18 tracked health insurance (individual) carriers ranked by NAIC complaint index (higher = more regulator-confirmed complaints relative to premium volume). Median for this line: 1.05.
Health Insurance (Individual) · NAIC MCAS 2026
Health Insurance (Individual): 18 tracked carriers, median complaint index 1.05; Ambetter (Centene) leads the high end at 2.33, Kaiser Permanente the low end at 0.43.
Registry facts from retained NAIC extracts, not a buy/sell recommendation.
Named endpoints
Among 18 health insurance (individual) carriers with a ratio, Ambetter (Centene) posts the highest NAIC complaint index (2.33, ~2.2× the line median of 1.05). Kaiser Permanente posts the lowest (0.43, about 59% below the median). Endpoints identify the range of the retained MCAS set; they are not purchase recommendations.
Complaint-index span
The 18 health insurance (individual) carriers with ratios span 0.43–2.33 around a median of 1.05. The top of the table is about 2.2× the median - elevated, but not the widest gap among PlainInsurer's four tracked lines.
Reputation-grade mix
Grade counts for this health insurance (individual) set: A 2, B 6, C 6, D 3, F 1 (n=18). Neither A nor F dominates, so the median complaint index and the ranked table carry more information than the letter mix alone.
Health evidence boundary
This page ranks individual-market health carriers on NAIC complaint index. PlainInsurer's Medicare Advantage prior-authorization and appeal tables live under /medicare-advantage/ and use CMS contract identifiers - a different population, denominator, and regulator extract. Do not treat an MA denial rate as a substitute for an individual-market complaint index.
Spread: index 0.43–2.33 · IQR 0.60 · 9/18 above 1.0.
| # | Insurer | Grade | Complaint index | States |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ambetter (Centene) Centene | F | 2.33 +133% vs. avg
| 25 |
| 2 | Oscar Health Oscar Health | D | 2.14 +114% vs. avg
| 18 |
| 3 | Centene Corporation (WellCare) Centene | D | 1.89 +89% vs. avg
| 29 |
| 4 | Molina Healthcare Molina Healthcare | C | 1.67 +67% vs. avg
| 19 |
| 5 | CareFirst BCBS CareFirst | D | 1.43 +43% vs. avg
| 3 |
| 6 | Aetna (CVS Health) CVS Health | C | 1.31 +31% vs. avg
| 50 |
| 7 | Florida Blue (BCBS FL) Florida Blue | C | 1.22 +22% vs. avg
| 1 |
| 8 | BCBS of Texas HCSC | C | 1.14 +14% vs. avg
| 1 |
| 9 | UnitedHealthcare UnitedHealth Group | B | 1.12 +12% vs. avg
| 50 |
| 10 | BCBS of Illinois HCSC | C | 0.98 -2% vs. avg
| 1 |
| 11 | Anthem / Elevance Health Elevance Health | B | 0.94 -6% vs. avg
| 14 |
| 12 | Highmark Health Highmark | B | 0.89 -11% vs. avg
| 4 |
| 13 | Humana Health Humana | B | 0.87 -13% vs. avg
| 48 |
| 14 | Medica Health Plans Medica | C | 0.78 -22% vs. avg
| 3 |
| 15 | Cigna Health Cigna | B | 0.76 -24% vs. avg
| 44 |
| 16 | Independence Blue Cross Independence Blue Cross | B | 0.72 -28% vs. avg
| 1 |
| 17 | UPMC Health Plan UPMC | A | 0.71 -29% vs. avg
| 1 |
| 18 | Kaiser Permanente Kaiser Foundation | A | 0.43 -57% vs. avg
| 8 |
Data: NAIC MCAS 2026. Sorted by average complaint ratio (highest first).
Group written-premium ranks from the retained NAIC market-share release: size context separate from the company complaint-index table. Top five groups: 43.0%. Full market-share research →
| # | Group | Market share |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | UnitedHealth Group | 16.05% |
| 2 | CVS Group | 7.22% |
| 3 | Centene Corp. Group | 6.74% |
| 4 | Humana Group | 6.59% |
| 5 | Elevance Health Inc. Group | 6.44% |
| 6 | Kaiser Foundation Group | 6.01% |
| 7 | HCSC Group | 3.82% |
| 8 | Cigna Health Group | 2.50% |
This page ranks individual-market health carriers on NAIC complaint index only. CMS Transparency-in-Coverage denial rates and Medicare Advantage prior-authorization tables use different populations and identifiers - do not substitute one for the other.
Among the 18 health insurance (individual) carriers PlainInsurer tracks with a ratio, Ambetter (Centene) posts the highest index (2.33; line median 1.05). The index normalizes complaints by premium share; it is not a claim-denial rate.
Kaiser Permanente posts the lowest index among tracked health insurance (individual) carriers (0.43 vs median 1.05). A low index means fewer regulator-confirmed complaints relative to premium volume in the MCAS extract, not a price or coverage rating.
In the 2024 market-share release, the five largest groups account for 43.0% of written premium; the largest named group is UnitedHealth Group at 16.1%. Group premium share and company complaint index use different NAIC extracts.
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.