When a Medicare Advantage CEO Says Pay Us Less, the Old Growth Math Is in Trouble
A Medicare Advantage chief executive telling Washington to pay his company less is not normal. It is a narrow signal, not a sector verdict: one growth-stage plan CEO is publicly arguing that coding games and richer payments cannot be the answer.
That executive was Ed Park of Devoted Health, a venture-backed Medicare Advantage insurer, speaking at the Medicarians conference in Las Vegas last week, according to MedCity News. The backdrop matters, but it changed fast. Forbes reported that CMS had proposed raising Medicare Advantage payment rates by just 0.09 percent in 2027, far below the 4 to 6 percent increase analysts had expected. On April 6, CMS finalized a larger 2.48 percent average increase, or more than $13 billion in additional payments. Park's argument, as MedCity described it, was not simply that plans should get less money; it was that insurers should stop relying on coding games and accept a leaner version of the program.
That is a strange thing to hear from a company built for growth. Devoted was founded in 2017 by brothers Todd and Ed Park. Todd Park is the Obama administration alumnus, not Ed. Devoted now serves about 500,000 people in 29 states, according to MedCity News, after adding more than 160,000 enrollees to its individual Medicare Advantage prescription drug plans between February 2025 and February 2026, more than doubling enrollment, according to KFF's analysis of CMS data. Yet Endpoints News reported that Devoted's revenue and membership fell in 2025 for the first time since it started selling plans seven years ago.
That revenue decline is context, not the news. The fresher signal is Park's attributed argument: a newer entrant that is still gaining members is publicly calling for less reliance on coding-driven payments.
The squeeze is broader than Devoted. Forbes reported that rising medical costs, heavier use of care, and the Inflation Reduction Act's redesign of the drug benefit are all hitting Medicare Advantage insurers at once. The same piece said UnitedHealth, Humana, Aetna, and Centene have exited Medicare Advantage markets in hundreds of counties, while CMS is also trying to limit chart reviews that can inflate risk scores and government payments.
The disruption is showing up in enrollment data too. KFF reported that 2.6 million people were enrolled in individual Medicare Advantage prescription drug plans that terminated at the end of 2025, affecting 13 percent of enrollees in those individual MA-PD plans, up from 6 percent a year earlier. Even so, KFF found that Medicare Advantage enrollment still topped 35 million people in February 2026. A Chartis analysis reported by Becker's Payer found that enrollment fell for the first time in seven states.
Put together, Park's comment is not proof that Medicare Advantage is collapsing. It is a useful tell about where the fight has moved. The final CMS rate was less punishing than January's draft, but Medicare Advantage insurers are still dealing with medical-cost pressure, coding scrutiny, benefit redesign, plan exits, and more members forced to shop after terminations.
That matters well beyond one startup. More than half of Medicare-eligible Americans now get their coverage through Medicare Advantage, according to KFF. If insurers keep trimming markets, benefits, or provider networks even after a better-than-proposed 2027 rate, the pressure will remain a policy and business fight, not just a Devoted story.