All six carriers qualify. Star ratings affect a carrier’s score but don’t decide eligibility, so Wellcare appears with a 3.0 rating, below 4 stars. Its low rating reduces its quality score and places it sixth.

How We Score Carriers

Each of Maine’s six carriers gets a score out of five, based on median values across its Maine non-SNP plans. Star ratings and CAHPS scores use plan-weighted medians. Affordability and benefits scores are scaled from 3.5 to 5.0 across the six carriers. Quality uses each carrier’s CMS star rating as is, and CAHPS scores are divided by 20 to fit the 5-point scale. Three categories make up each score.

• Affordability (40%): This category measures maximum annual cost exposure, which is a year of premiums added to the plan’s out-of-pocket limit. It also counts what you’d pay for an inpatient hospital stay, a specialist visit and a primary care visit.
• Quality and Member Experience (40%): CMS Star Ratings and CAHPS Rating of Health Plan scores split this category: Stars at 60% and CAHPS at 40%, both from contract-level data.
• Benefits and Access (20%): Supplemental dental, over-the-counter (OTC), vision and hearing benefits make up 50% of this category. County coverage counts for 30%, and plan choice per county counts for 20%.