Elevance Tops UBS Benefits Survey as 77% of Employers Put Health Contracts Out to Bid

IndustryAnalyst
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Summary · why it matters

Elevance Health ranked as the highest-rated national health insurer in UBS's annual survey of employee-benefit managers, scoring 4.34 out of five, ahead of UnitedHealth Group at 4.23 and Kaiser Permanente at 4.20. UBS analysts led by A.J. Rice surveyed 166 benefits managers at companies with more than 100 employees, and found that about 77% of respondents plan to seek new proposals for all or a significant portion of their core medical benefits for 2027, up from 53% in last year's survey and 41% a year earlier. Aetna and Blue Cross Blue Shield plans outside Elevance had the greatest exposure to rebidding at 90%, followed by Cigna and Elevance, while UnitedHealth had the lowest exposure among the major carriers. Employers expect gross medical costs for self-insured plans to rise 7.9% in 2027, accelerating from an estimated 7% this year, with benefit design changes trimming about 0.3 percentage point to leave a net cost trend of approximately 7.5%. Among pharmacy-benefit managers, 92% of respondents said their PBM contracts are due for renewal in 2027 and about 65% plan to issue requests for proposals, more than double the 30% recorded last year, yet CVS Caremark, Cigna's Express Scripts and UnitedHealth's Optum Rx were the three most frequently cited as likely to improve their market positions. The survey also found that 91% of employers now cover newer obesity medicines, up from 52% last year, and UBS estimated that 19.1% of covered workers and dependents use GLP-1 medicines for obesity, a figure respondents expect to rise to 20.6% next year.

Impact on stocks 7

Health Care▲ · 3 stocks
Elevance Health Inc
ELV
▲ PositiveCompetitionrelevance

Elevance ranked highest-rated national health insurer in UBS's benefits-manager survey, ahead of UnitedHealth and Kaiser.

Cigna Corp
CI
± MixedCompetitionrelevance

Cigna has high rebidding exposure (90% for Aetna/BCBS, Cigna and Elevance next) but its Express Scripts PBM is cited as likely to improve its market position.

CVS Health Corp
CVS
▲ PositiveCompetitionrelevance

CVS Caremark is one of the three PBMs most frequently cited as likely to improve market positions amid 2027 PBM contract renewals.

Biotech & Genomic Medicine▲ · 2 stocks
Aging Population▲ · 1 stocks
UnitedHealth Group Incorporated
UNH
▲ PositiveCompetitionrelevance

UnitedHealth had the lowest rebidding exposure among major carriers and its Optum Rx was cited as likely to improve its market position.

Consumer Staples▲ · 1 stocks

Off-coverage companies 1

Kaiser PermanentePrivate± Mixed
relevance

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