In 2024, over half of Medicare enrollees received coverage through Medicare
Advantage (MA) plans (Freed et al 2024a). 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). As MA continues to grow,
reducing overpayment will become more critical to preserve the long-term
sustainability of the Medicare program. However, it is unclear how policy options to
reduce overpayment may affect enrollment, as relatively few studies have explored
what has driven MA enrollment growth in recent years. This brief builds on prior work
to explore the patterns and drivers of MA enrollment growth from 2017 to 2023
(Skopec et al. 2019).
Patterns and Drivers of Medicare Advantage Enrollment Growth, 2017–2023