Research published in 2025 has highlighted differences in hospital stay lengths and prices paid to hospitals between Medicare Advantage and traditional Medicare.
Here are eight studies examining Medicare Advantage Becker’s has reported on in 2025:
- Medicare Advantage enrollees experience longer hospital stays before being discharged to post-acute care settings compared to individuals enrolled in traditional Medicare, according to a June analysis by NORC at the University of Chicago.
- In 2022, Medicare Advantage beneficiaries spent $3,486 less out of pocket on healthcare costs than fee-for-service enrollees, according to a June report conducted by ATI Advisory commissioned by the Better Medicare Alliance.
- Medicare Advantage enrollees receive fewer home health visits than their counterparts in fee-for-service Medicare, according to a report published by the Medicare Payment and Advisory Commission in June.
- MA members are most likely to disenroll from their health plan because of four main reasons: difficulty accessing care, low plan generosity, dissatisfaction with care quality, and the type of plan (HMO vs. PPO), according to a study published in the June issue of Health Affairs.
- Seventeen percent of initial MA claims are denied, but 57% of claims that are denied are ultimately overturned, a study published in the June issue of Health Affairs found.
- On average, insurers pay 4.7% higher commercial prices to hospitals that are a part of their Medicare Advantage networks compared to those not in network, a study published in May in Health Services Research found.
- Differential coding practices led to a significant increase in Medicare Advantage risk scores and $33 billion in additional payments to plans in 2021, a March study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine estimated.
- The federal government will spend $84 billion more on Medicare Advantage enrollees than if they were enrolled in fee-for-service plans, according to estimates from the Medicare Payment and Advisory Commission published in March.
