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Enrollment & timing

KFF: Nearly All of the 2.6 Million Medicare Advantage Members Who Lost Plans at Year-End 2025 Had at Least One Alternative in 2026

A KFF analysis found 98.9 percent of affected enrollees had a replacement plan available, though rural beneficiaries faced fewer choices and Vermont saw the sharpest disruption.

By the Goodsurance editorial teamSeptember 21, 2026

A KFF analysis published in March 2026 found that roughly 2.6 million people enrolled in individual Medicare Advantage prescription drug plans lost their coverage when plans terminated at the end of 2025, representing about 13 percent of all individual Medicare Advantage enrollees. The scale of disruption was nearly double the 6 percent of enrollees who faced terminations the prior year.

Nearly all of those people, 98.9 percent, had at least one alternative plan available in their area in 2026. On average, affected enrollees could choose from 25 Medicare Advantage prescription drug plans offered by 7 different insurers. About 68.7 percent had options from the same insurer that had terminated their coverage, while 29.8 percent had alternatives only from other companies. About 1.1 percent, or roughly 28,500 people, had no Medicare Advantage prescription drug plan available in their area at all.

KFF found 98.9 percent of the 2.6 million Medicare Advantage members who lost plans at year-end 2025 had at least one replacement available in 2026.

The analysis highlighted geographic disparities. About 23 percent of those losing coverage lived in rural areas, compared with 14 percent of the overall Medicare Advantage enrollment. Vermont saw some of the most concentrated disruption, with more than 90 percent of its Medicare Advantage enrollees affected. Small insurers holding less than 3 percent national market share accounted for roughly half of terminated plan enrollees despite representing about one-third of total enrollment.

The findings are relevant as the 2027 open enrollment period approaches on October 15. Non-renewal notices are arriving now for large plan exits by carriers including Humana, Providence Health Plan, and others.

In plain words

At the end of 2025, about 2.6 million people had their Medicare Advantage drug plans canceled. That was about 13 percent of all Medicare Advantage members in individual plans.

A research group called KFF studied what happened next. Almost all of them, about 99 percent, had at least one new plan to choose from in 2026. On average, each person had 25 plans to pick from.

Only about 28,500 people had no replacement plan in their area. That is about 1 percent.

People in rural areas had fewer choices. Vermont was hit especially hard. More than 9 out of 10 Medicare Advantage members there lost their plan.

This matters now because more big plan exits are happening for 2027. If your plan is ending, there are likely other options. Open enrollment runs October 15 through December 7.

Understand the basics first

Source: KFF
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