Credit: CMS
The number of people with Medicare Advantage plan coverage increased 2.5% this year, to 35.4 million, in spite of all of the turmoil in the market.
HealthScape Advisors, a consulting firm, published the new 2026 enrollment figure in an analysis based on data files from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the federal agency that oversees Medicare.
The percentage of Medicare enrollees with Medicare Advantage plan coverage held steady at 51%.
Use of "chronic condition special needs plans," or Medicare Advantage plans designed for people with conditions such as diabetes or chronic heart failure, grew 49%, to 1.6 million, from 1.1 million.
What it means: Consumer demand for Medicare Advantage plan coverage was strong enough to overcome a decrease in the number of plans available, increases in coverage prices and some insurers' intentional efforts to cool marketing efforts.
Medicare Advantage: The Medicare Advantage program gives private health insurers a chance to offer the 69 million Medicare enrollees coverage that looks to the enrollees something like a private managed care plan.
In exchange for accepting active management of care and strong financial incentives to see in-network doctors, the enrollees get coverage that pays some of the deductibles, coinsurance bills and other cost-sharing requirements imposed by "original Medicare" and may provide extra benefits, such as some dental and hearing aid benefits.
The annual enrollment period for Medicare Advantage plans runs from Oct. 15 through Dec. 7 each year.
The Medicare Advantage program is separate from the Medicare supplement, or Medigap, insurance program. Medigap policies fill in gaps in original Medicare coverage without looking like replacement coverage and without requiring the insureds to use in-network providers or accept active care management.
The turmoil: CMS tightened Medicare Advantage program rules and funding levels for 2026 coverage, and the health insurers that sell the policies faced big, unexpected increases in the underlying cost of care.
Some issuers responded by suspending commission payments or discouraging agents from using online forms to help people sign up for coverage.
Credit: CMS
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