Dive Brief:
- Consumers are increasingly unhappy with their health plans despite an industry-wide push among major insurers to rehabilitate their image.
- The national average satisfaction score for commercial health plans is down one point from a year ago and down three points from 2024, according to a new study from JD Power.
- Trust in health plans also isn’t improving, with many people saying they believe their insurer is more focused on controlling costs than on helping them navigate healthcare, the research found.
Dive Insight:
Consumer analytics firm JD Power has studied member satisfaction with health plans for the last two decades. Changes in the company’s methodology prevents direct comparisons over that time frame. But since 2024, when the current approach began, consumer sentiment has continued to drift down — a concerning finding for insurers, which have invested heavily in new digital tools, navigation capabilities, member education and more to try to buck the trend.
For its most recent research, JD Power analyzed almost 40,000 consumers covered by 148 health plans in 22 U.S. regions, measuring success in areas like their ability to receive timely healthcare services, level of trust and the adequacy of their insurer’s coverage offerings.
The study suggests insurers have a ways to go. Satisfaction is stuck — down to a 562 rating on an 1000-point scale.
Juat 30% of members say they feel their plan is a “trusted partner” in their health and wellness, a number that’s also stayed basically flat since 2024, according to Meaghan Hafner, JD Power’s senior director of healthcare solutions.
Hafner pointed to rising costs as a key problem. More than half (53%) of commercial plan members saw their premiums increase in 2026, contributing to an 116-point drop in satisfaction, JD Power found. Similarly, 34% of members had their deductibles increased, driving an 111-point decline.
The figures “reflect a broader pattern of increasing cost pressure for members,” Hafner said over email. “We see a clear drop in satisfaction when those costs go up.”
Employers have absorbed the lion’s share of rising medical spending for their covered workers. But, in the face of medical costs driven by factors like pricey drugs and steep expenses for hospital care, employers are increasingly electing to pass those costs along — and workers appear to be blaming their health plans for the added stress on their pocketbooks.
Satisfaction scores vary widely depending on region and by plan, with Kaiser holding the most top-rated plans this year and the highest score in any region.
Meanwhile, UnitedHealthcare was rated the lowest in customer satisfaction in half of the regions JD Power analyzed.
Kaiser dominates customer satisfaction rankings, UnitedHealthcare trails
UnitedHealthcare parent UnitedHealth has been embroiled in a public relations crisis after the killing of its top insurance executive last year set off a wave of anti-insurer animus. Since then, the healthcare behemoth has replaced its top executives, reshuffled the makeup of its board, pledged to increase public transparency and taken a number of actions meant to make it easier for its members to access healthcare.
That includes launching a new member portal and eliminating authorization requirements for a number of of healthcare services that previously required approval.
According to JD Power, steamlining such claims processes for members is the best strategy to improve member satisfaction. Big satisfaction gains also come from making costs more predictable, ensuring coverage is understandable and facilitating reliable access to care, Hafner said.
“When those core experiences work consistently, satisfaction and trust follow,” she added.
