About 4.3 million Medicare beneficiaries will see their Medicare Advantage or standalone prescription drug plans terminated on Dec. 31, according to an Oct. 27 KFF analysis.
Of those facing plan losses, 2.8 million, 300,000 and 1.2 million beneficiaries will see their individual MA prescription drug plans, special needs plans and standalone PDPs terminated, respectively.
According to separate research from earlier in 2026, 2.9 million beneficiaries in nonemployer MA HMO and PPO plans, including SNPs, faced forced disenrollment going into the year.
MA exits come as medical costs, star ratings pressures, contracting tensions and regulatory changes shape the program.
Here are three other things to know from the KFF analysis:
- Those 2.8 million beneficiaries make up 14% of all enrollees in MA-PD plans available for general enrollment. Those beneficiaries must choose another MA plan if one is available in their area. Otherwise, they will be switched automatically to traditional Medicare.
- Forty-two million Medicare beneficiaries with private plans will have their plans renewed, and 1.4 million will have their plans consolidated with another plan offered by the same insurer. The latter is more common for special needs plans members. Medicare beneficiaries with consolidated plans will be automatically moved to the other plan.
- Half of enrollees who are losing their individual MA-PD plans are in plans offered by four parent organizations: Humana (19%), UnitedHealth Group (13%), CVS Health (9%) and Aware Integrated, which had Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota plans (9%).
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