Medicare Advantage (MA) has grown rapidly in the past decade, from about a third of Medicare enrollment in 2015 to over half in 2024. The growth of MA has important implications for the financial sustainability of the Medicare program because Medicare, on average, pays more for a beneficiary enrolled in MA than for a similar beneficiary enrolled in traditional Medicare (TM). This paper explores the patterns and potential drivers of MA enrollment growth over the 2017-23 period, using administrative data available from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Increased enrollment in preferred provider organization plans accounted for 35 percent of MA enrollment growth. Special needs plans, which largely enroll beneficiaries dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid, accounted for nearly a third of the growth in MA over the 2017-23 period. Nearly 40 percent of MA enrollment growth was in the South Atlantic and East North Central regions.
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- United States of America
Table of Contents
- In 2024 over half of Medicare enrollees received coverage through Medicare 1
- Advantage MA plans Freed et al 2024a. MA has grown rapidly in the past decade 1
- MA has important implications for the financial sustainability of the Medicare program 1
- Skopec et al. 2019. 1
- Data and Methods 2
- Findings 4
- Discussion 12
- Appendix 14
- Notes 14
- References 14
- About the Authors 16
- Acknowledgments 17
