UnitedHealth Group rebounds sharply in 2026 with AI deployment, including Avery chatbot serving millions of members

In March, UnitedHealth introduced Avery, a generative AI chatbot that helps members understand benefits, claims status, cost estimates, find providers, schedule appointments, and manage ID cards and drug benefits. Avery is already live for 6.5 million members in employer-sponsored plans and 160,000 members in Medicare Advantage plans, with expansion planned to serve more than 20 million members by the end of the year.

UnitedHealth operates more than 1,000 AI applications across its insurance, health delivery, and pharmacy units and plans to invest another $1.6 billion in AI this year. The company is the largest U.S. health insurer by enrollment with about 45 million members and dominates Medicare Advantage coverage in 41% of the 3,200 counties in the U.S.

UnitedHealth's stock is up about 53% since announcing Avery in late March. On April 21, the company reported a medical benefit ratio of 83.9%, down from 84.8% a year ago and below the 85.5% expected by industry analysts. In early April, the Trump administration announced a 2.48% increase in Medicare Advantage payments for 2027, about $13 billion higher than the initial estimate of 0.09%.